Payson Salmon Supper

Let me just start by saying I am in love with Payson! Small, quaint, farm town with friendly, charming people who come together to put on a lot of community events. Today was their annual Salmon Supper.

The Salmon Supper started who knows how many years ago as a fundraising event by one of the local LDS Wards. When the Church stopped fundraising events, the Payson Fire Department took over and it's grown every year. This year, one of them said they flew in 44,000 pounds of fresh Alaskan salmon.

In the fall, the community gathers fruit wood trimmed from the local orchards. It's stored over the winter and allowed to completely dry out. This is the wood they use for grilling the salmon. The night before the Salmon Supper, they spread a load of sand along the roadway and set up the grilling stations.

The fish is then cooked on both sides on huge wire mesh trays and finally turned out onto a solid tray and taken to another area to be cut and served. The meal is rounded out by corn on the cob, a baked potato, coleslaw, dinner roll, cookie and a bottle of ice cold water.

I just can't get over how friendly the people were and how safe I felt there. I even left my purse at the table watched over by a couple of older ladies from the community while I got food!

It was a huge meal! And it only cost $15. And included local entertainment all afternoon and evening.

Waiting in the food line, one of the girls from the local high school who was helping serve told us about the history of the town and some of the other community events they have during the year. She said the area was settled by immigrants from Scotland and the town honors that heritage by holding Scottish Days. You already know I want to go... I am a sucker for a kilt and bagpipe!

Another event, The Golden Onion Festival, happens over Labor Day weekend. The young lady explaining all this to us said this event is because they grow a lot of onions in the area. She was so cute as she got kind of flustered and then continued that her family had already harvested several big onions from their garden and that they must have just the right soil for it. At the Onion Festival they have a variety of local food, art and craft vendors and Utah Valley University sponsors a huge corn maze set up in the city park. It just sounds like good wholesome fun, doesn't it?