History

THE GREAT BALLOON CAPER OF 1947

The Fish Fry has it’s roots in the Scarecrow Festival, witch was held from 1941 to 1945.

In 1945 Lion Bob Skiles suggest serving fish and Lion Hinz Kaiser created the fish batter that is still use today.
The club raised $1,200 witched was use to build the bleachers and backstop along with a snack bar at Lions Park Baseball field.

The labor was donated by club members.

The next year, the club secured a weather balloon human dummy and some fuel from the Tustin blimp base. The balloon was launched with a celebration from Lions Park and flew out of sight towards Newport Back Bay.

Two weeks later the club received a letter, postmarked in Kansas, from an angry farmer who wrote the balloon fell on his property and scared his milking cows and they wouldn’t produce milk. He demanded to be paid for the loss or sue.
At that time the Club didn’t have insurance and they didn’t know what to do, it panicked the club and the community after the local paper reported the incident.

It then leaked out that the balloon never made it to Kansas but landed in the Back Bay. Four Lions had paid a couple of kids $5 to hide the balloon and keep quiet about it, the letter was from a friend of a lion and they cooked up the story about the cows.