2022 Summer is off to a great start! El Riad Parade Units are parading every weekend and doing their best to show off El Riad while helping to promote the Shrine.

Speaking of parades, a big thank you to everyone that came to Mitchell for our Civic All Shrine Parade, it was a great day and a great parade. I found out that horsepower from the Horse Corps is not too bad after all, thank you to the Horse Corps for a great ride high atop the stagecoach…I had a great view from there. However, I do think I will stick with my Harley as I do not have to shovel my exhaust. There were parade units that most of us have not seen along with Sioux City Abu Bekr who came to Mitchell to play. Thank you to Mike Picket and his Lady Karen for bringing shiners from Sioux City and their ladies to the party. A big thank you to Grand Lodge of South Dakota for being part of the fun in Mitchell. Thank you to Grand Master Jeff VanCuren, Aaron Zahn, Brian Pulling, and Kierre Lias. What a great day for El Riad and Mitchell! You all should be proud of yourselves for putting on a great event and showing how much fun it is being a Shriner.

We had the great pleasure of having Imperial Sir Matt Sturlaugson and His Lady Mandii who also were a part of our day, both riding in the parade in a nice convertible provided by the Classie Autos and driven by Past Potentate Rich Burns. We made the decision to make this parade a Civic All Shrine Parade so our family could be part of the parade if they wanted to. I feel that it is important to include our family in all that we do for the Shrine and the kids. I know that there were several units that had their ladies and kiddos ride along, so thank you to those units that allowed that to happen. We also had a few patients be part of the parade so thank you to those of you that made that happen. 

There are a few people that we all need to thank for making this event come together. A big thank you goes out to these guys for a job well done. Dustin Knutson, Leo Baumgart, Brian (Sticky) Schultz, Todd Schmidt, Dave Murphy his team of Pote’s Aids, Steve Hauff, and team Culinary. Thank you to this committee for all of their hard work. I would be remiss if I forgot the Corn Palace Shrine Club. This group of guys did an outstanding job making sure no detail was not taken care of as a team effort. When you see these guys, please pat them on the back for a job well done. The food was great, parade was fun, the crowd was fantastic, and I could not ask for more.

With June under our belt, July started with a bang. Imperial session over July 4. El Riad was well represented on the competition field by our own El Riad Motor Corps and SprinT Cars, and on stage by our very own “Lectro” AKA Even Brink the clown. Lectro did very well for his first ever time at Imperial taking third in his class, great Job Lectro, not bad for a guy that kind of got turned around coming to Imperial and ending back home…no pun intended. But the lightbulb came on some place halfway to the twin cities making Lectro return home to get his light…I will let him tell the story. Sprint cars and Motor Corps did outstanding winning first place in their respective classes. What a great performance by both teams. I would not say that either team had flawless performances on the field. Why do I say this? The sprint cars went from four wheels to one car having only three wheels right in the middle of their performance on the drill field. Tim Meirose you did a great job keeping your car on the field for a long time but sadly the left turn finally got you, great job boys. Motor Corps did great also, with a couple of hiccups the Motor Corps pulled out a first on the drill field. A big thank you to Jerry Hauff and Jason Schlechter for a great job getting both teams ready for this fun competition day. 

El Riad was inducted to the Gold Hall of Fame for membership growth. There were only 21 temples in the Gold category for membership growth. Thank you to our Membership Committee for a job well done! We are all part of the Membership committee. It takes all of us as members, including our family to grow this great organization, to continue to grow and spread the word about the work we do to help kids and their family get through a very difficult time. It was a great honor to be on stage to receive this award on behalf of El Riad. Imperial Sir Bill Bailey thanked El Riad for our continued hard work on growing our membership, all of you can be proud of the hard work we do to continue our growth. It takes a village to do all the work for our kids and out temple, keep up the good work. We had a very successful Imperial session. 

I would like to thank Brian Schultz and Todd Schmidt for making sure we had room and all arrangements were taken care of, thank you to Dave Murphy and his Pote’s Aids for a job well done keeping us all fed and hydrated.

On July 24, we had our Family Picnic where lots of shrine families and lots of kids enjoyed the day. Big thank you to Steve Haase and Scott Denney for organizing this event, Steve Hauff, and the culinary boys for the food.

MSA in Green Bay, WI, is right around the corner so please get your numbers into Brian Schultz or Kent Quail in the office, so we make sure that all the rooms are lined up for this event from August 18–20. This will be a fun time. My understanding is that all the competition will be held at the same hotel we will be staying at so we will not have to drive all over to see competitions. There is a lot to see and do in Green Bay, wand ho knows you may find a new beer you like or get a chance go see the Packer Field. Make your plans to attend and join in on the fun. 

Grand Lodge was held in Pierre, SD, in June and I would like to congratulate all the new officers for the ensuing year. Congratulation to Dan Nace for becoming Grand Master of SD. Dan, have a fun and great year. When you see Dan congratulate him and his Officers on this big step.

One of the reasons we were inducted into the Gold Hall of Fame for membership is because we as Shriners and Masons work together to grow our membership together here in South Dakota. I find that to be a big A+ for all of us as Masons and Shriners. The more we work together to keep our members and bring in new members every year we will become stronger together. We as Masons and Shriners play on the same team. As was said in the past, and I will say it again, we need to replace ourselves with at least one new member every year, The other part of that is keeping the members we have now so please help your brothers and families stay involved.

On June 24, I married my best friend and partner for life Penny Bauman, now Penny Slater. We would like to thank everyone for coming to our celebration and for your support as we continue this fun filled year. 

There are two ways of Spreading Light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.

Thank you for all you do for El Riad, our Kids and there families.

In Faith,

Jim (Kid) Slater

Potentate El riad Shrine 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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