Georgia Bulletin

The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

  • Andy Diaz, right, covers the cooked salmon with lemon wedges as Dave Webster wraps a tray of salmon, ready to go up to the serving area, with aluminum foil. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • David Webster removes the potatoes from the oven. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Bill Lucker prepares the green beans, one of the signature dishes on the fish fry menu. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Mike Morris, driving, and Gene Gannon transport the food cooked in the lower kitchen up to the parish hall by way of golf cart. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Ray Gustine pours out a dish of the clam chowder, a fish fry favorite. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Kenneth Winkler catches patrons coming through the front door who may be interested in the fish fry's 50-50 raffle. Winkler has been a parishioner since 1993. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Al Garofalo fills take-out orders at a table in the hallway. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • A Friday evening crowd fills the social hall at All Saints Church for the Lenten fish fry. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Alan Etter and his wife Linda of Mableton express their delight when the order arrives at the table. Photo By Michael Alexander
  • Fish fry workers (l-r) Stan Wasowski, Tom Simon, Tony Joyce and Ray Gustine take a brief break during the final 48 minutes of the fish fry. Photo By Michael Alexander

Andy Diaz, right, covers the cooked salmon with lemon wedges as Dave Webster wraps a tray of salmon, ready to go up to the serving area, with aluminum foil. Photo By Michael Alexander

Dunwoody

All Saints’ Knights Serve Up Fish, Fun, Blessings

By ANDREW NELSON, Staff Writer | Published March 18, 2010

A small army of Knights of Columbus members is responsible for the traditional Lent fish fry dinner at All Saints Church. In a three-hour window, close to 1,000 meals are sold, which averages to be about one meal every 10 seconds.

What does it take to pull together this noisy, carnival atmosphere on the eight Fridays of Lent?

Just to start: 140 pounds of potatoes. 72 pounds of green beans. 397 individual pieces of seasoned salmon. Not to mention the coleslaw, fried cod, buckets of clam chowder.

And that’s not to forget the hard-working men, who crack jokes at each other’s expense.  Like Bill Luckerd, who spends a couple hours hovering over the boiling pots of green beans.  He said the steam rising to his face is like a spa. A colleague shouts that the steam gives him the best complexion of the group.

The sign at the front of the driveway announces the Fish Fry at All Saints Church, Dunwoody. Photo By Michael Alexander

Members of Knights of Columbus Council 11402 have been doing this for more than a dozen years. They have gotten the meal service to a science: they know to have waiters deliver food to sitting customers because a buffet takes too much time. Golf carts deliver vegetables and wrapped fish from the lower kitchen. There are two lines, the fast-moving take-out line and one for the dining room. In fact, veterans of the fish fry crew have gone to other parishes to offer advice on making other operations run smoother.

The money they collect supports the many charities supported by the organization.

Lou Hlad, the leader of the Knights of Columbus at All Saints, said so many people attend because it is a close-knit parish and the meals are inexpensive: $7 for fish meal, $8 for salmon, and a $1 off for the over-55 crowd.

“Where in town are you going to get a better deal than that? It’s $4 for the kids meal, so people bring their families. It doesn’t take long to get up to 1,000 meals,” he said.

“People from all the churches around here buy our fish. We have Methodists and Baptists—they see our sign, and they drop in.”

“It is kind of like a carnival. There is a lot of noise. It is just a lot of fun.” said Hlad.

All Saints Church, one of many parishes in the Atlanta Archdiocese hosting fish frys during Lent, is located at 2443 Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody.