Fish Fry’s future in jeopardy

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The annual Lions Club Fish Fry could be in jeopardy this

year because of a legal dispute between the club and Orange Coast

College, where the event has been held for the last two years.

“This is probably the biggest social event in Costa Mesa every year,”

said Mike Scheafer, a member of the club. “Anybody who has been in Costa

Mesa for more than a couple of years knows exactly what it is.

“You constantly hear stories about people who come back to Costa Mesa

that weekend just to go to the Fish Fry,” he said. “I see people that I

went to grammar school with once a year at the Fish Fry and we know we’re

going to see each other there. It’s a community reunion of sorts.”

This year’s Fish Fry will be the club’s 58th, if it finds a location

for it. The Fish Fry is set for the first week of June.

For the first 55 years, the event was held at Lions Park, which was

built using money from the Fish Fry, Scheafer said.

The club has used OCC for the last two years because the construction

of the Downtown Community Center has reduced space at the park, he said.

The problem with this year’s event, Scheafer said, revolves around a

lawsuit filed by a woman who was allegedly injured at a separate event at

the college, which was happening at the same time as the Fish Fry.

The woman sued the college about three months ago, Scheafer said. A

dispute about whether the college or the Lions Club should handle the

lawsuit is the basis for the club’s decision last week to avoid having

the Fish Fry at the college.

Jim McIlwain, vice president of administrative services at Coast

Community College District, said he was unable to comment and could not

confirm or deny the circumstances surrounding the lawsuit.

Scheafer said the Lions Club’s insurance company denied the claim and

OCC filed a cross complaint to try to get the company to pay the lawsuit.

All this leaves the Fish Fry in danger, he said.

“This is really kind of sad commentary on how people like to sue and

how a simple lawsuit can ruin a 58-year tradition,” Scheafer said. “It’s

really a tragedy. Our club has donated, though the Fish Fry, over $2

million back to the community in the last seven years. Unless we get some

help from the city, we’re not going to have an event and there are a lot

of charities that count on getting donations from us that are not going

to get any money.”

The club is scheduled to meet with the city’s Special Events Committee

on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of returning the event to Lions

Park this year.

Ann Shultz, Costa Mesa’s assistant city manager and a member of the

committee, said she does not yet have an opinion on the club’s request to

use the park.

“We don’t really know what they’re proposing in terms of size of the

event,” she said. “We are working on the Downtown Community Center and so

we don’t have the space we had in previous years.”

The City Council would ultimately have to approve the event.

Councilman Gary Monahan said the situation is a “pretty sad turn of

events.”

“I would hope the two sides could get together and work something

out,” Monahan said. “Last year was a success and it seemed it was a

possible location to have the annual Fish Fry. I would be willing to help

the Lions Club to have the Fish Fry in any way possible and in Lions Park

if it can hold the event. But I’m not sure if that’s physically possible

at this point.”