Fish Fry Is All about Family Fun, Friends, Fundraising, Food and a Ford Car Raffle

Seal Beach’s longest-running community tradition kicks off Saturday with the 67th Annual Seal Beach Lions Club Fish Fry.

Thousands are expected to descend on Seal Beach this weekend for fried fish and chips, secret recipe cole slaw, bratwurst, beer, live music and dancing and a chance to win prizes such as a 2011 Ford Edge.

“It’s truly a social event that people will remember their whole lives,” said lions Club Member Scott Newton. “It’s literally the time of year you run into friends you only see at the fish fry. It’s the longest running event in Seal Beach.”

It started off as a community event for sports fishers to eat their catch at a beach -style harvest festival.

“The fish fry was really never intended to be a fundraiser,” said Newton. “It was intended to bring people together and to have a good time.”

Visitors paid 50 cents for fish and chips, and the Seal Beach Lions Club raise $247.

These days, the event raises roughly $50,000 a year. It’s the club’s largest fundraiser and it helps the club fund service projects in the community, fund scholarships and put on events for the blind, which is a part of the club’s mission.

The event is free to attend. The club raises most of its money through food and drink sales as well as a series of raffles.

This year, the club quickly pre-sold out of tickets for the weekend’s major raffle of a 2011 Ford Edge. The tickets cost $100, but the club only sales 600 tickets. Though the major raffle is sold out, visitors can still buy raffle tickets for prizes donated by local businesses, which are given away every hour throughout the Fish Fry.

“If you are smart, you buy early because there are fewer names in the hat,” suggested Newton.

The fish fry runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Eisenhower Park.