April 1, 1998
Elks win initiation ritual contest
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
For charitable organizations such as the Elks, seeing the results of a good deed is reward itself. But sometimes membership also comes with rewards.
Reward in this case was some impressive hardware as Traverse City Elks Lodge No. 323 recently won the West Central District Ritual Contest for the second year in a row. The local lodge competed against 11 other lodges from West Michigan at the district competition held last month in Big Rapids, Mich.
"We are very happy with the results of the district competition but we knew we had the ability to win and would have been disappointed if we hadn't received first-place," said Alan Kuepfer, Exalted Ruler for the Traverse City Elks Lodge.
While Kuepfer was confident in the lodge's ability to compete, the organization wasn't exactly handed the first-place trophy. Instead, it was earned through team effort and some flexing of memory muscle.
In the 45-minute ritual contest, seven officers from each lodge perform the initiation ceremony for a new candidate to become an Elk, Kuepfer said. Each officer speaks a memorized charge to the newcomer about the responsibilities and mission of the Elks organization.
The memorized charge varies for each officer, Kuepfer noted. The Inner Guard must remember 100 words, chair officers must remember 500 to 700 words, and Esquires 1,200 words.
For his part as Exalted Ruler, Kuepfer had to be a true wordsmith and remember 1,700 words. "I went blank a couple of times," said Kuepfer, who only missed 12 words and took home "Best Exalted Ruler" and "High Point Officer" trophies.
After performing the initiation ceremony, the lodges were judged on criteria such as team effort, individual mannerism and deportment. Two of the judges solely graded on missed words and enunciation.
Subscribing to the theory of practice makes perfect, the Elk Lodge officers not only perform an initiation ceremony every month, they also practice on a regular basis months in advance to gear up for competition.
Now, the lodge will step up its efforts as they prepare for the state competition of eight districts. The state competition is scheduled for the weekend of May 14 in Troy, Mich.
The winner of this contest will then travel to Anaheim, Calf., to take on 44 other teams at the Grand Lodge National Convention in July. Last year the Traverse City Elks Lodge took fourth-place at the state competition held in Lansing.
Ten years ago the lodge won the district title and eventually the state championship to move on to the national competition in Atlanta.
While lodge officers would like to repeat this successful history, the trophies taken at the recent West Central District Ritual Contest was a testimony of their present successfulness. Local Elks Lodge officers who took first-place honors include Leading Knight Walter Mullenhagen, Loyal Knight August Jacobson, Lecturing Knight Philip Callagan, Esquire Kevin Graves, Chaplain Jon Dunaske and Inner Guard Dean Reid. Past Exalted Ruler Gary Horn also won a second-place trophy for "Best in District 11th Hour Toast."