The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-03-29
The ELkS
To Take Possession OF De.
trOit, Mich, In July
When The Grand Lodge Meets
In That City
ElkS From All Over Country
To Be Present
To Attend The Festivities OF
The Week
There Will Ke S0methiD0
Doing All The Time

Detroit, Mich, March 25.-Detroit
Is preparing to take care of 100000 Wis
itors next July when the Elks Grand
Lodge reunion will be held in this
city The entertainment of the mem
bers of the order and their friends
will be on scale never before at
tempted in Detroit. Though the gath
ering is still three months away all
available accommodations have been
reserved in the Detroit hotels and big
| boarding houses and arrangements
are being made to quarter many of
the guests in the hotels of Windsor,
Mt Clemons, Pontiac and other neigh
boring places
The informal entertainment of the
visitors will begin several days before
the grand lodge assemblies for business
On the evening of Monday, July II,
the Grand Exalted Ruler and Grand
| Lodge members will be formally well
coined to the city. The arrival of the
distinguished visitors will be made
the occasion for a grand water pag-
cant illustrating the arrival to the site
of the present city of Detroir Of
Counts Pontchartrain Cadillac and
LaSalle. The boats and costumes will
be faithful reproductions of the orig
inals. The flotilla will be hemmed in
by canoes bearing Pontiac and his In
dians
The Grand Lodge officials and mem
! bers will be met at the landing place
and escorted to the Lyceam theater
where welcoming addresses will be de-
livered by Governor Warner, Mayor
Breitmeyer and the heads of the local
reception committee. 1t is planned
to have the mayors of all the chief
cities of Michigan participate in the
welcome demonstration. The res
ponse for the visitors will be made by
James U. Sammis of Iowa, Grand Ex-
allied Ruler of the order.
Tuesday morning the Grand lodge
will assemble for business and daily
sessions will be held until Thursday.
The business of the convention, how
ever, will be literally interspersed
with features of entertainment. Dur
ing the week there will be free daily
excursions for the visitors to Belle
Isle, Tashmoo park and other nearby
resorts Free band concerts official
receptions lucheons theater parties
and BASEBALL games will be included in
the program. Another notable feature
will be grand electrical allegorical
parade, depicting the founding and
development of the city.
The decorations and illuminations of
the city during Elks week will be on
the scale of unparalleled magnifi-
cence. On the Sunday evening pre-
ceding the opening of the convention
Thomas A. Edison. at his home in
New Jersey, will press a button which
will be the signal for turning on
the brilliant illuminations which will
central portion of the city. Public
buildings and business houses will be
festooned with thousands of electric
lights, while mammoth arches of ari-
tistic design will be erected at the
principal street intersections to bid
welcome to the Best People on
Earth"
As at previous conventions of the
Elks the Growing event of the week
will be the great parade, which is
scheduled for Thursday, July H. Be
tween 10000 and 10000 members of
the order, mostly in uniform, will
march to the music of 200 bands. The
automobile manufacturers of Detroit,
which city leads the automobile in
dustry of the world, will furnish a
score of handsomely decorated motor
cars for the accommodation of the
ed guests who will ride in the parade,
The manufacturers will also place a
thousand automobiles at the disposal
of the reception committee to carry
the visitors on sightseeing trips about
the city One of the concluding fea-
lures of the weeks program will be a
ggranl automobile parade in which
will be shown every style of motor car
manufactured in Detroit and vicinity,
Prize drills and numerous other