Res Life and Wellness give students real fish to fry

Hundreds lined up to get their free fish, fries, coleslaw and root beer floats last Friday as part of a new happening on campus, Free Fish Fryday. Sponsored by Residence Life and Wellness, it attracted hundreds of people to the Union to get their fill of free food.

Jake Wessels (‘11) helped with the initiative.

“I got the idea from an event I heard about my first year here that I went to and didn’t have fish,” Wessells said. “So I thought we should have the real deal. We hired someone to come in and fry the fish and we’re really hoping it gets off the ground.”

Wessels said that the planning was extensive.

“We notified all of the Wellness Floor RAs and asked them if they wanted to help,” he said. “They came together along with other RAs who just wanted to help, and it’s really come together.”

Initially planned for the Library lawn, the event was moved into Oneota Market due to poor weather conditions. Held from 4-10 p.m., the event started with attention-getters, such as Rockband and other games around the Union.

Food and root beer floats were served from 5-8 p.m. In addition, a DJ played from 6-8 p.m. and rock band General B and the Wiz followed until 10 p.m.

Questions arose as to whether this event was supposed to be seen in opposition to Trout Fry, but Wessels denies the correlation.

“This is a separate event from Trout Fry,” he said. “We simply wanted to offer an alternative for those people who can’t go, like RAs, or don’t want to go to Trout Fry.”

Michelle Boursier (‘12), who helped plan the event, agreed.

“Trout Fry has a draw for some people, but there are other people out there who don’t drink,” Boursier. “This is a safe, fun alternative and hopefully a new Luther tradition we’re starting here.”

The event was successful and drew in hundreds of people, with lines stretching all the way to the front of the Union.

“We went through nearly all our food and fed about 400 people,” helper Katie Goodroad (‘12) said. “It was amazing.”