Fish Frydays
Fish Fry Friday
Fish Frydays started in 2015 as a way to provide a way to pay the bills for the gym so that kids could come in and play basketball after school. Through all the different stages of Love City’s journey, the Fish Fry has always been there, bringing people in our community together for a nice meal every Friday.
Fish Fry Portland
The Portland neighborhood is historically culturally catholic. Even though the actual numbers of practicing catholics have dwindled, this tradition of fish on friday has remained strong. When St Cecilia parish started a school in the 1930s, the women of the parish started a fish fry at the parish building to raise money for the school. The parish building they sold fish in is the very same parish building that Love City now runs its fish fry out of.
In a way, Love City has just continued the long standing tradition in the neighborhood of fish on fryday. When we first started our fish fry out of the Mackin building we weren’t sure if anyone would come, but gradually as word got out, more and more neighbors came, bought fish and rediscovered their own community. Many times we heard neighbors in the line to buy fish exclaim when they ran into someone that it was so good to see them, they hadn’t seen them in years. The fish fry provides an important outlet for not only sustainability for Mighty Oak Academy, but also community gathering.
What Is A Fish Fry
Fish Fry’s are a historically Catholic event. In Spring every year there is a period leading up to Easter called Lent. During these forty days of Lent, it is a tradition to give up something that you like, this way every time you want what you sacrificed you remember to think about Jesus’s sacrifice. The Catholic tradition is to give up meat on Fridays and instead eat Fish. Nowadays, many Catholic congregations offer a Fish Fry during the Lent season to provide their communities with a place to get fish and to help raise funds for the congregation.