The Masonic Fish Fry, traditionally a staple of North Grenville’s social calendar, is returning for 2023 and takes place at the Municipal Centre on Saturday, June 17, between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. The cost is $25 for adults and $10 for the under-12’s, and is available either as eat in or take out.
This year’s event coincides with the 60th anniversary of the B&H Your Community Grocer in Kemptville, and Jim and Judy Beveridge are sponsoring the fish fry in memory of Keith Beveridge, Jim’s father and original owner of the B&H, named after him and his business partner, Ken Haggett – hence B&H. Jim explained the background to the sponsorship: “One of the organisations, one of many that Dad was involved in, was the Masonic Lodge and Fish Fry was one that he was very much part of the early organisation of.”
There seems to be some uncertainty about exactly when the Fish Fry began, but for the first years it was held in Limerick Forest as an outdoor event, with the aim of raising funds to build the Lodge building for the Masons in Kemptville. The event was a major celebration with bluegrass music and a big bonfire. But as licensing and insurance regulations took a more dominant role, the Fish Fry moved indoors, first to the Community Centre (which is now the Curling Club location), and then on to the Municipal Centre where it remained.
The lockdowns of the past few years had an impact on the event as with everything else, and Jim and Judy wanted to support its return; as Jim put it: “And we thought that because they had missed a couple of years with COVID, it was an opportunity for us in memory of Dad and as part of our celebration of 60 years, to help sponsor the event, to bring it back for one more year at least, hopefully more.”
Indeed, the annual Fish Fry is one of those occasions that our community has enjoyed for so long, and its continuation is a welcome sign of normality and tradition overcoming adversity and the isolation which has threatened so much of our communal social life. Thanks once again to Jim and Judy and the B&H for their most recent efforts in support of their friends and neighbours.
