by Guillaume Laflamme
Quyon
May 9, 2024
Quyon locals enjoyed a feast of barbotte and homemade french fries for the first time in 15 years on Thursday evening, celebrating the return of the the Quyon Legion’s Barbotte Supper tradition.
The sold out event, last held in 2009, saw 120 pounds of potatoes and over 130 pounds of barbotte, otherwise known as brown bullhead catfish, seasoned, fried and served to the community.
The Legion hall was bustling with people sitting down to . . .
enjoy some freshly fried fish and chips, with dozens of people lined up at the serving table, waiting for the trays of barbotte as they cycled through the back door.
Volunteers were put to work behind the Legion hall, with nine people working non-stop to fry dozens of pounds of fish at a time, while piles of sliced potatoes sat in large blue bins, waiting their turn in the deep fryer.
When the freshly prepared food finally hit the serving table, the team had to scramble to keep the supplies stocked as hungry and nostalgic attendees filled their plates.
Vicky Leach, one of the organizers for the event, said she was happy to see the return of the traditional supper, which has been frequently requested by people from the region over the years
“We’ve had people asking us ‘When are you doing it?’ So this year, we finally decided that we were going to go ahead and put it on,” Leach said.
Leach explained that putting on the event involved a massive team effort from the volunteers, recounting how eight people spent the day prior to the event preparing all the fish and slicing the potatoes..
“They used to get anywhere between 250 to 300 pounds of barbotte for the supper. We don’t quite have that much this year, but this is our first time too,” Leach said.
People attending the event could choose to order the fish and fries for take-out, or dine-in at the Legion hall. Leach believes the event was also a chance to bring new members to the town’s Legion.
Darlene Morris is a member of the Quyon Legion and was one of the people who has been patiently awaiting the return of the town tradition.
Morris’ parents used to own a chip wagon in Quyon and would prepare all of the fish and potatoes to be served at the feast.
“It was through the fishing game club in Quyon [ . . . ] They would get all the barbotte supper arranged and my parents would come in with the chip wagon and cook everything for them,” Morris said.
Morris explained that despite the popularity of the Barbotte Supper, her parents sold the chip wagon in 2009. Combined with the closing of the Quyon fish and game club, the event didn’t make its comeback until last week.
With the initial success of the first Barbotte Supper, the Quyon Legion hopes the event will make a return next year.
