Dozens of people packed the basement of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Cedar Friday afternoon to partake in the first fish-fry of the Lent season. This year’s dinner includes baked or fried cod, scalloped potatoes, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, dinner rolls, and a dessert of choice, such as a slice of apple, cherry, or pumpkin pie.
Every year, volunteers and parishioners of Holy Rosary cook up hundreds of fish dinners throughout the month of March into April for Lent, a 40 day season of “prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.”
This year is no different — Many standing in line to pick up dinners eagerly awaited their food and have been coming to the Friday fish-fry for more than a decade. Leelanau resident Steve Patmore, one of the dozens in line last week, said he makes a point to go at least twice every year.
“Sometimes you only see people once a year and you see them here,” Patmore said. “It’s all really good — and the community, it helps out the church.”
Craig Therrien has worked more than 20 years on the food line at the fish-fry. He said the church has a core group of volunteers that have been helping with the preparation of the dinners for 25 plus years as well, noting that there’s also a good amount of youth from families that help with the entire process. It depends on who is around during Lent, too, Therrien added, but everyone that assists during a fish fry is a volunteer.
“You see the same faces for the last 30 years (at dinners)... It’s a lot of fish to serve in a couple hours,” Therrien said. “Fish dinners generally aren’t a big money maker because of the cost of the material, so it’s more of a community thing. It brings everyone out and everyone looks forward to it. It’s a big camaraderie thing.”
Therrien said the average number of people they’ve been serving has been anywhere between 550-600 per dinner. The weather is another factor that determines how many come out. Recalling some of their busiest days, he said they’ve served more than 700 dinners on a Friday.
“I think Holy Rosary is the last church doing a fish-fry in Leelanau County,” he added. “St. Mary’s used to do them and we would alternate with them and I think a couple other parishes did them, but now it’s just us.”
Ryan Konieczka, another Holy Rosary volunteer and parishioner, has been shadowing Therrien and will be helping to oversee fish-fry dinners in the future. He said with the fish-fry being such a community effort, everyone involved has a process down and a good idea of what they’re supposed to be doing.
“Being Catholic is very impor- tant to me. Jesus taught us that we need to help others. There’s that charity aspect, which is also very important,” Konieczka said. “Father Libby revitalized this church and allows it to continue with these traditions… He hates to see a tradition go away. So he really wants, whether it’s the chicken or fish dinner, all these other things to continue on — So us young people are trying to step up and help the last generation to continue this along.”
Holy Rosary Church is located at 6982 S. Schomberg Road, two miles north of Cedar. Fish dinners are $16 and will be served next on March 21 and April 4 from 4-7 p.m. Meals are available for dine-in or takeout.
Two more fish dinners at Holy Rosary Church are scheduled for March 21 and April 4 from 4-7 p.m. Enterprise photos by Meakalia Previch-Liu
Volunteers serve the guests at the Holy Rosary Fish Fry.
