Lakeside is cooking up another round of its Crawdad Festival, with plans for more Louisiana mudbugs, an eating contest, car show and pontoon boat rides on the weekend of May 7.

Planners have been hard at work on the second-annual event, which will be held at the Tenmile Lake County Park through May 9.

In addition to more than 1,600 pounds of fresh, live crawdads flown in for the occasion, the festival will include a Cajun cooking contest, crawdad races for kids, a street fair with artists and vendors, a wine tasting and beer garden, boat rides, a raffle and a carnival.

It will also feature about 70 vendors.

Festival attendees should expect some changes from last year's event. According to an information sheet from the Lakeside Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event, the county will charge a $2 parking fee for use of the park's parking area. Free street parking will be available, and the first hour of parking at the park is free. Also, there will be a $1 entry fee for adults. Children 15 years old or younger can enter for no charge. On May 9, which happens to be Mother's Day, women can attend for free.

Profits from the festival will go toward holding the event next year. The chamber also voted to give 10 percent of the festival's earnings toward a city beautification project.

A volunteer-run event, the chamber is looking for helpers to work for three hours per day as gate attendants. Volunteers receive free passes for the entire weekend.

The next festival planning meeting will be held at 3 p.m., Friday, April 9, at the Osprey Point Resort.

For more information, those interested can visit www.lakesidecrawdadfestival.com, or to volunteer or request a vendor space, contact Mattie Lane at mattie@lakesidecrawdadfestival.com.