The Spirit of Mardi Gras in Bryan-College Station: Blackwater Draw Brewing Company Hosting 12th Annual Mardi Gras Crawfish Boil Event This Saturday

Article By: Ashely Bautista, Student Intern | BCS Chronicle

What You Need To Know:

• The 12th Annual Mardi Gras Crawfish Boil will be held at Blackwater Draw Brewing Company on Saturday, February 14, 2026.

• The event started back in Blackwater Draw’s original location on Northgate and has been evolving and growing over the years.

• The Mardi Gras Crawfish Boil builds community in the Bryan-College Station area.

• Live music, great seafood, and interesting vendors will be plentiful at this year’s Mardi Gras Crawfish Boil.

On Saturday, February 14th, Blackwater Draw Brewing Company in downtown Bryan will be celebrating their 12th Annual Mardi Gras Crawfish Boil. The event will be held at the brewery’s location at 701 N Main St, Bryan, TX 77803 and will feature such Mardi Gras delicacies as crawfish, shrimp, “all the fixins” (corn, sausages & potatoes), and fresh locally-brewed beer. Local live bands will also be playing throughout the event, according to a post on the brewery’s Facebook page. 

Moving On Up

For brewer and Blackwater Draw co-founder, Chris Weingart, this event has been a whirlwind and a milestone for the company. The brewery opened in the Northgate area by Church Ave and Boyette Street in 2013. Weingart and his Blackwater Draw team have always been fans of crawfish boils, and originally they planned the events to take place every year on Fat Tuesday. However, planning around this date proved to be a deal breaker for the company, with bad weather and the overall struggles of hosting a weekday event becoming issues over time.

“The weather is somewhere between wet and cold on Fat Tuesday,” Weingart said. “And so [with] the sun starting to drop, it's getting colder outside and (it) just didn't seem very festive.”

With these complications, the company decided to move the celebration to the weekends so more families, students, and community members could attend.

“We've been going strong out here for, oh, at least 4 years outside – 5 years doing the outdoor weekend crawfish boil,” Weingart said.

Where Crawfish Meets Community

Mardi Gras, French for Fat Tuesday, is a festive day celebrated in France marking the end of the pre-Lenten season. A boisterous and popular event in Louisiana, Weingart desired to bring this celebration over to the Bryan-College Station community.

“The atmosphere [is] just coming together, having a big feast, and celebrating,” Weingart said. “It's a cool tradition that you can share it with people of all faiths, that is just fun, because who doesn't like to come together for a feast and a little party.”

For Weingart, events such as these make the Bryan-College Station community strong by focusing on bringing people together, both as a business and a brewery.

“[What] we're focusing on is just building a community around the brewery that extends past just beer,” Weingart said. “That goes to people that are, you know, into painting, into rescuing dogs, into running their charities – and anytime we're able to create an event that brings all those members of our community together, we feel it's beneficial to the Bryan-College Station [area] as a whole.”

Expect a Pinch or Two

Blackwater Draw’s 12th Annual Crawfish Boil is constantly evolving every year from directing a full kitchen staff, to organizing an outdoor market that stretches throughout the day. The event also incorporates live music from local bands, fresh seafood, and food trucks circling all around the parking lot. Weingart suggests attendees should plan on getting to the brewery early before all the crawfish gets sold out. He also emphasized that attendees are welcome to lounge throughout the day and stay for as long as they would like.

“This year, we're just adding more tables, and, we got some fresh new bands coming in, and they're playing all day,” Weingart said. “It's free of charge, so, even if you just like music and drinking Topo Chico's, there's gonna be something here for you.”