On Friday Cora Stoppert and I went down to Elk Rapids High School for the annual fish dinner fundraiser for Boy Scout Troop 46. We were prepared for an elegant evening and we were not disappointed. This is Edward. He would be our helper. Look at all those badges. (See the one on his chest? Eagle Scout. He didn’t tell us. I had to figure it out for myself later.)
We started with salads. Scout parents had made many, many kinds of salad and we sampled them all. One of our tablemates took our photo as a memento of the occasion.
In between trips to the salad bar I wandered out to the kitchen to document the enormous volunteer effort that goes into this thing. I wish I knew all the names but I don’t. The guy on the left, though, is Chef Charles of the world-famous pizza emporium on River Street. He prepare the fish for this fundraiser every year. (He knows his way around a kitchen. Before he opened his extraordinary pizza place he did time at the Culinary Institute of America. When it comes to food, we don’t mess around in Antrim County.)
The fish was really good and the baked potatoes were outstanding. The Scouts were attentive, refilling water, clearing plates . . . and bringing around the elegant dessert trolley. On the evidence, parents had been baking cakes for weeks.
Half the town turned out to support the fund raiser. (The other half was over at Lakeland Elementary for the Pinewood Derby. We’ll take you there in the next post.)
And looky here. There are young families in Antrim County.
To all of you who came last night, a big thank you from Vince Cooper, Troop 46 leader, Rose King, sparkplug, and all the Scouts and their parents. To all of you who plan to come next Friday, thank you in advance, and bring a friend. I don’t see how you can go wrong.
And, um, I apologize to everyone who has slow internet for the excessive number of photos but . . . could you possibly leave any of those great kids out? You could not.
Torch Lake Views 
shoreacres
March 17, 2012
This is going to sound strange to you, perhaps, but the first thing that came to mind as I scrolled through the photos was: “That place is so clean!. When I flew into Minneapolis/St.Paul some years ago, I thought the same thing about the airport. And when I was driving through Iowa and Minnesota last fall, I thought the same thing about the farms. Neat, and tidy. Some day I’ll think more about what the reasons might be.
It does my heart good to see those Boy Scouts, and all the people supporting them. Cake looks good, too.
Gerry
March 18, 2012
See, this is why I don’t take too many pictures of the interior of the Writing Studio and Bait Shop. I’m glad to have given you confidence in our clean and tidy culture, though. Antrim County is, in its way, in charge of the food, and takes such matters seriously.
It did my heart good, too, seeing all the people turn out to support the Boy Scouts. (And then we went over to Lakeland and saw the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. You’re going to love it.)
tootlepedal
March 18, 2012
It looks as though it could be best be described as a feast.
Gerry
March 18, 2012
It was a feast indeed. Simple food, well prepared, and plenty of it–Antrim County at its best. The ancestors would approve.
Sybil
March 18, 2012
What a fun evening Gerry.
I gave up fighting with WordPress and have re-created the account so I can comment on WordPress blogs.
Love the photos.
Gerry
March 18, 2012
We had a lot of fun. I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. I hope the kids do, too.
I’m sorry you had to deal with foolishness but I’m glad to see you here.
Fee
March 18, 2012
Gerry, I wonder if you would be so kind as to point that dessert trolley in my direction? It looks absolutely scrumptious. I must confess, I’d have skipped the salads and gone straight to pudding…
Gerry
March 18, 2012
That is only because you did not see the salads. Elk Rapids parents make more kinds of salads than I knew about. I am going to investigate these options and report back.
Dawn K
March 18, 2012
Investigative salad reporting…vitally important and tasty.
Looks like loads of fun! And yummy too.
Gerry
March 18, 2012
It was both. Maybe I’ll go back next Friday. This time I’ll get a whole dessert. (Cora ate half mine. It’s a long story.)
Nye
March 18, 2012
Gerry, the photos are beautiful, the food and desserts look delicious. It looks like they had a good turn out.
Gerry
March 19, 2012
Thank you, Nye. A lot of people came out to support the Scouts, and I hope that many come out this Friday, too.
Joss
March 19, 2012
You seem to take fund-raising a good deal more seriously over there. Here, if something is being done to raise money for charity it is often rather shoddy and half-hearted, but the organisers rely on people to make allowances and give generously anyway. “Yes, but it’s for charity, isn’t it?” is something you often hear.
Gerry
March 19, 2012
We get all kinds of fundraising here, too. Some are slapdash affairs. Other times I think people go overboard with a fancy party that almost obscures the reason for the event. This one, to my mind, was just right. The scouts themselves worked hard on it, their parents invested a good deal of energy into it, and the neighbors pitched in out of the goodness of their hearts and their conviction that the scout troop is a good thing for the community.
kanniduba
March 19, 2012
Fantastic! Our Intermediate School does a Spaghetti Dinner social every year…it has become quite the event!
Oh, and that fish does look wonderful! 🙂
Gerry
March 19, 2012
I don’t think you can go wrong asking people to come have a good meal for pretty much any reason, but when you add to that doing something good for kids . . . how can anyone resist? (The fish really was good, a lot better than my picture of it.)
flandrumhill
March 21, 2012
When I think back on my years as a leader with Scouts Canada, what I recall most is all the fundraising we did. Parents, leaders and kids were all expected to work so hard to raise money for the group. (I actually got out of scouting because I felt there was too much of an emphasis on fundraising in my area and not enough on just being outdoors with the kids).
That meal looked wonderful. What a benefit to the community. I have a feeling that Americans have a better grasp of Baden Powell’s dream for the scouting movement than Canadians do.
Gerry
March 21, 2012
I agree that many nonprofit organizations end up spending more time fundraising than doing whatever it was they had set out to do in the beginning. I won’t have any truck with that. When a fundraising project is earmarked for a specific purpose I’m right there. (In this case it was to pay for summer camp for the local scouts.)
I think there are probably lots of scouting organizations here that have lost sight of the original purpose, too. That can happen in any endeavor, especially when people decide that money is the measure of all things.