Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett serves up lunch at the 2022 fish fry.

GOOD HOPE — If you’re a senior citizen or just a Good Hope resident, Tuesday’s a great day to be near the city’s town hall — especially around lunchtime, and especially if you like locally caught fried fish.

For the low, low price of “zero,” as Good Hope City Council member Greg Brown puts it, Good Hope seniors and other guests can mingle at the Good Hope City Hall Tuesday at this year’s first (but probably not last) free lunch fish fry, staged by the city every few months (or whenever Brown and Mayor Jerry Bartlett return from the water with an especially heavy haul of local crappie).

Tuesday’s fish fry kicks off at 11 a.m. and lasts until the fish and all the fixings — including hush puppies, slaw, french fries, and baked beans — run out. Brown said the city started the periodic celebrations four years ago as an informal way to fete the Good Hope seniors who meet twice each month in the basement at city hall, continuing the tradition as more people turn out with each iteration.

“We started it for the seniors and it’s just gotten bigger over time,” said Brown, adding that he caught and cleaned most of Tuesday’s crappie catch — “about 700 or 800 fish” — even though it’s a detail that fishing buddy Bartlett jokingly disputes.

“He’s always saying he caught the most fish,” teased Bartlett. “But this whole event really did start out as Greg’s idea. He handles community service and community events [in his role] as our Place Four council member, and this was a way he saw to do something for our seniors that gets everybody together. Plus, we’ve just got so many fish right now, there’s more than enough to go around.”

Bring an appetite for Tuesday’s Good Hope get-together, but leave your wallet behind: The entire meal is furnished by the city for Good Hope seniors and guests. Brown cautioned, though, that seating might be tight: “I’m guessing we’ll have 150 people or more,” he said.

Bartlett waved that worry aside, comparing the community event to a potluck family reunion. “Whenever there’s good food somewhere, I’m gonna find me somewhere to sit and eat it — even if I have to balance everything on my lap.”