Nicholas Donaldson
Warm weather, community spirit, and a free meal helped make the 47th-annual fish fry hosted by Rainy River First Nations a record-breaking event.
Pam Kaun, who has been helping organize the event for more than 30 years, said an estimated 1,200 people attended Friday’s event at the RRFN pow-wow grounds located just north of the Highway 11-71 junction.
They usually expect about 800-900 guests.
Kaun said 550 pounds of walleye and 65 pounds of smoked sturgeon from the Rainy River and Rainy Lake were prepared for the meal, but it still wasn’t enough for the huge crowd.
“This was the first year we ran out of walleye,” she remarked.
“The last 20-25 people did not get walleye but still enjoyed the many salads and side dishes.”
Kaun also noted is takes a few days to prepare for the event while that the day of the fish fry involves about 12 hours of work.
She said she was very grateful for the help of volunteers in running such a huge community gathering.
“We have a few offices in Fort Frances-Saulteaux Consulting & Pwi-Di-Goo-Zing Advisory Services-that send out their entire staff for the day,” Kaun explained.
“Many people take the day off of work, and a few people fly in from Sudbury every year, just to help out at our fish fry.”
Also helping out was the Ge-Da-Gi-Binez Youth Centre preparing the macaroni salads while the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre made boxes of baked and fried bannock.
Community members also pitched in to cook the wild rice casseroles.
“Our volunteers are amazing,” Kaun enthused. “Without them, we could not have such a successful event.
“We definitely want to thank our many volunteers for helping out, and thanks to all who made a donations,” she added.
“It was a huge success.”
Meanwhile, the local abattoir committee’s second run at the “Catch the Ace” raffle had its first weekly draw take place at the fish fry.
Chief Jim Leonard drew the ticket in front of the crowd and announced Connie Sinclair as the winner.
Sinclair automatically won 20 percent of the week’s ticket sales ($432).
She also picked envelope #15, which contained the king of hearts, meaning the draw will continue on for at least another week.
The committee sold 1,080 tickets, coming close to selling out the 1,200 tickets they had printed for the week.
The draw raised $1,080 for local 4-H and other youth agriculture education programs.
