Fly-in fish boil

Unless you live or vacation on Washington Island, Wisconsin, you may never have heard of a Fly-in Fish Boil.  It’s a rather simple concept really.  If you own a small plane, you fly in to the airport on Washington Island.  If it happens to be the right Saturday, the Washington Island Lions Club will be there with huge kettles bubbling full of locally-caught whitefish with potatoes and onions.  When the time is right they toss extra fuel on the fire to boil it over and then remove the ingredients.  The best part is that for a rather reasonable price, they are then willing to feed you!

We had just finished a week’s vacation on the island and, with the weather warm and sunny, we were trying to delay our departure.  So, instead of going directly to the Ferry Dock, we made a slight detour and stopped at the airport.  People were already lining up for the first batch of fish and planes continued to land at regular intervals.  I’m not good a guessing crowds but there had to be hundreds of people there and maybe a couple of hundred planes.  For a little out-of-the-way place they were sure drawing a crowd.

After watching the preparation of the food I was anxious to look at the planes that were parked all over the airport.  I don’t know anything about planes so I can’t give any details, but there were all different colors and kinds including biplanes.  Some looked very new and some were well-cared for older planes.  And, about every 5 minutes or so another plane would land and join the crowd.

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