Mardi Gras Festival

The first “Mardi Gras Festival” concert and parade will be held on Saturday, August 6on the Peconic Riverfront in downtown Riverhead. The event with be organized by the Riverhead Business Improvement District [BID]. The Mardi Gras Festival will feature New Orleans style blues music, a Main Street parade, bands, stilt walkers, face painters, costumes and authentic Cajun cooking. Local restaurants, coached by Cajun cooks from New Orleans, will offer specialties such as Jambalaya, crawfish and ‘dirty rice’ at popular prices.             The festival will feature two stages  offering continuous live music. The Grammy Award nominated band, Lost Bayou Ramblers, will perform along with Dikki Du and his Zydeco Crewe. The bands Jambalaya Brass Band, the Who Dat Loungers, Gene Casey & the Lone Sharks, Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade and The Buzzards are also scheduled to perform along with local favorite and internationally recognized Blues artist Tommy Keys.  A “Mardi Gras” parade will take place at 12 p.m. beginning at the Suffolk County Historical Societyand marching east on Main Street to McDermott Avenue to the Riverfront. The Stilt Band will lead the parade.  People are encouraged to march with their dogs.