All This and Shoo Fly Pie!
By Larry Jinks
When betta breeder extraordinaire Rich Martucci informed us that he was entering the Philadelphia Area Betta Society show at That Fish Place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on May 14th and 15th, we saw an opportunity for another fishy road trip! Jack Borgese and I decided to attend the show for the weekend and support Richie, since I had never been to the legendary That Fish Place and Jack is always up for a fish trip.
Richie went out Friday morning to get his entries in and Jack and I went out after work on Friday night. En route to Lancaster (a three hour drive) we stopped at Cabela’s hunting and fishing store off interstate 78. Jack harped about this place since he had seen it on the internet. I got tired of listening to him and stopped at about 8:30 PM just to humor him. Besides, it was a chance to stretch my legs and get a drink. I was totally blown away by the place and recommend visiting one even if you don’t want any fishing, hunting or camping gear. They had aquariums that were tens of thousands of gallons housing freshwater gamefish. There were bass, sunnies, crappies, trout, catfish, pickerel and more. Wow! It was reminiscent of the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga that we saw at the Atlanta ACA convention. They also had more stuffed and mounted game birds and mammals than the museum of natural history. Bighorn sheep, mountain goats, musk ox and more! The place was huge and had all conceivable types of supplies and gear. I was happy we stopped and had to listen to Jack’s “I told you so” the rest of the way.
We checked into the hotel about ten o’clock and met Richie in the bar to relax and have a few beers. He informed us that there were over 400 bettas entered in the show.
The next morning we met Richie for the hotel’s hot buffet breakfast and then headed for That Fish Place down the road to view the show and check out the store. I’ve never seen such an array of beautiful bettas of all types. Richie gave us an educational commentary and answered all our questions as we viewed the entries. Jack and I took pictures which could be the basis for a future presentation.
We then toured the fish room and saw some nice fish at very good prices. I told Jack I wanted to buy some fish on Sunday before we went home. The rest of the huge store had pet supplies and food at great prices. We each bought a couple of cans of Tetra Colorbits.
We then left Richie at the show and took off to explore Lancaster. I had a tip from an acquaintance to try the Good and Plenty Restaurant. After finding the location of the restaurant, Jack and I found an Amish farmer’s market and bought some stuff to take home.
We went back to meet Richie for lunch at the café next to That Fish Place and then another turn through the betta show and chatting with fish people, including NJAS member Clay Crawford who was the show chairman.
Jack and I then headed for the Good and Plenty Restaurant for a family style Pennsylvania Dutch dinner. What a dining experience! We were seated at a long table which was then filled in with other patrons. We dined with two retired women from California, a couple from BucksCounty, and a family with two young children from southern New Jersey. We passed around the first course of apple sauce, pepper slaw, chicken salad and sweet pickle relish. We then dined on all you could eat roast beef, fried chicken and ham loaf with mashed potatoes, sweetened dried corn, peas, and fresh baked bread. I was barely able to move when they brought out five different desserts. I skipped the shoo fly pie, but did manage to try some apple pie with ice cream and cracker pudding, which tasted like the filling of coconut custard pie. We moaned on the way back to the hotel where Richie was at the show banquet. We retired to our room and passed out watching television.
Sunday morning we met Richie and Leo Buss for the hot buffet breakfast. Leo is a betta hobbyist and show judge as well. Richie and Leo’s red bettas went down to the line as the judges had a difficult time deciding between the two. Richie ended up doing very well at the show. He entered the maximum 40 entries out of the 430 entries in the show. He tallied seven first place, seven second place and two third place. In addition he garnered Reserve of Show Male and Best of Show Female! Quite an impressive showing!
We then went back to the show to look at the entries again. Jack purchased a filter and I picked up a half dozen each of three different danios, two different barbs, and Celebes halfbeaks. We then said our goodbyes and headed home, vowing to visit again and maybe try the shoo fly pie!