STURGIS - A man uses a wire strainer to dip crawfish into boiling water. Elsewhere, an assistant watches the grill to make sure the alligator is cooked perfectly. Blues and bluegrass play over the loudspeaker.

Jason Fields and Paul Schmidt recently brought a taste of the South to Sturgis with their menu of hush puppies, Cajun shish-kabobs, frog legs, shrimp Creole, shrimp-on-a-stick and Cajun bratwurst.

The eighth annual Crawfish Festival - a tradition in the South - required a year of planning on Fields' part and some long-distance shopping.

Fields said the 250 pounds of crawfish cooked for the festival came from a Louisiana farm.

"He's the same guy I've used for all eight years," he said.

The crawfish were shipped north a few days before the festival, which was held at Rosco'z. Fields picked them up at Rapid City Regional Airport and brought them to Sturgis, but nobody needed to worry about snapping claws or anything else.

"They come in like a gunny sack, really tightly packed," Fields said. "They are kept good and cold." The crawfish "come back to life" when that pack is opened, he added.

Fields prepares the crawfish by purging them. A tub is filled with water, and the crawfish suck in the water. Mud comes out, and he repeats the process until the water is clear.

The crawfish are checked; Fields removes dead or less-than-thriving members. He then boils the rest, which makes the food as fresh as possible.

An alligator weighing 6 to 8 pounds was on Schmidt's grill. He cooked it on low heat for about 90 minutes and tried to keep the temperature at 300 degrees.

The meat tastes like a combination between chicken and fish.

Fields said he brought two alligators for this year's event. Frog legs, oysters and shrimp completed the menu. The oysters were used for stew and the shrimp for Creole.

This tradition actually began when Fields grew up in Texas.

"It's kind of a Southern thing," he said. "We figured it's something unique, and we went with it."

The first year featured 100 pounds of crawfish. Fields, who said he plans for the festival all year, recalled it was a small event, with no live music or tent.

"It's gotten bigger and better every year, for sure."

Get to know the crawfish industry

The crawfish has been an inherent part of Louisiana culture, with crawfish boils and backyard parties a time-honored tradition.

* Crawfish are freshwater crustaceans, abundant in the swamps and marshes across south Louisiana.

* Louisiana leads the nation in crawfish farming, producing more than 90 percent of the domestic crop.

* More than 1,600 farmers produce crawfish in some 111,000 acres of ponds.

* More than 7,000 people depend directly or indirectly on the crawfish industry.

Source: Louisiana Crawfish Promotion & Research Board