BLUE HILLS HERITAGE FOUNDATION

– 2018 Event Inductee –

Luray Fish Fry

 

 

The Luray Fish Fry in Luray, Kansas has been sponsored by the Luray United Methodist Church since 1938, making it the longest-running annual public event in Russell County.  

 

A fundraiser for church activities, the event is put on with the help of the entire community. The meal remains the same that was served at the first event – great fish, baked potato, coleslaw, green beans, hot rolls, homemade cherry or apple pie and a beverage.  At one point the Fish Fry served to crowds of 1,000 to 1,500 people, and currently it still draws a good crowd of several hundred hungry customers each year.

 

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Everyone Lends a Hand For Luray Fish Fry

“LURAY – What takes 730 pounds of fish, 45 gallons of baked beans, 135 dozen rolls, 600 pounds of potatoes, 230 cherry pies, 300 pounds of cabbage and a whole town to prepare and serve it?

 

The Luray Fish Fry.

 

Proceeds from the fry go to the operational budget of the Luray United Methodist Church, but everyone helps, regardless of religion.

 

Beginning with two fry pans and the need to raise funds to remodel the church some 35 years ago, the event now takes as much organizing as a full-scale war.  Few of the approximately 350 Luray citizens fail to help in some way.  More than 1,000 customers, from Salina to Hays, have been served each year for the last several years.

 

Planning and most of the work is done by the men.  All food and supplies are ordered through local businesses. There’s a committee for every duty – borrowing coffee pots, chopping cabbage for cole slaw, thawing fish and finding women to bake cherry pies, potatoes and baked beans.

 

Committeemen remember the location and size of ovens, rather than homes, in the city.  They know exactly how many gallons of beans or dozens of potatoes each oven will hold.

 

Women are told what time the food should be ready for serving.  Two men in a pickup truck move through the city, gathering the prepared food as needed.

 

Men thaw the frozen fish the day before the fry.  Pies and cole slaw are made ahead of time. The fish is turned the morning of the fry and frying operations begin late that afternoon.

 

The fish, mixed in corn meal, egg and flour batter, is deep fat fried in large home-made cast iron fry pans.

 

Patrons are served on the main floor of the Luray American Legion home and the fish is fried in the concession stand in. the basement.  The Legion building originally was the high school auditorium.

 

High school boys are waiters for the sit down meal. Tables run the length of the auditorium floor and each ticket buyer is given a number.  The first diners are usually the slowest to finish. They haven’t had to wait and are anxious to visit with their neighbors. The next groups have been waiting, have finished their visiting beforehand and are hungry.

 

Besides, by the time the second group is seated, there are several hundred people standing and sitting on the gym floor and in the balcony, waiting their turns to eat.  All those waiting, hungry people discourage any tendency to dawdle.

 

No one is ever hurried, though.  Ticket holders are entitled to all the fish they can eat and generous supplies of hot fish and rolls, batter, tartar sauce and sour cream are kept at the tables.

 

The waiters see that coffee cups are always full.  The ecumenical spirit of the fry is carried out in the placemats, which have table graces for 4 different religions.

 

Planning for the next year’s fry began before they started frying fish for this year’s event, which was March 21.  Committee chairmen carry notebooks in their pockets. Each notebook contains a record of what was done, what should have been done and what improvement could be made next year.

 

Not all bills for this year’s fry are in, but the Rev. Richard Krenz, Methodist minister, said the church expects a profit of $1,000.  Denzil Fallis, a Luray farmer, was general chairman of this year’s fry.” – Salina Journal, March 30, 1969.

 

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Luray’s famous fish fry

Food, folks and fellowship overflow

LURAY – It’s not really the crisp fried cod nor the colorful array of homebaked cherry pies which draw hundreds of persons to the Luray fish fry year after year.

 

The food helps, to be sure.  But the real highlight of the event, sponsored by the United Methodist Men of Luray, seems to be the camaraderie shared by townspeople and visitors alike.

 

“It’s a social thing,” explained co-chairman Delmar Princ during Friday night’s activities at the American Legion Hall here.  “It’s a place to meet old friends.”

 

Ralph Oswald, who has cooked for the fish fry since 1946 and waited tables before that, said: “It’s for the benefit of the Methodists, but the whole community is involved.  We have a lot of Catholics and Lutherans here but we consider them all Methodists for a day.”

 

To reinforce the united effort idea Catholic, Jewish, Protestant and Orthodox Christian prayers were printed on table placemats.  No one seems certain when the event started – some oldtimers believe the year may have been 1935.  Only 36 persons attended that first bash in the old Oddfellows Hall.

 

This year some 1,200 visitors came to this town of 365 residents to enjoy the good food and good company. The hall, which was built in 1917 and used at one time as the high school gymnasium, overflowed with participants – many of whom waited as long as 2 hours until their turn came to take a seat at one of the large tables.

 

Some stood around the dining area.  Others sat in the balcony.  Luray banker John O’Leary Jr., was stationed at entrance to greet visitors.  There was much talking, much laughing, much renewing of old acquaintances.

 

At the front of the auditorium was the stage, covered wing to wing, with cherry pies (200 to be exact), especially baked for the occasion by the women of Luray.  Ten large coffee urns parked some 2,000 cups of coffee before the night ended.

 

The serving line was in front of the stage.  Volunteers dished up baked and green beans; cole slaw, baked potatoes, rolls and, of course, fish.

 

Students from Luray High School scurried among the diners offering second helpings of fish. There was no reason for anyone to leave hungry.

 

The basement also was the scene of much activity as residents demonstrated their stove-top talents.

 

Some men dipped the fish first into a mixture of milk, eggs, salt and pepper and then into cornmeal and flour for coating. Next, the fish went into one of the 4 black cast iron kettles’ or vats lined up in and near the kitchen. Sawdust was scattered around the tubs to catch grease splatters.

 

Dan Smith, a local grocer who has supplied food for the fish fry since 1959, said he ordered 950 pounds of Pollock, a type of cod, 4 weeks ago from the East Coast. Sisters addition, he also supplied the fixings for 60 gallons of cole slaw (served in 20-gallon ironstone crocks), 24 gallons of green beans, 30 gallons of  baked beans and 127 dozen buns.

 

One Luray resident estimated that the fish fry attracts Kansans from a 50-mile radius. There were visitors from Saline, Osborne and Rooks counties, to name a few. The city of Russell was well represented – one observer said, “There were probably more Russell residents in Luray Friday night than there were Luray residents.” – Salina Journal, March 20, 1977.

 

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Luray’s population nearly triples for a fund-raiser

“LURAY — It started out as I just another church fund-raiser. Fry some fish, bake some potatoes and finish off the meal with cherry pie. That original recipe worked 66 years ago and again this weekend as the people of Luray rallied to serve 600 people who lined up for the annual Luray Fish Fry. Decades ago the Methodist Men’s organization at the United Methodist Church tried the menu — fish, potatoes, green beans, coleslaw, bread and homemade cherry pie — as a fund-raiser to build a new church. Well the faithful have been gathering in that new church for many years now, and it seems that no one knows how to go a year without the fish fry.

 

The menu hasn’t changed, and neither has the schedule. It’s always the third Friday in March. “We’ve talked about stopping it, but then all the static,” said Bill Paschal, one of this year’s organizers. In fact the event has grown so large that it required more help than the Methodist church could provide, so now just about everyone in town has a job to do. There’s lots of joking that the Methodists get the good jobs and the Catholic or Baptist volunteers get others, but really, Paschal said the fish fry is now more of a community event than a church one.

 

Dwight Cornwell agreed. “There will be people here that don’t even go to church,” Cornwell said a few hours before the first diners grabbed their plates.

 

Paschal was 14 years old the year of the first fish fry, and back then every kid in town had a job, too.  That year, he was a server.

 

After 65 years of fish, the 66th production of this meal worked much the same way as it has in years past. The 600 pounds of fish were thawed earlier in the week. By Friday afternoon, the pollock filets were ready for batter, and the three-man team of John Palmer, Keith Zweifel and Joe Green were ready too. Palmer juiced up the filets, then dumped a colander-full into large plastic containers, where Zweifel and Green coated them in the powdery batter. One-by-one, they laid the filets on large baking trays, then moved them to the other side of the kitchen, where another team of volunteer chefs used five supersized fryers to cook every piece. There’s no hiding the advantage of working in the kitchen, these men say. The first pieces of fish to come out of the fryer have never made it upstairs to the dining room. But after their samples, another team of fresh-legged volunteers is put to work.

 

The meal is in the American Legion building on Main Street, and because the kitchen is in the basement, it takes a lot of muscle just to get the fish up the stairs all night long. That’s not the only muscle-work required to get this meal on the table. Because the fish take over the kitchen at the American Legion hall, the side dishes all have to be made somewhere else. The church kitchen is one of three places where the potatoes are baked and the green beans prepared. Once all the food is cooked, it has to be moved to the American Legion.

 

Rosetta Johnson, Peg Gilbert, and Joyce Paschal were on potato duty this year, and after putting all the spuds in the oven, they enjoyed a good part of the beautiful afternoon weather sitting outside the kitchen door in the church parking lot. Volunteers like Jamison have been at this for years — 40 years to be exact. Joyce Paschal said in some families the fish fry volunteers are the second or third generation of workers. Gilbert said the fish fry is a distinct memory from her childhood. Her family always came to town for it, and now that she’s moved back to the area, it only seems right that she do some work. She baked some of the 100 cherry pies that were served.

 

In its biggest years, volunteers cooked meals for 1,200 and 1,300 people. Though that definitely translated to a lot of money for the local church group, Joyce Paschal said that was a little too big for her. The numbers have dropped off over the years, and now the normal crowd is about 600 or 650 people. The long tables inside the hall accommodate less than 150 at a time, so youths from Boy Scouts and the local 4-H club are in charge of cleaning tables throughout the night.

 

In this town of about 200, everyone has an assignment. Some dish up the food, others cook it. Some serve drinks, others clear the empty cups from the table. Even greeting is a permanent job in Luray, and Cornwell said for one night, that assignment goes to two people in town – the preacher and the banker.

 

“Only on Fish Fry night are those two people in the same class,” Cornwell said with a laugh.

 

Price Thacker said there’s only one way to get out of the job – you have to die.” – Hays Daily News, March 21, 2004.

 

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2018 Luray Fish Fry

(by Maurita Cederberg)

The chairmen of the 2018 event were Jack & Jody Cochrun and Mark & Joann Paschal.  Other main committee members were Pastor Les Rye and John Palmer, who was in charge of all the ordering. 

 

2018 was the 80th Luray Fish Fry year.  Approximately 700 guests were served.   Many years ago, there would be as many as 1,200 people attending, as the People’s State Bank became a great booster by sending out tickets to their customers. 

 

Although the event was started by the men of the Methodist Church, in the present day there are men from all faiths from around the area who help, plus many, many ladies.  There are 21 committees that carry out the various duties in order to make the event successful.

 

Pies!  Although it used to be cherry pie only, now it can be cherry or apple.  In 2018 the ladies of the community provided 120 cherry or apple pies, from approximately 55 home ovens. 

 

Green Beans!  The ladies also handled the green bean and bacon duties, filling several roasters with thirty gallons of green beans seasoned with seven pounds of cooked bacon and butter.

 

Potatoes!  800 baking potatoes, scrubbed with a power washer system created by Bill Paschal and now operated by his son Mark.  After drying, they were taken to the church where a volunteer group (of all ages) wrapped them in foil and delivered them to the various ovens.  They are baked in four ovens which are loaded twice, at staggering times.  The “pick up” committees have the “ready” schedule and picked up and delivered the tasty taters to the Luray American Legion Hall. 

 

Cole slaw!  Originally large heads of cabbage were purchased and the men of the slaw committee used an old-fashioned cabbage slicer to make the shredded slaw.  In the current day 45 pounds of cabbage slaw mix was purchased, and the same dressing of many years ago was mixed and added to the cabbage. 

 

Fish!  600 pounds of Pollock filets were purchased for 2018.  The fish were thawed in the kitchen of the American Legion Hall, and then rolled in the breading ready to fry.  They were fried in six large, heavy pans made by Bill Paschal that sit on gas burners and manned by the men in charge of cooking. 

 

Rolls!  Six cases of dinner rolls that were warmed in roasters and made available for diners to pick up.

 

Coffee!  Many, many gallons of coffee were brewed in large pots and served along with bottled water provided by the church. 

 

In addition to the many committees, young people from the Wolf Creek Valley 4-H Club and the Luray United Methodist Church worked the floor, taking care of the serving duties along with adult helpers. 

 

Willis “Bill” Paschal served at the very first fish fry when he was a freshman at Luray High School.  He worked at the 80th event, as he had done at every one since 1938, except for two years when he was in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and was a prisoner-of-war.  Bill passed away April 12th, 2018, four weeks after serving at the ticket table for the 80th event.   

 

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Bill Paschal and so many of others over the past 80 years from the Luray community have exhibited amazing fellowship and harmony through the event known as the Luray Fish Fry.  Their unparalleled example of hard work, sacrifice, and community spirit is a selection of note among the First Class of the Russell County Kansas Hall of Fame.  

 

 

SOURCES:

Maurita Cederberg, Luray, Kansas.

 

Hays Daily News, March 21, 2004.

 

Salina Journal, March 30, 1969; March 20, 1977.

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www.facebook.com/getLuray/

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Top Photograph: Frying the battered fish filets, Luray Fish Fry, March 20, 2015.  Photo courtesy Get Luray Facebook page.

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