With the Albion Fire Department's annual fish and tenderloin fry coming up Wednesday (June 8th), I thought I'd let everyone know just how long the AFD has been doing this fund raiser, which you can read more about here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1125758564936177
The answer: I don't know. I do know we've been doing it for at least forty-five years, with pauses for such things as, oh, pandemics. So I consulted the ultimate guide to the AFD:
But then I remembered: "Oh, yeah ... I wrote that." So if I didn't know it, it isn't in there. However, there is one moment in the book that might give us a clue of the annual fish fry's origins:
###
Sometimes people forget volunteers must be ready always; there’s no time when a fire isn’t possible. Sometimes even firefighters forget that.
On April First, 1946, the AFD held its traditional fish fry at the fire station. Unlike today, the fish fry wasn’t a fundraiser, but a social event held on a Monday before the regular fire meeting, with the Town Board members as guests.
Chief Harry Campbell himself caught the fish – one of his more pleasant duties – and they were prepared and served by firefighters Ted Frymier, Byron and Welty Smith, Harry Butler, and Don Barcus, at “Gerald Fryonler’s restaurant”. In the midst of their supper, a young girl ran into the establishment and reported a vehicle fire at the REMC, which at the time was around the corner on East Main Street.
(The REMC – Rural Electric Membership Corporation – was then in the same building that, back when it was a Chevy garage, first housed the ’29 engine.)
The men can’t be blamed for the obvious conclusion: It was an April Fool’s joke. Certain their falling for the joke gave some prankster great amusement, the volunteers hurried to the scene.
There they found a car, blazing merrily away.
###
I've always wondered if one of the volunteers had to stay behind to make sure the fish didn't burn.
Anyway, hope to see you at the *mumblemumble*ith anniversary fish and tenderloin fry, and don't worry--you don't have to bring your own fish.
If anyone's interested in reading more about the AFD's history, there should be copies at the firehouse, plus I have some, or you can find them on our website:
Or on Amazon with the rest of our books:
https://www.amazon.com/Mark-R-Hunter/e/B0058CL6OO
Or what the heck, even Barnes and Noble:
https://www.amazon.com/Mark-R-Hunter/e/B0058CL6OO
Everyone who's tried them agreed that yes, the fish fry has fish, and yes, the AFD history book is about the AFD's history. If they fried up books at the fish fry, that would be odd.
Have fun!
ReplyDeleteI don't know ... there's something fishy about this.
Delete