Should any reader have to ask what the Festive Board is, that in itself will serve to show how far we have strayed from the traditional path of Freemasonry. Certainly the Festive Board is not the wolfing of ham sandwiches, pie and coffee at the conclusion of a degree. It is the Hour of Refreshment in all its beauty and dignity ; an occasion for inspiration and fellowship ; a time when the noble old traditions of the Craft are preserved.
I think that the question remains to be asked today.
I love sharing a wonderful meal with my Brothers. Better yet, sharing toasts with my Brothers. Yet virtually all of my Lodge experiences have been very simple meals, with a donation can out looking for ten bucks or so each. We could get a fine meal catered instead for twenty. Add another five or ten and we could share wine or whiskey too.
Wouldn’t that be the better course?
MW Smith asked long ago, I’ll ask you today, do we pay enough attention to the Festive Board?
Related to that, do we really think men would object to paying twenty-five dollars for a fine quality catered Lodge dinner?
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I have not been to a festive board. I have only read about them. I think a fine catered meal with all the luxury is well worth it. Heck, a drivethrough "value" meal at McDonald's is over $10 these days. Expect $24 at Applebee's. A catered meal among brothers at the lodge with fine spirits? I would pay $50.
I think that if we are to expect our Lodges to thrive, then we have to provide men with a compelling reason to attend. An excellent meal and drink, with equally excellent fellowship does I think provide that reason, or at least one reason.
I think that if we look at the history of the Festive Board, it is quite sad. Festive Boards were a tremendous and celebrated part of Masonry long ago. By the time MW Smith wrote the above words in the early 1960's, they had badly faded away. Now in 2021 we have Brothers who have never experienced one.
Out of everything good in Freemasonry that we have allowed to slip, Festive Boards are probably our worst failing. They have gone from a vital part of Masonry to almost non existent in 100 years.
When I read this comment I realized that in the post I used numbers from Lewis County WA, so they are likely low given the economic situation here. When I was WM of my Lodge we were able to provide an excellent catered dinner from one of the area's best restaurants for $14 per person, and then we added the cost of spirits to that. It's been a few years though, and things are cheaper here, so most Lodges would probably need to add ten bucks to the question in the post.
But the question holds true. Would any Mason actually object to paying $35 for a fine catered Lodge meal and drink? I honestly don't think so.
I also think that this is an exceptionally easy way to improve the Lodge experience. Providing a superb catered meal is actually significantly less work for the Lodge than providing the self created standard fare.
I hate to sound like Nike, but all a Lodge has to do to make this improvement is do it.
Like Brother Jack, I haven’t experienced a dinner like has been described. Creating a Festive Board, funding it and empowering them to make the necessary decisions would be the beginning of having fellowship over a fine meal and drink. Having it catered would ensure the Festive Board members could sit down and enjoy the meal rather than having to serve it.
Your point that a catered meal allows all of our Brothers to join in and share is extremely well taken. When we are trying to create our own meals, those Brothers who are doing the cooking and cleanup have huge jobs to do, instead of an opportunity for great fellowship.
I think that in my Masonic career I got lucky. There was a regular monthly Festive Board in one of our Jurisdiction's major urban areas. I was able to attend that, every month, for a number of years. The food was always superb, as was the fellowship. The wine and spirits were always a bit questionable, but that was OK, because celebration and toasting was the order of the day and they worked quite well for that.
I have only attended a table lodge once, and no formal festive board. I did visit the a lodge in the jurisdiction that had an informal lunch at a local restaurant after conferring three second degrees. I don’t know if you could call that a festive board or not. But that was still an excellent idea to do after lodge closed.
Meals in general are hit and miss. It depends on the lodge, the JW, and their finances. I’ve been to lodges that served just terrible food, and others where it was catered to an extent. Most of the time, people seem to be stuck in the 70s where a dinner cost 5 bucks, and its hard for a JW to stretch that pittance and still provide a good meal. If the lodge were to have a festive board at stated meetings, they would need to sell tickets so they can tell the caterer how many meals to prep. Or, you can spend the money by ordering trays of food from a local chinese restaurant. One of my meals I provided was ordering party trays of fried chicken and sides from a grocery store, and picking them up before the meeting. That usually worked ok, and with the donation bucket, might almost break even.
But I think holding a festive board on a non meeting night, catered, tickets required for seating, etc is an awesome idea. If not monthly, maybe quarterly? Will have to bring that up in lodge to gauge interest. Of course, right now GL isn’t allowing meals, which I find interesting, considering we could find any restaurant with a private dining area and still do the same thing without needing anyone’s permission.
I think that you are hitting it right on the head, in a lot of Lodges, guys will only throw in 5 or 7 dollars, and it is mighty difficult for a JW (or whomever is doing the cooking) to do much with that. As you pointed out in your earlier post, McDonalds costs more than that. Likewise, earlier this week I ordered a sandwich, no drink, no sides, $16.50. But a Lodge is expected to provide dinner for under $10.
As you point out, dinner tickets can be reserved in advance, that is how my Scottish Rite Valley does it. Or, Brothers who don't want to mess with remembering to do that could opt-in to a meal list, whereby they agree to pay X number of dollars each month for their meals, regardless of if they come to the dinner or not.
I think that your non-meeting night idea is great. Monthly or quarterly, whatever the Lodge desires, but it could be a superb time!
Would it be bad to suggest that a catered meal at every in lodge fellowship meeting be included in dues? The caterer to expect all regular members to attend plus 5 or moreextra meals for visitors, the excess to be donated to the local homeless shelter or or similar organization?
Nope. In my view that wouldn't be bad at all. It would be an easy and elegant solution.
It would in that case however be extremely important that Lodge dues were tied to inflation, as some of our Lodges now do. Probably somehow tied to the CPI instead of the minimum wage. (Ties to the minimum wage are I think how most Washington Lodges that fix their dues to rise with inflation do it.)
Another option, for a Lodge to consider, although I imagine this would be very difficult to pass in an existing, established Lodge, would be to create a Lodge expectation that every member show up for every meeting. I know that at least one Washington Lodge has that expectation. In that case they would be responsible for the cost of the meal, if they came for it or not.
I agree that it would work just fine to have a few extra prepared for unexpected visitors. As I recall, that is how Centralia Lodge used to do it for their Steak and Cigar dinners, just in case. It doesn't add that much to the total cost.
A Festive Board has been a common tradition at Oly 1 after the meeting with the emphasis being on the fellowship, toasts and fine alcoholic beverage of choice. It is a great experience to have Brothers hang around after the meeting instead of everyone leaving as quickly as possible. Every Brother gets to say something about the meeting or tell a joke or share a bit of wisdom or praise with the Tyler's toast at the end.
I love the toasting you mention at Olympia 1 and some other Lodges. I think that it adds something very important to the meetings. It is though something different from a Festive Board, which is a meal, a feast actually. I think that Lodges would do very well to make both a regular practice.
Sultan-Monroe #160 has been doing a Festive Board for the last five yes
or so. We do an excellent meal, invite our State elected's (Rep. & Send.), City & school officials as well as the brethren. We keep it small, roughly 60 people total. Once the meal is going, the WM or MC will introduce the guest & brethren then start a topic of conversation. My year as WM, we talked about Civility in Society & Gov't & it's relevance there of. We did some toast and had an excellent evening sharing Fellowship with all. John Vivian recorded our last FB and wants to post it on the GL web page.....
Indeed, I've gotten to join in on one of those wonderful events. Bringing in the State Representatives, Senator, City and School officials is a superb touch. It exposes them to the very best parts of Freemasonry, and is something that all Lodges should emulate. Having a solid relationship with these folks will pay a Lodge dividends for years and years to come.
I have not been to a festive board. I have only read about them. I think a fine catered meal with all the luxury is well worth it. Heck, a drivethrough "value" meal at McDonald's is over $10 these days. Expect $24 at Applebee's. A catered meal among brothers at the lodge with fine spirits? I would pay $50.
I think that if we are to expect our Lodges to thrive, then we have to provide men with a compelling reason to attend. An excellent meal and drink, with equally excellent fellowship does I think provide that reason, or at least one reason.
I think that if we look at the history of the Festive Board, it is quite sad. Festive Boards were a tremendous and celebrated part of Masonry long ago. By the time MW Smith wrote the above words in the early 1960's, they had badly faded away. Now in 2021 we have Brothers who have never experienced one.
Out of everything good in Freemasonry that we have allowed to slip, Festive Boards are probably our worst failing. They have gone from a vital part of Masonry to almost non existent in 100 years.
When I read this comment I realized that in the post I used numbers from Lewis County WA, so they are likely low given the economic situation here. When I was WM of my Lodge we were able to provide an excellent catered dinner from one of the area's best restaurants for $14 per person, and then we added the cost of spirits to that. It's been a few years though, and things are cheaper here, so most Lodges would probably need to add ten bucks to the question in the post.
But the question holds true. Would any Mason actually object to paying $35 for a fine catered Lodge meal and drink? I honestly don't think so.
I also think that this is an exceptionally easy way to improve the Lodge experience. Providing a superb catered meal is actually significantly less work for the Lodge than providing the self created standard fare.
I hate to sound like Nike, but all a Lodge has to do to make this improvement is do it.
Like Brother Jack, I haven’t experienced a dinner like has been described. Creating a Festive Board, funding it and empowering them to make the necessary decisions would be the beginning of having fellowship over a fine meal and drink. Having it catered would ensure the Festive Board members could sit down and enjoy the meal rather than having to serve it.
Your point that a catered meal allows all of our Brothers to join in and share is extremely well taken. When we are trying to create our own meals, those Brothers who are doing the cooking and cleanup have huge jobs to do, instead of an opportunity for great fellowship.
I think that in my Masonic career I got lucky. There was a regular monthly Festive Board in one of our Jurisdiction's major urban areas. I was able to attend that, every month, for a number of years. The food was always superb, as was the fellowship. The wine and spirits were always a bit questionable, but that was OK, because celebration and toasting was the order of the day and they worked quite well for that.
I have only attended a table lodge once, and no formal festive board. I did visit the a lodge in the jurisdiction that had an informal lunch at a local restaurant after conferring three second degrees. I don’t know if you could call that a festive board or not. But that was still an excellent idea to do after lodge closed.
Meals in general are hit and miss. It depends on the lodge, the JW, and their finances. I’ve been to lodges that served just terrible food, and others where it was catered to an extent. Most of the time, people seem to be stuck in the 70s where a dinner cost 5 bucks, and its hard for a JW to stretch that pittance and still provide a good meal. If the lodge were to have a festive board at stated meetings, they would need to sell tickets so they can tell the caterer how many meals to prep. Or, you can spend the money by ordering trays of food from a local chinese restaurant. One of my meals I provided was ordering party trays of fried chicken and sides from a grocery store, and picking them up before the meeting. That usually worked ok, and with the donation bucket, might almost break even.
But I think holding a festive board on a non meeting night, catered, tickets required for seating, etc is an awesome idea. If not monthly, maybe quarterly? Will have to bring that up in lodge to gauge interest. Of course, right now GL isn’t allowing meals, which I find interesting, considering we could find any restaurant with a private dining area and still do the same thing without needing anyone’s permission.
I think that you are hitting it right on the head, in a lot of Lodges, guys will only throw in 5 or 7 dollars, and it is mighty difficult for a JW (or whomever is doing the cooking) to do much with that. As you pointed out in your earlier post, McDonalds costs more than that. Likewise, earlier this week I ordered a sandwich, no drink, no sides, $16.50. But a Lodge is expected to provide dinner for under $10.
As you point out, dinner tickets can be reserved in advance, that is how my Scottish Rite Valley does it. Or, Brothers who don't want to mess with remembering to do that could opt-in to a meal list, whereby they agree to pay X number of dollars each month for their meals, regardless of if they come to the dinner or not.
I think that your non-meeting night idea is great. Monthly or quarterly, whatever the Lodge desires, but it could be a superb time!
Would it be bad to suggest that a catered meal at every in lodge fellowship meeting be included in dues? The caterer to expect all regular members to attend plus 5 or moreextra meals for visitors, the excess to be donated to the local homeless shelter or or similar organization?
Nope. In my view that wouldn't be bad at all. It would be an easy and elegant solution.
It would in that case however be extremely important that Lodge dues were tied to inflation, as some of our Lodges now do. Probably somehow tied to the CPI instead of the minimum wage. (Ties to the minimum wage are I think how most Washington Lodges that fix their dues to rise with inflation do it.)
Another option, for a Lodge to consider, although I imagine this would be very difficult to pass in an existing, established Lodge, would be to create a Lodge expectation that every member show up for every meeting. I know that at least one Washington Lodge has that expectation. In that case they would be responsible for the cost of the meal, if they came for it or not.
I agree that it would work just fine to have a few extra prepared for unexpected visitors. As I recall, that is how Centralia Lodge used to do it for their Steak and Cigar dinners, just in case. It doesn't add that much to the total cost.
That's why I suggest in my draft that it be the greater of 40x min wage OR cpi from previous year.
A Festive Board has been a common tradition at Oly 1 after the meeting with the emphasis being on the fellowship, toasts and fine alcoholic beverage of choice. It is a great experience to have Brothers hang around after the meeting instead of everyone leaving as quickly as possible. Every Brother gets to say something about the meeting or tell a joke or share a bit of wisdom or praise with the Tyler's toast at the end.
I love the toasting you mention at Olympia 1 and some other Lodges. I think that it adds something very important to the meetings. It is though something different from a Festive Board, which is a meal, a feast actually. I think that Lodges would do very well to make both a regular practice.
Sultan-Monroe #160 has been doing a Festive Board for the last five yes
or so. We do an excellent meal, invite our State elected's (Rep. & Send.), City & school officials as well as the brethren. We keep it small, roughly 60 people total. Once the meal is going, the WM or MC will introduce the guest & brethren then start a topic of conversation. My year as WM, we talked about Civility in Society & Gov't & it's relevance there of. We did some toast and had an excellent evening sharing Fellowship with all. John Vivian recorded our last FB and wants to post it on the GL web page.....
Indeed, I've gotten to join in on one of those wonderful events. Bringing in the State Representatives, Senator, City and School officials is a superb touch. It exposes them to the very best parts of Freemasonry, and is something that all Lodges should emulate. Having a solid relationship with these folks will pay a Lodge dividends for years and years to come.