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Record numbers expected for Fontana lobster boil

FONTANA — The Big Foot Lions Club is expecting record numbers this year to chow down more than 2,500 lobsters and steaks at Fontana's annual lobster boil.

Andy Pearce, chairman of the Big Foot Lions Club, said attendance at the event in recent years has increased, and he called it Fontana's biggest fundraiser.

"It's changed unbelievably," Pearce said, recalling how the fundraiser has evolved since it first began in 1983 at the Red Eye restaurant in Linton.

"People started calling me in January asking what the date is. People plan their vacations around this," he said.

Pearce noted two significant changes this year. First, the organization has a new boiler that will allow cooks to boil up to 300 lobster tails at a time—nearly three times as many as last year.

That's expected to cut wait time considerably.

The second change is a bone marrow transplant registry tent. Visitors will be able to get tested to see if they match patients in need of a transplant.

Money raised by the lobster boil will support area projects. Pearce said the Lions Club already is committed to donating $6,000 annually to playground equipment in Fontana and the scoreboard at Big Foot High School.

The organization also awards five or six $1,500 scholarships each year.

Entertainment planned during this year's lobster boil will include live music throughout the day and a children's area.

Pearce said the Lions Club will sell about 1,700 lobsters and 840 steaks this year. There also will be 30 barrels of beer.

Each dinner will be served with peas, boiled red potatoes, boiled onions, drawn butter, rolls and a dessert.

Drive-through service will be available at the park house from 2 to 8 p.m.