By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

Parkers Prairie Lions Club members know the routine with smelt fries, with more than 60 years of experience. People came from near and far to attend this annual event at the community event center on Saturday, April 12.

The club added Alaska pollock to the menu in 2016 knowing that some people prefer regular fish to smelt that comes from Lake Michigan. Also included for each attendee in Parkers Prairie were potato wedges, cole slaw, dinner roll and beverage.

Smelt is a general term for small, silvery fish primarily found in cold, northern waters such as the Great Lakes.

Catching smelt with nets during nighttime hours was a rite of spring in Minnesota, especially near Duluth, in the heyday of the 1970s and 1980s. Smelt entered streams in mid-April when water in tributaries warmed to about 40 degrees. 

However, the presence of Chinook salmon, along with resurgent Lake Superior trout numbers, contributed to the smelt’s downfall.

Smelt fries also are held at other areas in Otter Tail County this time of year. Volunteers for various clubs and organizations cook smelt in fryers with the goal of serving smelt that is crisp and tasty. Smelt fries, all across Minnesota, take place in  church basements, club assembly halls and in some restaurants.

In the early years of the smelt fry in Parker Prairie, the event was held at the elementary school after the Lions Club was chartered in 1963. Since then the club has supported local, state, national and international projects.

In recent years the club installed a fishing pier at Adley Lake, south of Parkers Prairie, and worked hard in raising money to help fund the new aquatic center in Parkers Prairie.

“We appreciate all the people who come here for the smelt feed year after year,” says longtime Lions Club member and retired newspaper publisher Tom Myers.

Lions clubs across the nation focus on several charitable areas such as vision, diabetes, childhood cancer, disaster relief, youth programs and other humanitarian efforts.