SOUTHERN BRED, CRAWFISH FED

The Deese family brings their Southern root traditions to 417-land with their annual craw sh broil, a true spectacle for the senses.

WRITTEN BY JO JOLLIFF

Feeling homesick for their beloved hometown in south Mississippi, Jason and Emily Deese decided to bring the taste of home to Spring eld and invited a few of their friends over for a craw sh broil—an activity they both grew up doing. This became a tradition each spring and has rapidly grown over the years. They now host 50 to 100 people each year and serve more than 200 pounds of craw sh.

“It started small,” Jason say. “We were just doing it as a way to bring a tradition that we grew up with to our friends here in the Ozarks.” They started the tradition by purchasing everything as a way of thanking their friends. “It was a way of giving back and saying thanks for being good friends and good people,” he says. “Growing up and moving here to

Missouri, you don’t really have a lot of friends and you don’t have a lot of roots. You just try to show appreciation to the ones that are true to you.”

Since it has grown, friends started to pitch in donations and help purchase food due to the large amount of supplies required. “It’s grown tremendously,” Emily says. The day of one event, guests would start asking when the next one would be. But it’s not just the food that draws in a crowd; many look forward to this event as a day of fun ringing in one of the rst warm days of spring as everyone plays games like cornhole and horseshoes outside.

Friends and family spend the day coming and going, with more arriving as the sun begins to set. “We’ll get a re pit going and sit around it,” Emily says. “That’s usually where the night ends.” 