One thing’s for sure, you won’t leave the 12th annual Slidell Heritage Festival hungry.

This year’s Independence Day celebration will take place from 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Heritage Park, and promises food to tempt every palate. From catfish plates and bacon-wrapped shrimp to fried alligator and boudin bites, to name just a few, the variety of culinary offerings seems almost endless.

Of course, the requisite pizza, hot dogs, snowballs and funnel cakes will also be on hand.

Fireworks light up the sky in Slidell Heritage Festivals past and are planned for the Fourth of July celebration on Saturday. (File Photo)

“We have so many food booths, we’re running out of room,” said Eleanor Cumbow, festival chairperson. “They’re just going to have to make the park bigger.”

The holiday event is also a fundraiser. Last year’s festival raised over $40,000 for a number of local charities. Proceeds from this year’s event will go to the Boy Scouts of America, Community Christian Concern, Mental Health Association of St. Tammany, STARC, and St. Tammany Toys for Tots.

Admission is $7 for adults, with children 12 and under admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult.

The event will commence with Art on the Bayou, a display of works by members of the Slidell Art League from 3 to 7 p.m. A number of inflatables will be set up in the children’s playground area, and live entertainment will kick off at 3:30 p.m. with T’Canaille, followed by country artists Amanda Henkel at 5:30 p.m. and Cody McCarver at 7:15 p.m. The Chee Weez will close out the day at 9:30 p.m. following the fireworks display.

Henkel is a former model and Slidell native who has just released her first album.

“We’re just so excited,” Cumbow. “She was coming to do the rounds of the country radio stations, and someone in Rotary knows her family, so we got on the phones right quick.”

No parking will be available within Heritage Park, so residents are advised to park at the City of Slidell trailer complex or anywhere in nearby Olde Towne. In addition, the Slidell Police advise that Front Street will be closed to traffic between Fremaux Avenue and West Hall Road from 7:30 p.m. to midnight.

Robert Landing, the public boat launch at the southern end of the park, will also be closed beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday until 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

For more information, go to www.slidellheritagefest.org.