A thriving Memphis auto dealer will step into the title sponsorship for a popular annual street festival, bringing a taste of Cajun country to the bluffs.

City Auto Sales LLC, which specializes in pre-owned car sales by independent sales contractors, signed on to support this year’s Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival benefiting Porter-Leath. The event is in its 18th year.

The Commercial Appeal file photo

Tommy Herter (from left), Josh Hefner, Mike Hefner and Andrew Poe of Mud Bug Mike’s prepare a load of boiled crawfish at last year’s Porter-Leath Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival.

Lynsey Freeman, marketing manager for City Auto, said the time was right for the company to increase its community support.

“We have reached out in the past 18 months to move from branding more to event marketing,” said Freeman. “We really didn’t have a lot of community involvement, so when the opportunity to become a title sponsor opened up, we jumped on it.”

Porter Leath executive vice president Mike Warr, who founded the festival, said City Auto will replace the Variety Club, which served as title sponsor for the last five years. The group pulled out due to the bad economy.

However, City Auto has fared better than most auto dealers because car buyers are looking more closely at less-expensive pre-owned cars, Freeman said.

“I knew that City Auto was doing well,” Warr said. “So we hooked up with them, and got them to pick it up as the title sponsor.”

Owner David Andrews met with Porter-Leath staff in January and signed on as sponsor in mid-February.

“We were able to see their operation in progress and get a real feel for what they do,” said Freeman, referring to Porter-Leath.

“We see the huge impact they’re having on kids with their Head Start program and with their families.”

Porter-Leath is a nonprofit established 160 years ago to support at-risk children and families through educational programs and housing services.

“Every dollar is important these days, and Porter-Leath was able to show us the results,” said Freeman.

The Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival takes place from noon to 6 p.m. April 18 at Wagner Place between Union Avenue and Beale Street Downtown. Events will include live music on two stages, a gumbo cook-off with 24 teams, a crawfish eating contest and a live crawfish bob.

Admission is free, and Warr expects about 15,000 attendees and proceeds between $60,000 to $75,000, depending on the weather.

Last year’s event sold 16,000 pounds of crawfish and 96 kegs of beer.

City Auto, whose flagship car lot is at 4932 Elmore Road, was established in 1986. It employs 54 full-time staff and about 80 others including independent sales contractors.

The $10,000 sponsorship is a one-time gift, but Freeman said that City Auto is open to continued support.

“We only hope that they’ll ask us to come back and do it again next year,” said Freeman.

City Auto Porter-Leath Rajun Cajun Crawfish Festival

Noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, April 18, Wagner Place between Union and Beale; Free admission. On the Web: porterleath.org and cityauto.com.

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