My community's volunteer fire department does a monthly fish fry - the second Saturday of each month 10 months a year. The fish fry is not held in December due to the busy holiday season or in July due to the vacation season. They've been doing this several years and it is a steady, dependable source of funding. There is, of course, an investment required for cooking and serving equipment, chairs and tables, disposable plates, cups and utensils. The menu includes deep fried chicken strips, fish, hushpuppies and fries along with white beans, cole slaw, tea and colas. Homemade desserts are donated by the firefighters and spouses and sold for 50 cents extra. Takeouts are available. This is in a rural farming community, and it has become a real social event. If you eat in, it's all you can eat for $7 or $7.50 (discounted for children). The firefighters do all the cooking and purchase the fish and chicken from, I think, the Captain D's Restaurant.

Other events are often tied in with the Fish Fry: local bands sometimes perform, the Lions Club hosts a Blood Drive quarterly, a benefit auction was held for a charity, and one month all the profit went to a local cancer victim who is battling a rare form of the disease and having to take expensive experimental drugs (there were lots of extra donations at that one). The local politicians also attend regularly -- Tennessee State Sen. Fred Thompson even came once.

Not only does it ensure the Fire Department of having sufficient revenues to buy equipment, etc., it brings the community together on a regular basis! Average attendance ranges between 300 and 400 per fish fry.