Between 250 and 300 people dine on Fridays for the SMV Men’s Club Friday Night Lenten Fish Fry series held during Lent in the Rev. John P. Finnegan Parish Center at St. Mary of Vernon (SMV) Catholic Church in Indian Creek.
Lent is the 40 days before Easter Sunday. Catholics observe Lent through fasting, charity, and prayer. Catholics typically refrain from eating meat on Fridays and on Good Friday, in particular, for many.
Easter Sunday this year is April 5. Orthodox Easter is April 12.
Overseeing the several-decade SMV fish fry series tradition are Bob Reinert of Vernon Hills and Bob Hruska of Libertyville, fish fry co-organizers. There typically is a line of people waiting for the doors to open at 5 p.m.
“I think this is important in bringing the community together,” Reinert said at the March 20 fish fry dinner (supper from 5 to 7 p.m.).
“We’re providing not only the fact that it’s a Lent meal, people can come, they can sit, they socialize, they can stay,” Reinert said. “You can go out and socialize with your friends at a very cost-effective price. You can’t go to McDonald’s for this, and you get all you can eat.”
Hruska said the church’s fish fry tradition, “has been going on as long as I’ve been here. This is a very large open space and a great kitchen and we have good people who know how to help.”
The menu includes (Pabst) beer-battered fried tilapia, baked tilapia filets with multiple seasonings, cole slaw, salad, French fries, and more. Approximately 150 pounds of tilapia are served, with the fried version edging out baked as the most popular.
“I’m the mac and cheese guy,” said parishioner Tom Klein of unincorporated Lake County, who makes five to six commercial-sized pans of creamy macaroni and cheese for the buffet line. Food is served by volunteers.
“I’ve been doing it for years,” Klein said about his fish fry volunteerism. “For every pan (of mac and cheese), we put about 12 cups of pasta in there.”
The macaroni and cheese recipe includes half and half and ample sticks of butter.
This is likely why Evie Blohm, 4, of Vernon Hills, is perpetually excited about the macaroni and cheese, her favorite entree here, said her mother Christine Blohm. Evie’s sibling AJ also dined.
To the volunteers, “A huge thank you,” Christine Blohm said. “We love coming to this.”
Also to volunteers, diner JoAnn Swank of Libertyville said, “Thank you, IN ALL CAPS.”
Diner Elaine Petersen of Lincolnshire said, “I think it’s absolutely wonderful that people take it upon themselves to volunteer to do this for God and country and their fellow man.”
Eve Jacobs of Vernon Hills, who attends church here, said, “It’s the best fish fry around. I’ve been coming here for years.”
Kitchen volunteer and parishioner Jesse Ortega of Mundelein helped to bread the tilapia before frying. Prepping the tilapia fillets for baking were parishioners Bob Kliver of Vernon Hills and Bob Steinmeier of Long Grove.
Ortega said, “I love volunteering.”
Steinmeier said the fish fry provides, “people from the church being able to congregate and share.
“It’s just a very nice way to provide a quality product and have people bond,” Steinmeier added.
For Kliver, the meal is about “the sharing of stories that everyone out there has…person to person, sitting across the table eating, breaking bread.”
Desserts are made on Thursday morning before Friday’s Fish Fry in the church commercial kitchen by Lake County volunteers and SVP parishioners Julia Grieco, Loretta Foss, Chris Reinert and Maureen Maher.
“We try to make between 250 and 300 servings,” said Grieco of Vernon Hills.
“We have cake, we have various pies, we have pudding, we have a puff pastry with fruit in it…ice cream, we have brownies.”
What is Grieco’s preferred homemade dessert?
“It’s probably the brownie, that’s still my favorite,” Grieco said.
Volunteer Jim Wogan of Mundelein, who described himself as a “cod” in the machine (cog in the machine), said fish fry proceeds assist programming such as teen mission trips and scholarships for students at Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein.
Does everyone win here, then at this catch of the day?
“We like to think so,” Wogan said. “That’s our plan.”
Wogan also makes the coleslaw with a special ingredient.
“The secret ingredient is love,” Wogan said.
Kitchen volunteer Ron Schumacher of Mundelein said that it is, “a very humble gift to serve my community and this is my church.
“I’m just very blessed,” Schumacher added.
“I come here to serve this church and my God.”
The SMV Men’s Club began the 2026 consecutive fish fry season on March 13. There is one more fish fry this season on Friday, March 27.
At the door, ticket prices are: Children 4 and younger are free. Children 5 to 12 are $8. Adults 13 to 64 are $16. Seniors 65 and over are $15.
St. Mary of Vernon Catholic Church is located at 236 U.S. Highway 45 in Indian Creek.
