History of the Cisco Disco

Bryce Nielson

Annual event started small in the mid 1980’s. A good friend, Don Archer and I would get together to catch a limit of cisco each year. Since it was cold, Don would bring a Coleman stove to make a pot of coffee. People would stop by for a cup and wonder what we were going to do with the cisco. When we said, “eat them” many folks wondered what they tasted like so we shared.

Don started bringing a fry pan, flour and oil. When you cook cisco, eat them fresh. Usually, fishermen are so sick of cisco after cleaning a hundred, they put them in the freezer and forget about them. A couple of months later they thaw and cook them and wonder why they taste so fishy. After they tasted them, fresh, on the tailgate of the truck, they changed their minds.

As the years passed, the cooking of Bonneville Cisco, fresh, grew. It really took off when Ralph Blotter and Andy Bolos became involved. As an organizer by nature, Ralph decided to take it to the next level and cook his world famous scones and have Andy provide the fresh cut fries from his restaurant in Ogden. He planned to feed everyone on the beach. The crowds exploded and there was always a big fire and lots of antifreeze and socialization.

My dear friend, Doug Miller, Utah Outdoors, showed up one year when it was well below zero. He noticed everyone standing around the fire in the normal, duck coverall dress jumping up and down, hands in their pockets, trying to stay warm. The only one sitting in a chair was Heber Stock, of original pioneer heritage, of Fish Haven. He was our oldest participant and was there every year until he passed away at 85. He could remember gill netting cisco under the ice as a boy filling buckets with fish on a sleigh pulled by a pony.  Doug wanted a parting shot with all the crazy fishermen including Heber so we all stood in a line dancing back and forth trying to keep warm at which point Doug dubbed the movement, the “Cisco Disco”. It has been a tradition ever since.

People come and go and for the last several years Scott Tolentino, with lots of friends, have continued to host the Cisco Disco. It was great to see kids and adults, coming out in the cold, eating freshly caught cisco with tarter sauce, hot fries and scones, slathered in honey butter.   It was always free, with a tip jar to help buy supplies.

As the years passed, the volunteers grew and the word spread. Soon members of the local LDS Wards started to come in increased numbers. The Jessica Ward, a local gal, organized a polar plunge at the Bear Lake State Park Marina to raise money for charity. That event also grew and it was natural for them to combine forces. Both outings started to have hundreds of participants, so the Bear Lake Rendezvous Chamber of Commerce got on board, and publicized the “Cisco Disco” which brought more visitors to Bear Lake during January. Utah Parks and Recreation facilities were filled around the third Saturday in January, so they became more involved and didn’t charge Park entrance fees. It continues to grow and there are many other things going on during that time.

Now it is Winterfest and the Polar Plunge with the Cisco Disco.