It’s that time of year again where the seniors have the responsibility to run the biannual Bethany Fish Fry. The Fish Fry has been a Bethany tradition for decades, serving as a great fundraiser to help raise money for Bethany’s senior trip. The Fish Fry has not always been up to the quality and organization it is at now. It took many years to master the Bethany Fish Fry.
The Fish Fry has been around since the year 1957, suggested by a father of a junior at Bethany. Since then, it has been a tradition for Bethany to run a Fish Fry twice a year. The Fish Frys “started out as very chaotic, with limited communication throughout the building,” according to Bethany’s guidance counselor Jim Buller. The Fish Fry was divided into three different rooms: the old gym (now the chapel), the old chapel (now the computer labs), and the cafeteria. Although there was a lack of space, Bethany still managed to serve the same amount of people as they do now.
Before Bethany came up with the current parking system, people had to park in what was then the athletic fields, causing damage to them, resulting in repairs after the Fish Fry. The athletic fields were on the north end of the school, the current Bethany Middle School parking lot. Another big thing that caused problems was where they prepared the fish. Before the 1990’s, there wasn’t a pavilion to fry the fish. The fish was prepared in a tent, built just hours before the Fry every year, in the parking lot near the barn. Once the pavilion was built, things ran a bit smoother.
Back then, all servers wore black pants with a white dress shirt. This was a tradition up to a few years ago when individual classes started wearing class Fish Fry shirts. This change occurred because the school thought students could still be classy, without needing to be formal.
“The whole process changed, making things much easier when the new gym was built,” says Bethany’s Dan Bodiker. Bethany’s Fish Fry is one of the biggest events of the year, raising thousands of dollars each Fry. The Fish Fry brings the Bethany community together, and will remain one of the largest fundraisers Bethany runs.
~Liz DeLeeuw