PHOENIX – Chandler is bringing a bit of New Orleans to the weekend with the Angry Crab Southwest Cajun Fest.

The pre-Mardi Gras party is scheduled to run from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday at Dr. AJ Chandler Park near Arizona Avenue and Chandler Boulevard.

“Angry Crab Shack is ‘spicing up’ the Southwest Cajun Fest yet again with our traditional seafood boil and other Louisiana favorites,” Andy Diamond, president of Angry Crab Shack, said in a press release. 

“We’re excited to return this year celebrating Creole cuisine and culture,” he said.

The ninth-annual downtown event features food, games, eating contests, music, a live alligator petting zoo and a kids zone that includes rides and inflatables.

Nonrefundable general admission tickets are available online for $25 in advance and $35 on event day. Children 12 and younger get in for free.

Festivalgoers can try to catch beads thrown from second-story balconies at the replica French Quarter-style Bourbon Street Experience where magicians, stilt walkers, jugglers and brass marching band perform.

The menu features gumbo, frog legs, beignets, hush puppies and a seafood boil.

Lawn games include cornhole, Jenga and ladder golf.

Live performances start at 2 p.m. with DJ Po Boy and finish with Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. and the Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band.

Parking is free.

Attendees can bring in small backpacks, lawn chairs, strollers and wagons, and lotion-only sunscreen (no aerosol spray).

Among the prohibited items are drones, fireworks, laser pointers, skateboards and scooters, cans and glass bottles, and umbrellas/shade structures.

Follow @KTAR923