As the school year comes to a close, and the weather warms, celebrations are in order. To end off the spring semester, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette hosted its yearly Lagniappe Day on April 17.
Taking place on Boucher Drive, near the Union plaza, Lagniappe day holds a multitude of festivities, food and games. The event is put on by the University Program Center (UPC), and they packed a plethora of activities in just a few hours. Thankfully, the weather cooperated and the sun was directly overhead as students gathered nearly an hour before the event began to begin standing in line for complimentary merchandise.
Myself and my colleagues were in line at 9:30 a.m. and despite being half an hour early we were nowhere near the front of the line. Every year, a new Lagniappe Day shirt is designed, and the supply runs out well before noon. At 10 a.m. on the dot the line began to move; a student’s ULID gets them a free shirt, ranging from sizes small to 3XL. Even once the shirt supply runs thin, other merchandise is available.
Now, one thing definitely characterizes Lagniappe Day: crawfish. For either a meal swipe or $9.50, students can cash in a ticket to collect 5 pounds of crawfish. After speaking to the team who prepared, boiled and bagged the crawfish on site, over 17,000 pounds of crawfish were consumed this year. Lagniappe day also provided a limited supply of gloves, cups of dipping sauces, moist towelettes and soft drinks. Should you be over 21, students could also collect up to two glasses of beer with their food ticket.
Now, how did the crawfish taste? I will admit I am no crawfish connoisseur, but myself and all of my colleagues ate until we were stuffed. The crawfish varied in size and between the larger ones, potatoes and corn on the cob we had quite the brunch. Now, my crawfish opening skills were rather lackluster; I had to use the back end of my can of Diet Coke to break open the claws of the bigger crawfish.
Once we had all eaten, drank, watched a movie in the Student Publications office (The Muppets Movie to be specific) and reapplied sunscreen, we emerged back into the Union plaza to check out the activities. There was music blasting from speakers in the center of the plaza, a dunk tank, snowcones from Kona Ice and canoes the students could take to row around the swamp.
However, the activity that I enthusiastically participated in was the pepper-eating contest. Just past noon, the hottest part of the day, a long table under the plaza sat ten people. Three rounds were conducted to see who could eat a poblano, jalapeno and habanero pepper the fastest. All the seeds had to be consumed, the pepper had to be eaten to the stem and no drinks until you either finished or tapped out.
I was originally just photographing the event, but I joined in on the last round as they had a few seats open. My game plan was to one-bite the hottest pepper, the habanero, to get it out of the way. Big mistake. First, second, and third place were able to take their places before I even managed to start the second pepper.
I spent the rest of the afternoon chugged cartons of milk and watching students canoe in the swamp. The day wrapped up with the swamp jump, and students one by one splashed into the water.
This was my first Lagniappe Day and I consider it a success. I avoided a sunburn, ate good food, tried an outrageous challenge and got to spend a Friday afternoon with my colleague and friends. Next year’s Lagniappe Day, I’m sure, will already be in the works soon as UPC begins their plans for more events to come back around next year.