Sacred Heart fish dinners draw crowds during Lent

The place to be on Friday nights during Lent is the Sacred Heart Church’s Lenten Fish Dinner in New Philadelphia. The church is located at 139 Third St. NE and the public is invited.

“It's become quite a community event for the area,” Matt Fantin said. “We have people come every year because they know they're going to see people that they haven't seen in a year. It’s a great fellowship for the community.”

Some people will stay long after they have finished their meal to socialize.

Even though the dinners are a fundraiser to support the church and the volunteers want them to be successful, that is not their primary focus.

“We just have a blast, it’s fun, fellowship and camaraderie,” Melanie Byers, organizer of the fish dinners, said.

The Catholic Sisters, who are based at Immaculate Conception Church in Dennison, love to volunteer for the dinners and help wherever needed. They are always among the 40-45 volunteers working each week.

Organizers take pride in the quality of the food they serve, even the small details like tartar sauce.

"We can't tell you how many different sources and stuff we tried until we found the tartar sauce we serve. It has a real nice dill taste, and we get lots of compliments on it," Byers said.

While all the food is good, it’s the desserts table that takes center stage. Dinner patrons get to pick the dessert they want. They are packaged in individual containers. Dessert is even on the ala carte menu so extra can be purchased to take home.

To make the fish dinner more convenient, there is one serving line for dine in and a separate serving line for takeout. The church is using a newer roaster system that keeps the food hotter until it is served.

Cod is served and it’s available baked, fried or lemon pepper.

The favorite potato option is the garlic roasted potatoes. Organizers got the idea from Carmie Martinelli, former head cook at Tuscarawas Central Catholic High School, who first made the potatoes.

“We get just humongous compliments. They always sell out first because we only make so many pans full,” Byers said.

French fries are available too. All dinners are served with bread and butter.

Other sides are coleslaw, macaroni and cheese and applesauce. Cheese pizza is available on the ala carte menu.

When Byers first took over organization of the dinner, she began planning in October or November. Since then, Byers has developed a spreadsheet with about 25 tabs in it to keep track of everything from the food to the volunteers. Now she doesn’t start planning until early January. Assisting is Colleen Hostetler, a former employee at Tuscora Park’s concession stand.

“She helps me a ton. She does all the inventory ordering for me and puts it away,” Byers said.

The church gets food deliveries every week while the dinners are going on.

Any leftovers are donated, they are packed and delivered to different organizations like area shelters, law enforcement agencies or the fire department.

Regular size dinners are available for $12 and include three pieces of fried fish or one piece of baked or lemon pepper fish, choice of garlic roasted potatoes or French fries, hush puppies, choice of coleslaw, macaroni and cheese or apple sauce, bread and butter and dessert. The large dinners are $15, they include the same choices as the regular dinner but have a choice of five pieces of fried fish, or two pieces of baked or two pieces of lemon pepper fish.

Enjoy the long-standing tradition of the Lenten Fish Dinners in a welcoming environment that also fosters community at Sacred Heart Church this year. Dinners are scheduled each Friday night starting Feb. 20 through March 27 from 4-7 p.m.