Nearly 1,000 Shriners from across Western Canada and the northern United States will descend on Moose Jaw in 2025 with their red fez hats for the organization’s annual convention.
During the first week of January, the organization announced that The Friendly City — located in the Midwest Shriners Association area — would host the event, after the Moose Jaw Shrine Club gave a convincing presentation about the community’s ability to host it.
Shriners International is a fraternity known for its fellowship, brotherhood, compassion, generosity and volunteerism. It also focuses on families, including helping sick kids — a Shriners hospital is in Montreal — and financially supporting families travelling to those medical centres.
The convention will take place from Feb. 19 to 22 and Aug. 20 to 23, 2025. Residents can expect to see those famous little red cars, along with horses, monster trucks and other vehicles. February will feature business meetings, while competitions, car shows, a major concert and other fun family events — including numerous clowns — will occur in the summer.
“I think it’s amazing, absolutely amazing (that Moose Jaw is hosting the convention). We’re notoriously friendly (and) we’re notoriously entertaining — that’s proven to the world,” said Aaron Ruston, the director general of the host committee. “It’s a great opportunity. … It’s pretty remarkable (that we won), but it’s going to take a lot of work.”
City hall and other community tourism-related organizations support the convention because it will provide a huge economic boom for Moose Jaw, he continued.
Besides members from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northern Ontario, there will also be American Shriners from 13 clubs in attendance — many of whom have never visited Moose Jaw or the province before.
“We want Moose Jaw to show its best at this (and) I know we’re going to,” Ruston said. “We want people to feel very, very welcomed. And I know they’re going to bring some life and some real good times … .
“This may be a destination they want to bring their families back to in the future because of all the cool things we have here.”
The Shiners are encouraging residents to mark these dates on the calendar and attend the convention because there will be plenty of fun, the director general said. Understandably, many people know little about the group, considering it does more work behind the scenes compared to other community groups.
The most recent Midwest Shriners Association convention was in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with a population of 110,401 people. Ruston noted that while Moose Jaw is smaller, he believes the community will help “blow the roof off” the event.
The host committee is still developing a website and social media pages for the convention, so residents should keep their eyes and ears open for regular announcements, he said. There will be plenty of work between now and 2025, so the club will seek volunteers to ensure the event succeeds.
“We just want to be one big family,” Ruston added. “Let’s just get out and (realize), ‘Hey, it’s one big party.’”
