MOOSE JAW — After hosting a successful multinational executive meeting recently, Moose Jaw’s Shriners club is now focusing on organizing a massive, fun-filled summer conference for hundreds of members and their families.
The Friendly City hosted The Wawa Midwest Shriners Association’s (MSA) winter business meetings from Feb. 19 to 22, with roughly 170 executive members from across Western Canada and six northern states in attendance.
Besides meetings, about 30 Shriners also attended the Moose Jaw Warriors’ Feb. 22 game against the Calgary Hitmen.
“It (the multi-day conference) went very well,” said Aaron Ruston, the director general of the MSA.
The committee began picking up members from the airport on the 19th, while others began arriving from Manitoba and the United States by bus and van on the 20th, he continued. Shriners then had many busy business meetings, while they also developed friendships with new members and renewed relationships with returning members.
The meetings focused mainly on the Shrine world, including the direction it’s heading, considering every chapter everywhere is facing the same problem of an aging demographic, Ruston said.
“What we’re finding is not as many people know what the Shriners even do anymore,” he continued. “And, what our philanthropy is, is of course, helping sick children and their families get the specialized treatment that they require at one of our hospitals.”
These challenges prompted members to discuss how they could better communicate what they do, he added.
The other issue the executive committee members discussed was planning for future MSA conferences and scheduling where they will be held, along with discussing this summer’s fun-filled conference here from Aug. 20 to 23.
Moose Jaw — and Canada — was fortunate to host the MSA conferences because they’re going to be held in the United States for the next decade, Ruston said. This means The Great White North — maybe Saskatoon or Winnipeg — will likely host the next MSA conference in 14 or 15 years after other Shrine chapters have held it.
“I would like to think Moose Jaw would get another one, but (we) never will … . Moose Jaw will never see anything like this again,” he remarked.
Ruston is now turning his focus to the summer conference, which will see more than 1,000 people — over 600 Shriners and their families — coming to The Friendly City. He noted that more than 300 hotel rooms have been booked, while he expected that businesses would see an increase in revenues from the extra people in town.
Ruston wanted the community to make the Shriners feel at home since many are excited to come and see attractions like Mac the Moose, the Tunnels, 15 Wing and other places. Moreover, the summer event will include a parade where residents can see the organization’s mini cars and motorbikes and meet the members.
“So (I’m) really stoked. (There is) lots of work going on, and we will be reaching out to the community for volunteers to help with it too because it is going to be very, very large,” he added.
For more information, including the summer schedule, visit msa2025.com or see the MSA’s Facebook page.
