Luling Main Street

March 8th, 2025

Rajun' Cajun Throwdown & Gumbo Cookoff

The Rajun’ Cajun Throwdown is a Cajun themed cook off that was created by the Luling Main Street back in 2011 as a fund raiser to help with the revitalization of the Main Street District. It always falls on the 2nd Saturday in March every year and cooking categories include: Gumbo, Jambalaya, Bloody Mary, Open, Dessert and Showmanship. What started out as just a cook off with some music and a few vendors, has grown into a full blown Cajun street festival with live zydeco music all day, arts/crafts vendor fair, a great assortment of food vendors, beverage garden, crawfish sold by the pound, activities for kids such as bouncy houses, wiggle races, bungee jumps, petting zoos, barrel trains and more! The crawfish races are also a huge hit and a must see attraction! Come see us in downtown Luling and join in all the fun!!!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!

Event Schedule

View

Event Registration

Register

Now, On to the 5 “W”s…

WHO: Luling Main Street created this event in 2011 as an effort to attract more people to our little town and enjoy a day of food and fun. Luling Main Street is a non-profit organization that helps create Economic Development through historic preservation.

WHAT: The Rajun’ Cajun Throwdown is a Cajun-themed cook off and downtown street festival held on the 2nd Saturday in March every year. Teams compete for cash prizes in several categories such as Gumbo, Jambalaya, Bloody Marys, Open, & Showmanship. Crawfish is sold by the pound and live zydeco music can be heard on the main stage all day long. Festivities also include arts and crafts and food vendor fair, crawfish races, kids activities, a cold beverage booth and much more!

WHERE: We’re having a street party in Downtown Luling, TX! Come join us in the 300-500 blocks of Davis Street. Need directions? Go ahead and plug 421 E. Davis in your GPS and “poof!” you’ll be at the festivities!

WHEN: The main event always happens on the 2nd Saturday in March, however teams will start arriving Friday evening for early check-in, and Dessert turn in.

WHY: As a non-profit organization, fundraising is always a big part of “staying alive.” The Rajun’ Cajun Throwdown was created to help fund the many projects and events put on by Luling Main Street in a continuing effort to promote and revitalize our historic main street district. Profits from each year’s event are earmarked to go towards a specific project in the main street district.

The proceeds obtained from this event helped fund the following Main Street Projects:

2011-2012: The first two year’s have helped to fund the Magnolia Mural project welcoming people to our great town.

2013: The addition of “Heritage Circle” located in the 500 block of Davis Street.

2014: Allowed the Main Street Program to disperse a record amount of Facade Grants to buildings in our District.

2015: The addition of 3 decorative crosswalks in the downtown area making Luling a more “walkable” community.

2016: Three additional decorative crosswalks were funded at the corner of Laurel and Davis St.

2017: Paid out several more façade grants to business owners in our district.

2018: Additional funds have allowed us to ramp up our facade grant by increasing payouts from $4K to $5K on normal projects and has allowed us to offer ONE $10K grant each calendar year to business/building owners in the Main Street District.

2019: Our organization was able to pay out ~$14,000 in facade grants to local business/building owners this year and we partnered with the Luling Economic Development Corporation with both groups contributing $20,000+ each to replace all downtown decorative lamp posts with new decorative posts and LED fixtures. Installation to was completed mid 2020.

2020: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately 10th Anniversary Rajun Cajun Throwdown had to be cancelled at the last minute. We were still able to pay out over $5000 in facade grants and was able to participate in a partnership to purchase new Christmas decorations put out around town during the holidays, but hope to come back strong in 2021.

2021: Even though the 11th Annual Rajun Cajun Throwdown was also cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic, we paid out two more facade grants to business owners in the district, helped add a new downtown flagpole, and was able to purchase additional lighted pole signs to put out around town at Christmas.

2022: After finally having our first Rajun Cajun Throwdown in 3 years due to the pandemic, we paid out another $5,000 facade grant to a downtown building owner while setting aside funds to replace both downtown informational kiosks with new custom made versions that we hope to have in place by the end of 2022. Thank you to the Luling Chamber of Commerce for partnering with Luling Main Street to make this project possible!

2023: We were able to pay out ~$11,000 in facade grants to local business/building owners this year and we are almost finished with the new downtown kiosks project that was started last year.

2024: We approved two more facade grants in 2024 that are awaiting completion and purchased new decorative street signage for the downtown area that should be installed soon. Funds also went towards the creation of a new centralized gathering space in the downtown area and this new downtown plaza should be completed by the end of 2024.