For many summer visitors, eating a lobster roll is paramount to a great vacation on the Vineyard, as important as taking a walk on the beach. Few know more about the making of a lobster roll than Lorraine Clark, Beatrice Green and Rev. Robert E. Hensley of Grace Episcopal church. The three revealed some secrets of their church’s lobster roll enterprise, at a talk earlier this month at the Vineyard Haven Public Library.

It isn’t mentioned in Genesis, or widely known, but during those seven days God was assembling the universe, on Friday he had a lobster roll.

For nearly all the Fridays of summer, the Grace Episcopal Church serves lobster rolls. This year the church sold 16,000 of them.

The talk should have been better attended; if it were held on a Friday night in August it would be standing room only.

On the night of the Oak Bluffs August fireworks alone this past summer, they sold over 1,300. While it was a record for the summer, it wasn’t a record on the books.

“We always do well on the night of the fireworks,” Mrs. Clark said. “Oak Bluffs is jammed up, people can’t buy anything. So, they come and get lobster rolls from us.”

Mrs. Clark doesn’t know precisely when the idea to sell lobster rolls came about, but it must have been somewhere between 23 to 25 years ago. The vestry was brainstorming ways to raise money for the church, she said. Someone suggested hot roast beef dinners. Preston Averill, who ran a wholesale food supply business, offered his own opinion.

“‘No, don’t do that. Sell lobster rolls,’” Mrs. Clark said, quoting Mr. Averill.

The lobster roll idea grew into a great success. Now, in one summer week, the church will purchase upwards of 30 cases of minced lobster meat, 24 pounds a case. They’ll also purchase from 24 to 30 baked pies, which are delivered to the church door on Wednesday afternoon. Preparations begin then and extend through the next two days. Add to it at least one hundred dozen hot dog rolls.

Mrs. Clark said the lobster meat is dewatered using a device that was invented by church member Alan Wilder.

While Mrs. Clark talked, Mrs. Green grabbed a large, shiny stainless steel bowl and began making the lobster salad, wearing rubber gloves. Making a good lobster mix requires white pepper, Mrs. Green said, as well as the mayonnaise.

Mrs. Clark emphasized that the amount of lobster that goes into each roll is a crowd pleaser. And it is down to ounces. She said most food establishments will serve a lobster roll with four ounces of lobster meat. “You need to be generous; otherwise, they’ll go somewhere else,” Mrs. Clark said. The Grace Church lobster roll is usually eight ounces of meat. They’ll serve the meat with or without the mayonnaise.

“We do it because we want you to come back,” Mrs. Clark said.

Another key to the success of the Grace Church lobster roll is when it is prepared. “The lobster goes into the roll no sooner than when you walk in the door,” Mrs. Clark said, and that is because it is no longer a premium product if the lobster meat has sat in the roll for a long time.

The lobster meat comes from Canada, Mrs. Clark said.

The people and the calls come from across the Island. Mrs. Green said often someone arriving on the Friday night ferry will call ahead from their cell phone to place an order. On a few occasions people have phoned in an order for as many as 50 lobster rolls, even for a wedding reception.

It takes about 15 people to run a lobster roll sale at the church, with some of the preparation beginning as early as Wednesday. Though the event is publicized to open at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Mrs. Clark said people start lining up and purchasing rolls at 3 p.m. A lobster roll sells for $15, chips and a simple drink included.

“It is hectic for two or three hours. But we all know what we are doing,” Mrs. Clark said.

Someone had suggested making the lobster roll enterprise a drive-through, to speed up the operation.

Reflecting back over the years, Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Green recalled the years someone played the piano. Now folks just come to get a meal and live music doesn’t happen as often as everyone would like.

Mrs. Clark recalled one time when a whole tray of lobster rolls was stolen out of the church. It may have not been funny at the time, but in hindsight, she said, they learned something: “It is like gold to some people.”

Mrs. Clark said that since that incident, they keep a closer eye on the goods.

The library audience was treated to an almost unlimited supply of lobster salad on Ritz crackers, and later a tableload of homemade cookies.

Laurel Chapman, who introduced the speakers and is responsible for programming for the Friends of the Vineyard Haven Library, recalled having some summer guests who had no idea why there was so much to-do over a lobster roll until it was explained to them; her visitors had thought it was about an animal rolling down a hill.

The church continues to use their special event as a fundraiser, now beyond the walls of the church. The sales support the church’s outreach programs, a long list which includes the Red Stocking Fund, the fish farm in Haiti and the Diocese of Massachusetts.

The summer lobster roll sale runs from May through September, each Friday from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Due to popular demand for lobster rolls in the winter, the Grace Church crew will resume hosting lobster roll sales on the first Sunday of each month, beginning in January and running through April. The serving time is from 12:30 to 2 p.m.