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.
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.
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.
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.
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.....
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.....