Krewe Brought Southern Charm to the Meatpacking District With its Annual ‘Krawfish’ Boil

The sun always brings New Yorkers out on a Saturday, but not to this extent. Over the weekend, luxury eyewear brand Krewe partnered with the Meatpacking District BID to put the fun in fundraiser and turned Gansevoort Street into the scene of a day party that would make The Big Easy proud.

For Krewe founder Stirling Barrett, community is at the center of everything the 10-year-old brand does (hence the name.) Following the success of last year’s inaugural bash, even in the rain, word had spread fast. “We sold over 900 tickets…we had to stop,” Barrett laughed. “Crawfish boils are such a classic Louisiana and New Orleans thing. Krewe is all about the idea of bringing people together, and a crawfish boil is such a great embodiment of that.”

Over 2,000 pounds of crawfish had been called in to meet demand, arriving via a refrigerated truck from Louisiana with additional backup flown up and landing in JFK that morning, too. Mara’s Southern Kitchen was on hand to make sure those in attendance got the full all-you-can-eat immersion, with no shortage of potatoes, corn, and andouille sausage to round out the Southern experience.

Forty members of L Train Brass Band, the beloved non-profit ensemble made up of NYC-based musicians, played multiple sets to add to the atmosphere, as folks enjoyed Abita beer, Gold Peak sweet tea, Poppi sodas, natural wine from &Holiday, and Smartwater. “They’re drinking us out of house and home,” Barrett joked. Elsewhere, Van Leeuwen was doling out ice cream and Popeyes was keeping the fish-averse satiated with baskets of chicken wings and fries.

Within the Meatpacking boutique, Jacquelyn Maroney of Uplift tattoo and piercing studio in Soho was kept busy with a line of people eager to get fine-line tattoos of sunglasses, Mardi Gras masks, crawfish, musical instruments, Martini glasses, and other Southern-inspired emblems—not least because each tatt came with a gifted pair of sunnies courtesy of the brand.

“It’s very New Orleans in New York—which is always fun,” Barrett added of the buzzy atmosphere around the store and outside on the street. “We’ve always felt that New York is our second home, especially once we were in the CFDA. Eventing has been part of our brand from the beginning—we started selling sunglasses from a little tricycle at events! People know us from that. The crowd that has come out of the woodwork today doesn’t look like the typical New York fashion party, and we love bringing this kind of group together.”

As a proud supporter of Memorial Sloan Kettering, a charity close to many New Yorkers’ hearts, a portion of proceeds from the 900-plus ticket sales would be directed to helping advance MSK’s work on cancer research. “Cancer is something that has touched everyone and we wanted to find an inclusive charity that is impactful,” Barrett said of the cause.

As for how they’d manage to get everyone out of there come 7 p.m.? Publicist Savannah Engel had it all planned: simple—just tell them the booze has run out.