Is St. Mary’s Fish Fry happening this year? No.

Fried fish at a previous St. Mary’s Fish Fry. Mirror file photo.

by Sara Swanson

Lent began on February 18 and many Manchester residents were asking if St. Mary Roman Catholic Church would be holding their award-winning, annual fish fry on Friday. The answer is no.

There are multiple reasons behind this decision, including the resignations of key volunteers for health reasons, updates to equipment that need to be made, and the rising cost of ingredients. Compounding all of these is the early position of Lent on the calendar this year and the short timeframe that gave organizers to try to resolve the issues after the start of the new year.

For those community members mourning the loss of the event, this isn’t the first time in recent memory that St. Mary’s Fish Fry took a hiatus. Because of outdated equipment, it took a 10-year break from holding the event. And during that time a new organization stepped in, filling in the void, providing weekly fish fries throughout Lent at Sharon United Methodist Church through 2017 until St. Mary's restarted their fish fry in 2018.

St. Mary’s states that it is indeed a possibility, like last time, that the fish fry will return, maybe even next year!

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.