The second annual Truckee Craw Thaw Musical Festival, a free, New Orleans-inspired event, is coming to downtown Truckee next weekend.

From May 31 to June 2 festival guests can enjoy cajun cuisine and live music from various bands including Grammy-nominated headliner Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers.

“We’re definitely stepping up production in general this year,” said KelleyAnn Schilke, of Crux Events which produces the festival. “It’ll look and feel like New Orleans.”

---

---

This year the festival was extended an extra day with double the amount of musical performances from last year, according to Schilke. last year’s inaugural event hosted around 3,500 people. This year Schilke said they expect that number to grow significantly.

“We moved the entire event a month later so it was warmer,” she said. “We expect great weather and a bigger turnout. It’ll be a really special day.”

---

---

The festival will kick off at 5 p.m. Friday and is a family friendly event. Proceeds from the annual festival go towards Moody’s Jazz Camp, a nonprofit supporting local youth and music education. Last year the jazz camp raised around $5,000, Schilke said.

New to the festival this year is a farm-to-table brunch on Sunday, June 2, hosted by Kitchen Collab. The dinner will benefit the California Wildfire Relief Fund, which has supported those who have suffered from the devastation of wildfires since 2006.

This year organizers of the event are hoping to raise $10,000, with 100% of the proceeds going to the relief fund.

The 21-and-up brunch will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and include a New Orleans inspired meal and a live performance from the Craw Mafia. Tickets can be purchased at https://truckeecrawthaw.com/landing-new-2/wildfire-relief-brunch/.

Hannah Jones is a reporter for the Sierra Sun. She can be reached at 530-550-2652 or hjones@sierrasun.com.