August SWL Update
Dear Brethren,
I hope all of you had a wonderful summer. We appreciate your support in being a member of the Society of Washington Lodges. We plan to have more consistent messaging with you so look forward to hearing from us more often!
Let’s get started with some of the updates from earlier this year.
In February, we had our largest event in decades; the Rededication of the Memorial’s cornerstone. This event marked the centennial celebration of the laying of the cornerstone where we had about 2,000 guests from around the world with us including all the Grand Masters from around the country and many more from around the world. It was truly a wonderful celebration and we cannot thank you enough for those that traveled and participated in the week’s events.
Previous to this ceremony, the City of Alexandria, Virginia, held a parade honoring the Memorial and changed its typical parade route to be down King Street and allowed the fraternity to process up to the Memorial! The parade had over 4,000 units marching down King Street which lasted over two hours! The parade typically brings between 30,000-80,000 people into the city annually to watch and enjoy the parade and participate in the various city events. Why so many people? The City of Alexandria has the honor of being George Washington’s adopted hometown, where he lived here from his twenties and remained here until his passing. The City has honored Washington for many years in some capacity going all the way back to 1780! The City proudly boasts that they have the largest George Washington Birthday Parade in the Country.
In addition to that, Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22, which Brother Washington was the Charter Master, is located here in Alexandria and also played a large role in that week's festivities. Needless to say, the events on February 20th were a beacon to the country that Freemasonry is still around and active.
I mention this because a lot of the success from that week is due to our members supporting us and spreading the news of this once in a lifetime event. Brethren from every jurisdiction were represented in and we appreciate your efforts in promoting the Memorial and honoring America’s Foremost Freemason, George Washington. Some of you decided to join the Society of Washington Lodges after joining us that weekend and I hope you had taken back with you wonderful experiences of not only the Masonic events, but also a taste of Washington, D.C.
To everyone who has helped us over the years to make this happen, I sincerely thank you.
While February is long behind us, our work and mission does not end there. We need all of you more now than ever as following up with the Masonic Fraternity is crucially important to keeping the spirit of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial burning bright in our communities. Please go out and recommend the Memorial as a wonderful 501(c)(3) organization for their continuous support.
As for the last few months, the Memorial has been calm and is still open to the public. We are currently open five days a week, Thursday through Monday from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm. We are also giving more tours daily almost every hour. If you happen to visit the area, please stop by and we would be glad to welcome you for a tour of the building.
As always, you are welcome to reach out and if you are ever in the area, please reach out to me and we will show.
Tyler Vanice
Director of Member Services
