Dearing House Child Advocacy Center will be holding their annual “Fish Fry for the Small Fry” event on Friday, June 16 at Standing Bear Park from 6 pm until food runs out.

Fish Fry for the Small Fry began in the summer of 2014 when Melody Young at UnWined asked to host an event for Dearing House as a way to bring activity downtown on Friday nights. For its first two years, Fish Fry for the Small Fry was held in the parking lot at 2nd and Cleveland, before outgrowing the space and relocating to Standing Bear Park in 2016, a site that offers more parking space and shade. The event is held on the third Friday of June and typically draws a crowd between 400 to 500 guests.

Fish Fry for the Small Fry is the annual fundraising event for Dearing House Child Advocacy Center and serves two purposes, the first being community awareness of Dearing House, and the second as financial support of their services to children and families.

Tasting kits for the event are priced at $10 and visitors will have the opportunity to sample foods from all 12 teams. Additionally, guests are given tickets when they purchase their tasting kit to use for voting on their favorite team in different categories.

The following is a list of all the returning teams from last year: - Philips 66 - Department of Human Services - Grand Mental Health - NewPoint Church - Equity Bank - Pop’s - Po-Hi Fish Team - Cherokee Strip Credit Union - Mark Sanders/Fishing for Blood Donors - Kay Electric Cooperative - District Attorney Each team prepares food for the event’s guests. These food items include a variety of fish, meats, sides and desserts.

“These generous teams have always said they want all the proceeds to go to services for abused children, so the prizes awarded for People’s Choice at the end of the evening have more sentimental value than monetary,” says Maggi Hutchason, Executive Director of Dearing House. “This event easily involves at least 200 volunteers.”

In addition to the food provided by the teams, the event will feature cold watermelons from the District Attorney’s Office, children’s activities provided by Free Will Baptist Church, water and lemonade from Alliance-Health, face painting, snow cones, and live music by Denim Armadillo.

“The best way I can describe this event is a family-friendly tailgate party on a beautiful Oklahoma evening supporting essential services for abused kids,” said Hutchason. “Plenty of food to sample, live music, and kids activities on a beautiful summer evening.... all due to the generosity of hundreds of volunteers and donors who value our vision of ending the effects of abuse suffered by every child who comes through our doors.”

2023 has been a busy year for Dearing House as they have celebrated 20 years of operation since opening their doors in 2003. Earlier events this year included an awareness walk and an art show.

Dearing House serves the areas of Kay and Noble Counties with the goal to help, listen to, and heal victims of child abuse. They do so by coordinating with law enforcement, child welfare experts, medical experts, victim advocates and mental heath professionals.