All I can say is WOW!!! Holy socks, WOW!!! What a CIRCUS El Riad has had so far, hat’s off to Chamberlain, Mitchell, and Sioux Falls and more to come. I would like to thank everyone that volunteered for one session all nine in Sioux Falls or traveled to Chamberlain or Mitchell to lend a helping hand a BIG THANK YOU to all. This goes to show it was time for us all to get back to having fun doing what we love. I especially want to thank all the ladies and young folks that helped in every way from selling in the stands to helping in the concessions. I had a great time watching everyone helping our guest enjoy a great show. I heard great stories about Shriners helping folks find a seat to Members making sure that guests were able to make it back to the circus from the concession in short order.
You know that we are having a great circus when the Horse Corps are spinning cotton candy ‘till late, Madison Shrine Club popcorn folks are making popcorn as fast as they can, the Oriental Band selling hotdogs and sweating like crazy, Fife and Drum selling pop, Sprint Cars guys in the stands selling snow cones and cotton candy as fast as they can, and let’s not forget the Clowns and their toys being sold in the stands. Jobs Daughters were in the stands with cotton candy plus the Steel Drum selling cotton candy in the stands…I cannot say enough about every Unit and Club that have a hand in making the Circus great. It is like having one big family working together. As I have said, it takes a village to make the circus run.
I would be remiss if I did not thank our chairman and assistant chairman. Thank you to Larry Johnson and Jeff Landborg for all their hard work keeping everything in order. It is a big job so when you see either of these gentlemen, please thank them for their dedication.
We still have three more Circuses coming up in June. Windom is June 23, Yankton is June 24, and Winner is June 25. Please, if anyone can help in any way at one of any of these circuses it will be much appreciated.
By the time this Cactus is out the Spring Ceremonial on May 7 will be in the history books. We are expecting a great turn out for new members please welcome these new members and families to the El Riad Family. Make sure these Gentlemen have an opportunity to visit all the units that they may be interested in. I would like for the ladies to invite their wives or ladies into the Shrine family to make them feel welcome. Let’s remember the way we felt when we were new to El Riad. Please help these new folks become involved and answer their questions. We are all part of Membership.
On April 12, 2022, you all or some of you received a text message talking about the circus. We are starting to send out texts to everyone that we have numbers for and we would like to be able to reach everyone with this text. These messages will be short and to the point. It is our feeling that there are messages or notes that need to get out quickly, so we started this text messaging options. There are still several folks that are not getting these texts as we do not have your current cellphone number. We also would like to make sure that we have correct email addresses including you ladies. Please go to one of these two links or both and enter your name, current email address, cellphone number, mailing address, and how you’d like to receive our Cactus magazine: elriad.org/nobles or elriad.org/ladies. Thank you for your help in this.
We are just a few weeks from the All-Shrine Parade in Mitchell on June 11. This will be a great day for El Riad. I have deemed this a civic parade which means that the units that want to let their ladies or kids ride they will be able. This will be up to the individual units if they will allow the ladies and kids to ride or walk. I know that there are some units that do not or cannot have their families be part of their parade unit, for example the Motor Corps or Sprint Cars as it would not be safe, let’s keep in mind that safety is first.
Brian “Sticky” Schultz, my Chief of Staff and Todd Schmidt, my Assistant Chief of Staff, are asking that all units be in Mitchell and ready to line up by 10:00 a.m. please be timely for line up as we will line up north of the Corn Palace with step off at 11:00 a.m.
Note that the Shutterbugs & Pixels will be taking group photos beginning at 10:00 a.m. so please have all members photo ready so we can have your latest Unit and Club photo for the cash calendar, Cactus, our website, and all social media.
Not only will be celebrating every unit and club of El Riad, we also will be celebrating the one and only Corn Palace and their 2022 theme “Under the Big Top” featuring an El Riad Fez and the likeness of Troy Magnuson aka “PoPcOrN” plus many murals of our Shrine Circus.
I would like to invite Blue Lodge to be part of this parade. It would be great to see a parade unit from our brother Masons. I also would like to invite Jobs Daughters and DeMolay if they would like to enter a unit for this parade…the more the merrier.
There will be an Oasis following the Parade at the Mitchell Masonic Shrine building. I would like to invite all Shriners, Masons, and their family to enjoy some social time with food and drink. I hope for a nice day so we can enjoy this time outdoors.
There is a good amount of work that has gone into this parade. I would like to thank Dustin Knutson, Leo Baumgart, Brian Schultz, Todd Schmidt, Dave Murphy, Steve Hauff, and the Corn Palace Shrine Club for their hard work getting this Parade together.
Imperial is approaching fast. If you have not gotten with Kent Quail in the office or Brian Schultz to let them know who will need rooms in Minneapolis for Imperial, please get your list of members that are going, how many rooms you will need, and for how many days. Remember that the parade is on Tuesday, July 5, in Minneapolis. My understanding is that most of our Units are going up on Friday or Saturday for competition on Saturday, July 2, and then leaving on Sunday. We have plenty of parking for trailers at the hotel that El Riad will be staying at. We will be staying at the Best Western Normandy. Please take care of this ASAP.
Midwest is also going to be here before we know it in Green Bay, WI. Please get your names to Kent Quail or Brian Schultz ASAP for Midwest August 18–20.
Save the date for July 24 and our Family Picnic. This is for all Shrine families and we will be sending out invitations to our Shriners Children’s Patients as well. Like we have in the past, we will be having this at Sertoma Park located at 4300 South Oxbow Ave in Sioux Falls. The festivities will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be food, games, and music. Everyone is welcome…if you have a friend or a possible member, please by all means bring them for the fun.
Parade season is starting so please be safe and have a lot of fun showing off as Shriners love to do!!
“Life is a succession of Lessons which must be lived to be understood.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thank you for all you do for El Riad.
In Faith,
Jim (Kid) Slater
Potentate El Riad Shrine