Stavely Elks Lodge #112 celebrates 100th anniversary
The Stavely Elks Lodge #112 celebrated their 100th anniversary at an event at the Stavely Community Centre on Saturday, July 19. Cutting a special cake honouring the occasion from left are Terry Read, president of the Alberta Elks Association; Jordie Bronson, Exalted Ruler of the Stavely Elks, and Kari Senko, Grand Exalted Ruler of Elks of Canada. Photo by Rob Vogt
By Rob Vogt
The Stavely Community Centre was packed Saturday night, July 19, as everyone came together to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Stavely Elks Lodge #112.
Elk Tim Nelson was the emcee for the evening and opened by noting the Elks stand for charity, justice, love and fidelity.
He noted the Stavely Elks Lodge is the third largest in Canada, after Yellowknife and Frobisher Bay, Nunavut.
Nelson asked why is the Stavely Elks Lodge so large and successful?
“We take care of each other,” he said. “We tend to watch out for each other.
“It makes our community a safer place.”
That occurs because when someone joins the Elks, they get to know people they may otherwise not meet, through the various activities the lodge undertakes.
“We see a need and we fill it,” Nelson said, pointing to Elks initiatives such as the annual kiddies’ picnic, pheasant derby, and looking after area parks.
Elks Historian Don Broomfield provided a look back at 100 years of Elkdom in Stavely, after a powerpoint presentation full of photos.
“It’s mind blowing the number of guys we’ve had over 100 years,” he said.
Broomfield explained the Elks began in New York City in 1868, and came to Canada in 1912 when the Vancouver lodge started.
The Stavely Elks lodge was established on July 17, 1925. They met at the Stavely Bruhn’s Hall where 43 members were initiated.
The lodge continued on until the Second World War, when it recessed from 1942 to 1946.
They moved to the new community hall, the quonset building, in 1950 when Bruhn’s Hall was torn down.
The Elks were on the move again in 1980, to their current home in the new Stavely Community Centre, when the old hall was demolished.
Broomfield pointed out that since the lodge was reinstated in 1946, it has had a different exalted ruler, or president, virtually every year, with just three men serving as exalted ruler multiple times.
The Elks celebrated their 50th anniversary on June 21, 1975, attracting more than 1,000 guests to celebrate the occasion.