By: Dave Rosenberg, for Davis Odd Fellows
Breakfast with Santa. The Zombie Bike Parade. The Classic Film Festival. Thursday Live! Breakfast with the Bunny. A Taste of Davis. The Davis Chocolate Festival. Second Sunday Bingo.The New Year’s Eve Party Chase the Chill. The Natalie Corona Scholarship. The Comedy Club. The OddtoberFest. The Picnic Day Pancake Breakfast. What do all these Davis Community activities and events have in common? They are all organized and hosted by the Davis Odd Fellows Lodge.
The “Independent Order of Odd Fellows” is a fraternal order established in North America in 1819. The Davis Odd Fellows Lodge was chartered in 1870, making it the oldest entity in the City of Davis. The Lodge may be old, but it is by no means tired. The Davis Lodge is so modern, active and dynamic that it has become the largest Odd Fellows Lodge in the world, with almost 400 members and 30 applicants (called “pledges”) for membership.
The Lodge has close to 70 committees running the business of the Lodge, planning, hosting, and organizing community events. There are committees that organize hikes, plan trips to wineries and breweries, clean up highways, go to sporting events, host line dancing at the Lodge Hall, schedule wine tasting and fine liquor tasting, do needle-craft, gather to enjoy fine cigars, build barn owl boxes, build a Picnic Day float, and much, more.
The process of joining can take as little as two months if the pledge is motivated—or as long as six months if the pledge is more laid back.
How to join:
- The Lodge is open to people of good moral character who are at least sixteen years old.
- Pledges must be sponsored by an existing member.
- Submit an application to the Lodge Membership Committee.
- Pledge is given a binder including: a pledge book (which must be read), a test (which is easy to pass if one has read the pledge book), an interview sheet (which encourages the pledge to meet and interview several members).
- Attend a certain number of meetings, events or committee meetings.
The current Chair of the Membership Committee is Nan Klein. Membership in the Davis Lodge costs a reasonable $60 per year. For more information, those interested can contact Dave at daverose@jps.net. Check out the Davis Odd Fellows online at davislodge.org.
The Davis Odd Fellows Lodge is located at 415 Second Street, Davis.
