Fish Tent opens at World’s Biggest Fish Fry in Paris

PARIS, Tenn.–It’s fish frying season here in West Tennessee and Wednesday marked the opening of the fish tent at the World’s Biggest Fish Fry in Paris.

The day started out with a line growing outside of the “Fish Tent” that started reaching numbers in the hundreds. The line was loaded with people with empty stomachs ready to chow down on some fish, fries, and hush puppies.

“It’s very good I would encourage everyone to come out and try,” said Joann Carter, a World’s Biggest Fish Fry attendee.

This is the 70th anniversary of the World’s Biggest Fish Fry. According to Brandon Lackey, the general manager of the Fish Fry, the event started as an event called “Mule Day” but when cars started becoming more popular they switched the event to a fish fry. On average, each year they cook around 13,000 pounds of catfish, 55,000 hush puppies, and more.

“There is 6 tons of coleslaw, like tons of coleslaw go out. There’s two different kinds. You got your three tons of each on average; vinegar and mayonnaise slaw,” said Brandon Lackey,  General Manager of the World’s Biggest Fish Fry.

On the first day of the fish fry, the day started off with the tradition of throwing the first hush puppy.

“On Wednesday we always have a tradition where we toss out the first hush puppy, it’s kind of like a ceremony. That was at 5 o’clock. We actually have a Christian concert at 7 o’clock in our building and then we have the carnival going as well while all this is going on,” said Lackey.

While at the World’s Biggest Fish Fry WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News got a chance to go behind the scenes and see how the kitchen handles creating all that food. First, they start by thawing the fish in large tubs. Once they’re thawed, they move to a breading station where volunteers bread the fish. From there they move towards the eight large fryers, and finally they sit and cool. As for fries and hush puppies they each have a station with workers constantly dropping them in and serving them fresh.

The money made from the event goes towards next year’s fish fry and is re-invested into the local community. The next big event is the Fish Fry Grand Parade. It’s set for 10 o’clock Friday morning in Downtown Paris.

Click here for the full schedule of events.

For more local news, click here.