On Saturday, April 4th, the Lodge volunteered to help with the Dunedin Highland Games which is an annual event in our community. Dunedin is a Scottish community in the Tampa Bay area and is also the sister city of Stirling, Scotland. Consequently, in April of each year Dunedin holds its Scottish games, complete with music competition, Scottish athletics, food and drink. It's one of the biggest community events in the area.
To assist in the games, our Lodge volunteers to help park cars in the main parking lot. It's actually a lot of work as we direct the parking of several thousand cars. Obviously, this requires a lot of participation from the Craft and we have to work from early in the morning and into the night (Frankly, my dogs were really barking by the end of the day).
It seemed to me that attendance at the Games was up this year, way up. (I thought somebody said we were suffering from a recession - it sure didn't seem that way at the Games). I haven't had to work such a crowd in a long time and I must confess I don't have patience for the general public when they start behaving like lemmings and cattle. Nonetheless, I put my best face forward and tried to be as courteous and cooperative as possible.
The benefit of events of this magnitude is basically good public relations. The Dunedin organizers greatly appreciate our efforts (who end up speaking well of us). While working, the Craft wore safety vests with Masonic baseball caps and shirts (the Square and Compasses were very prominent). This, of course, helped to produce a favorable image of the fraternity, particularly if we went out of our way to help someone (which we did constantly throughout the event).
At the end of the day, I was happy it was over, kicked off my shoes and rested my sore feet with a good cigar and a good malt Scotch.
Until next time.
All the Best,
Tim Bryce, PM, MPS, MMBBFMN
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Dunedin Lodge No. 192 F.& A.M.
http:/www.dunedin192.org/
Dunedin, FL, USA
"For the Good of the Order"
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