The Shadow
The Clifton Forge Shrine Club, formed in the spring of 1966, will hold its annual Fall Foliage Festival in the Town of Clifton Forge Fri., Oct. 14 through Sun., Oct. 16.
For more than half a century, the Clifton Forge Shine Club has raised funds for the Shriner Hospital for Children (there are 22 Shriner Hospitals for Children). Some streets will be blocked off for setting up sales booths that the Shriners rent to newcomer vendors as well as to those who attend year after year.
The flea market that spreads across the Town of Clifton Forge has proven to be a draw at past festivals, and concession stands will be selling a variety of sandwiches: roast beef, country ham, hamburgers, hotdogs, and other less popular ones.
A number of bands will entertain festival goers, bands that will feature rock, bluegrass, gospel and country periodically throughout the festival.
The Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center is holding an art contest as part of the festival, and prizes will be awarded for oil and acrylics, fiber, photography, watercolor, graphics, drawings, and mixed media.
The Announcers and Narrow Road, two local gospel music groups, will perform a free benefit concert for the Shriner Club at 7:00 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 15, at the United Methodist Church on Main St. The doors will open at 6:15 p.m.
Many vendors will be selling furniture, jewelry, crafts, pottery, silverware, T-shirts and sundry items.
Shriners International, a spin-off of Free Masonry, is a fraternity with 525,000 clubs scattered around the world, and it is based on friendship and Masonic principles of brotherly love.
Known for not drinking alcoholic beverages prior to parades, Shriners even refrain from drinking soft drinks in public places in order to avoid giving others the impression that they are consuming alcoholic beverages.
Shriners International’s mission is to provide its members pleasure without temperance, hospitality without rudeness and jollity without coarseness as they pursue philanthropic endeavors.
Not all Masons are Shriners, but all Shriners are Masons. To become a Mason, the initiate must believe in God, Christian, Jewish or Muslim.
The Town of Clifton Forge’s Town Council has approved extra space for the Shrine Club to block off Main Street on the Primis Bank side across from The Historic Masonic Theatre. From the fountain to Commercial Ave. will provide the Shrine Club with the added space requested.
