(MYRTLE BEACH) This year marked the 51st South Atlantic Shrine Association conference and parade in Myrtle Beach South Carolina! The parade draws thousands to the city and conjures untold mystical powers to the Grand Strand! These mysterious visitors arrive just before spooky season to enchant and mystify locals and tourists alike!
With their ceremonial garments, (polo shirts and khaki pants) they quickly fill the south side of Myrtle Beach in anticipation of the ceremonial procession! Symbolism and metaphor abound at this parade every year, with symbols of life and joy like clowns and beloved cartoon characters, paired with symbols of death. Funeral processions, death masks, scimitars, a common tool of execution and even the notorious goat that adorns so many masonic materials!
These mysterious visitors arrive just before spooky season to enchant and mystify locals and tourists alike!
The goat.
The weather was perfect for a parade as crowds gathered by 9am Saturday on the south end of Ocean Boulevard. Flags were waving and engines revving as the parade was ready to push south to the site of the conference the Ellie resort at Double Tree at the Springmaid Pier. Shriners from temples from West Virginia all the way down to Georgia were in attendance and they had NEW equipment to show off!. Intrepid reported Retro Myrtle Beach Guy was anxiously waiting at the scene to catch all the events of the day.
The Shriners International formerly the Ancient Arab Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, is the ELITE members of the Freemasons, members are required to be a 33rd degree Mason to join and must remain in good standing.
"...the ELITE members of the Freemasons, members are required to be a 33rd degree Mason to join..."
The lodge system was integral to the founding of the United States which is evident in so many of our legal and cultural traditions. For instance, how you place your hand on a holy book of your choosing and raise your right arm to take an oath in our legal system? Where do you think we got that? OR how our national flag dons the five pointed MASONIC STAR or how we believe in being a 'melting pot' of cultures, all things that were relatively unheard of or unpopular at the time of our nation's founding, but commonplace in the lodge.
For instance, how you place your hand on a holy book of your choosing and raise your right arm to take an oath in our legal system? Where do you think we got that?
This marks the 51st year the Shriners have held their convention in Myrtle Beach and it is a tradition that culturally enriches our community and brings us so much more than just tourist dollars and fun. They bring with them a taste of old school small town Americana that really takes you back.
The parade stretched as far as the eye could see, and featured clowns, pirates, stunt driving, stunt riding, drum and bugle corps and so much more! This is one of the most entertaining events in Myrtle Beach all year and it's one that we all really enjoy.
clowns, pirates, stunt driving, stunt riding, drum and bugle corps and so much more!
All fun and jokes aside, lodge culture was also something dangerously close to disappearing in our country, and while a lack of leisure time, less commitment to social engagement, and a general lack of neighborliness has led to a decline, Gen X and Millenials are beginning to look at lodge life be it, with the Masons, the Elks, the Oddfellows, the Jesuits or even the Water Buffaloes, as a way to connect in an ever more alienating public life.
Gen X and Millenials are beginning to look at lodge life be it, with the Masons, the Elks, the Oddfellows, the Jesuits or even the Water Buffaloes, as a way to connect in an ever more alienating public life.
With so much of our social lives being stripped away by a lack of free time and funding, this is one social construct that we need to preserve as a community for years to come. So, find a local lodge, talk to a Lodge member, and get involved! We want to keep having parades for generations to come!
And a special thank you from everyone here at Retro Myrtle Beach Guy, retromyrtlebeachguy.com, Speinsted and Ederpt, and the people of Myrtle Beach to the Shriners International, the South Atlantic Shrine Association, the Omar Temple, their Beachcombers, and every Temple and Noble who came out this weekend to raise money for the Shriner's Children's Hospitals, and to brighten up our year!
Thanks fellas and a BIG Ooh a Wah from the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes Lodge #26 Myrtle Beach and your pal, Retro Myrtle Beach Guy!
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