Hitting its 28th year in stride, the Llano Crawfish Open, which is scheduled for April 21-22 in Llano, Texas, was the brainchild of a group of locals and a gang of Beaumont hunters. It seems they struck a friendship up, out of which the first Llano Crawfish Open was born. Back in 1989, all these folks were thinking about was a good golf tournament followed by cooking up some crawfish and a little bit of Texas barbecue. Their Hill Country nature being what it was, they determined that any proceeds from their idea would go towards the purchase of a motorized wheelchair for a man that was suffering from multiple sclerosis.
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Llano Crawfish Open 2017: Great Food, Good Times, and a Hardy Benevolent Backbone
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Photo: Facebook/Llano, Tx Chamber of Commerce
After the dust had settled and everyone that both volunteered or participated realized how much fun they had, they decided it wasn’t going to do any good to just have this be a one-and-done event. So, they chose to host another the following year, and so on until, over subsequent years, the event grew larger than anyone had anticipated, and the group turned its focus toward more long-term goals as opposed to simply planning from year-to-year. That birthed the concept of continuing on in the charitable vein, but with an eye for Llano County groups that had a lack of ability to raise funds on their own. Enter Meals on Wheels and the Llano Special Opportunity Center (a facility for adults who have physical and mental challenges) – two premier charities that were deemed to be of most immediate need and, therefore, the optimal choices to benefit from future events. These charities, in particular, receive limited state funding with which to meet greater need each year, and so the marriage between the Llano Crawfish Open and those two charities was a suitable match. In addition to these, however, other local charities have often been considered for donations from the event, a philanthropic gesture which is always appreciated.
Photo: Flickr/Ralph Arvesen
Blessed with fairly reasonable Texas Hill Country weather most years, and even more reasonable participants, over time the Llano Crawfish Open has grown to great proportions from its humble beginnings, now featuring the “Crawfish” Golf Open, great food (ahem – crawfish?!) including barbeque, jambalaya, and potatoes and corn, crawfish team roping, live music and a dance, a motorcycle fun run, crawfish crawler 5K walk/run, arts, crafts, and fun activities for the kids! This year’s event admission and additional information are available on their website, including a full schedule, restaurant, and lodging guide. After reading about the history, the benevolent backbone of the event, and all of the great goings-on on their agenda, if your compass doesn’t point toward the Llano Crawfish Open for April 21-22, how are you going to remedy that situation?
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