Fish Tale is Three Decades Long at the Grand Central Oyster Bar

Fish stories are exaggerated tales, but not this one! Call it a Dutch Treat for the ages!

During what has become a 36-year tradition, Jonathan Swiller of Highland Mills, NY, and Mark Gothelf of Manhattan have had a unique way to catch up with friends and family over the past three decades, and they’ll do it again on Tuesday night, June 21. The duo and a few dozen comrades will again gather at the annual “Holland Herring Festival” at the historic Grand Central Oyster Bar, incredibly for a 36th consecutive reunion. “Who needs Facebook or Twitter?” would seem to be their catch phrase.

Over the years and decades and generations, Swiller and Gothelf have organized family reunions around the Festival, setting aside a single day on which as many as 100 guests have attended.

The friends stopped by their first Holland Herring Festival in 1980, mainly because they loved both herring and the iconic Oyster Bar at Grand Central Terminal. They had such a good time they kept going back. Somewhere along the line they began to call it the "Freshman Mixer," and the event has grown over the years to include hundreds of extended family and friends.

Attendees have included at least one Nobel Prize winner (Josh Lederberg), an Oscar winner (Adam Davidson) and three friends of Swiller, who, between being invited and showing up, won Tony Awards (Gordon Davidson, Lynn Thigpen and Arthur Gaffen).

For lovers of “nieuwe maatjes” herring from Holland, June 15 ended the a year-long wait with the arrival of the tasty delicacy from the waters of the Netherlands is always eagerly anticipated. The Herring Festival will continue through July 1.

The Oyster Bar has long been the traditional destination in America for the first Herring of the season. The most-looked-forward-to time of the year for herring lovers, the delicacy arrives air-expressed to the Oyster Bar from Scheveningen, The Netherlands, on the North Sea where the herring fleet makes its home. The Oyster Bar always receives the very first herring shipped to the USA, and the cream of the catch, as well. For approximately three weeks thereafter, the Oyster Bar looks forward to featuring the succulent, toothsome delicacy known as nieuwe maatjes herring. Herring lovers will enjoy the season for less than a month.

The herring filets are served with hard-boiled egg, sweet onion and chives.

For updates, information and reservations call the Grand Central Oyster Bar at 212-490-6650, or visit http://www.oysterbarny.com/.