Crawfish Day 2012, sponsored by the Student Programming Association, brings crawfish, live music, entertainment and more to the field next to John L. Guidry Stadium today from noon until 6 p.m.

An annual Nicholls tradition, Crawfish Day draws a large portion of the student population each year to help bring closure to the spring semester.

Louis Bollinger, business senior from Houma, said he thinks Crawfish Day is a great event since it allows students who are not from this area to experience something that is such a big part of Louisiana’s culture. He said he enjoys the event and looks forward to getting together with friends on campus to enjoy some crawfish.

“I think Crawfish Day is one of the best events put on by SPA,” Bollinger said. “Everyone looks forward to it all year.”

Solomon Tention, special events chair for SPA, said this year’s event will bring over 16,000 pounds of crawfish from Heads and Tails catering company and four live performances. He said that although the budget for Crawfish Day was cut, SPA was still able to get more live performances than last year.

“I wanted to make this year better by adding more live performances,” Tention said.

This year’s event will have four musical guests: Autumn High, an indie rock band from Houma, and Steve Junot, who plays acoustic guitar and is also from Houma. There will also be two performances from New Orleans with Dee-1, a hip hop artist, and Rantz Davis, an R & B artist.

“We have more entertainment lined up for the entire time,” Tention said. “We don’t want people to come for just the first hour, but we want them to stay for the entire afternoon.”

Tention said this year’s lineup of artists will provide students from New Orleans, Houma and elsewhere with familiar sounds they may recognize from different locations around the area.

“There was a lot of talent to find since we shopped locally,” he said. “With a smaller budget, we were able to reach out to more local artists.”

Britney Himel, family and consumer sciences senior, said she definitely plans to go to Crawfish Day this year.

“I love crawfish, and I can’t wait to have some fun in the sun with my friends,” Himel said. “I look forward to it every year, like most students.”

For students who are not interested in crawfish, there will also be other entrees such as hamburgers and jambalaya. For dessert, students can pick up cotton candy or ice cream. In addition, students can participate in activities like rock climbing, basketball, bungee basketball, volleyball and a variety of inflatables. Mr. and Ms. Nicholls winners will also be announced at 4 p.m.

Tention said he is happy with this year’s event so far since it will showcase more local talent than usual, and, as always, it helps fuel the local economy when it comes to crawfish.

“Everybody benefits when it comes to this event,” he said.