You can’t blame Washington politicians for worrying about two big events that threatened to impact the city in early March. One was the potential effects of a sequester on the country’s operating budget, the other, a gigantic snowstorm threatening to dump a foot of snow on the city.

As it turned out, neither had a negative effect on the National Alliance of Independent Crop Consultants’ annual trek to Washington D.C., to put on its 16^thannual Crawfish Boil on the Hill, held in the Longworth Building Cafeteria, on the evening of Tuesday, March 5.

Over 300 congressional leaders, staffers, representatives from USDA and others attended the buffet-style gathering featuring Cajun favorites, boiled crawfish and crawfish etouffee. No one talked politics at the event. It was simply a place and time for everyone to relax and get to know one another better.

“It’s all about building relationships, noted Ray Young, NAICC member, who has attended all of the annual crawfish boils.”