The 2005 Crawfish Festival this Friday and Saturday in Faundsdale is all about having a good time. Marengo County Sheriffs deputies, with help from other law enforcement agencies around the state also want to make sure the festival is a safe time.

The Marengo County Sheriff’s Department, the Alabama Bureua of Investigations and Alabama State Troopers will all be out in full force to keep drunk drivers off the road and festival participants safe.

Marengo County Sheriff Jesse Langley said they plan to make sure they have abundant security for the event.

“The deputies off days have been cancelled,” Langley said. “We will have ABC agents and state troopers there as well.”

Problems at the crawfish festival have been minimal and Langley said they hope to keep it that way. Langley said the problems have actually decreased for the last few years, but hoped to cut that number even more in one specific category.

“It has gone down over the years,” Langley said.

“We still have a problem with underage drinkers though.”

The ultimate goal is to eliminate threats at the festival and on the road. Langley said the Sheriff’s department planned to patrol both, but the help from other agencies would also give them a chance to concentrate on the events at the festival.

“We will be doing both,” Langley said. “The state troopers will be covering the roads for the most part. We will try to concentrate on what is going on at the event.”

Through the years the Crawfish Festival has become one of the more popular attractions in the state. People arrive from all over Alabama and the United States to take part each year creating a sometimes-chaotic scene. Langley said they expected a large crowd again this year because of all the attractions.

“We are expecting a pretty big crowd,” Langley said. “Between the bike rally and the crawfish festival there should be a lot of people there.”

Those of age choosing to drink at the event are highly advised to designate a driver. Langley said his best advice to those who choose to drink during the Crawfish Festival was to stay home.