Temperatures were high in the kitchen of the Fort-Coulonge community hall on Saturday evening as Knights of Columbus members entered the home stretch of cooking their annual walleye supper.
Some 350 attendees packed the dining hall for the meal, which the club puts on as a fundraiser to support its building maintenance, the Paroisse St-Pierre Catholic church next door, and the club’s ongoing mission of helping community members in need.
Pierre Bourassa is in his third year as the club’s Faithful Navigator (a role akin to president). He said one way the club supports the community is through offering financial assistance to people who need help buying groceries.
“You see that?” Bourassa said, gesturing to the packed dining hall before the meal was served. “That is because the meal is good, and the community supports us. It gives them the opportunity to meet with each other. For some people, it can be over a year that they haven’t seen each other.”
He said the biggest group the event feeds every year is the Fortin family, which draws over 70 relatives for the fish feast.
In the kitchen, four cooks were assigned to deep frying duty, working their way through stacks of fillets that had been ordered from Scandinavia. In one of the ovens, trays of chicken were being kept warm, and in another, hundreds of tinfoil wrapped potatoes. At another yet, the club’s youngest recruit, Joël Ladouceur, was busy transferring the freshly fried fish to trays to keep it warm.
“I’m not overwhelmed yet, but when they start calling for trays [when they’re serving] then it’s going to get busy,” he said, sweat forming on his brow as he opened and closed the oven doors. “Then I’ll be like a gopher,” he said, alluding to the frantic back-and-forth he would soon have to do to ensure the servers had warm fish to plate.
All in all, Bourassa said around 15 volunteers were involved in making the evening a success.
When the clock struck 6 p.m., diners began filing through the kitchen to fill their plates with the spread of home-cooked delights.
Once plates were cleared, the 148 West Band took the stage to entertain diners into the evening.
