Victoria Gazette-Hook Line & Sinker

Every now and then I get a hankering for smelt. Never grew up with it. I grew up with bullheads. And so last week we attended a smelt fry in Brooklyn Park with son Nick, and I anxiously awaited that Friday evening. The huge community center complex had a large dining hall, bigger that the old Victoria Village Hall, and people were waiting in a very long line to get at the smelt. We joined them and soon were at the front of the line. The smelt came with coleslaw, baked beans, and potato chips, much like that served when the Victoria Fire Department held their annual smelt fries here at the Victoria Fire Station. I would love to tell you that I loved the smelt served up by the Brooklyn Park Lions but I can't. I'm sorry to say it was like eating dried fried minnows. I anticipated the smelt would be five to six inches in length with plenty of flesh and not too much breading, perfectly seasoned like in the old days here in Victoria. Darn.

But I lived to tell about it and so here I am, also telling you about whose name was drawn from the minnow bucket last month to win the $10 prize. It was RoseAnn Rotzien from Alexandria, and she put (Schmieg) in parenthesis. Congratulations, Rose Ann. You have been a faithful subscriber. Congratulations. Maybe you'll use the $10 to buy some May flowers. The fishhook was hidden in the Easter eggs on page 24 of the April paper.

There's another fishhook hidden in this issue of the Gazette. If you find it and want to be part of the drawing this month, send a note to P.O. Box 387, Victoria, MN 55386 and sinker in the mail or use Sue@VictoriaGazette.com. When is the last time you smelt May flowers?