The fez is the hook. The hospitals are the point.
Shriners are Masons — the Shrine is where Master Masons go to have fun on purpose. The parades, the little cars, the red fezzes: all real, all exactly as much fun as they look. But every parade and pancake breakfast and Queen of Hearts drawing exists for one reason: Shriners Children’s, a network of pediatric hospitals that treats kids regardless of their family’s ability to pay.
I joined the Shrine in 2006. In 2025, the Nobles of Sahib Shriners in Sarasota did me the honor of electing me their Potentate.
One year with the fez: 2025
January. Installed as Potentate — with Lady Sherry beside me, where she’d be all year. A week later our Queen of Hearts game paid out, restarted, and by summer the new jackpot had climbed past $50,000 — every ticket helping the temple do its work.
Spring. The Potentate’s Ball. The Arcadia Rodeo Parade. The North Port Shrine Club’s 40th anniversary. And in May, a week in England for my mother’s 90th birthday — Potentates get homesick too.
Summer. Waves & Wheels weekend, a casino road trip, and in August the Sahib Ceremonial — the day we welcomed a new class of Nobles into the Shrine, which is the whole game: membership over 600 and growing.
Fall. The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the temple (yes, really). Our first-annual Trunk or Treat. The Potentate’s Cruise — eighteen Nobles from three different Shrines on one boat. Veterans Day parades, because Shriners show up for those who showed up for us.
December. The Venice Holiday Parade, year-end reflections, and the number I’m proudest of: Lady Sherry’s project raised $5,337.28 for Shriners Children’s POPS — the Pediatric Orthotic and Prosthetic Services program. (Link: What is POPS? →)
The steady stuff
The Potentate changes every year. These don’t:
- Tuesday Bingo — an 18-year tradition, run entirely by volunteers.
- New Nobles Night — third Wednesday monthly; free beer and pizza for new and visiting Nobles.
- The Hillbilly Clan — my unit; ask me about the outfits at your own risk.
Shriners Children’s
Since 1922, Shriners Children’s has provided specialty pediatric care — orthopedics, burns, spinal cord, cleft lip and palate — regardless of a family’s ability to pay. It is one of the great philanthropies in American history, and it’s why grown men wear funny hats in parades.
Learn more at shrinerschildrens.org →
Want to wear the fez? It starts where everything in Masonry starts — with the first three degrees in a Blue Lodge. Here’s how to ask → Already a Master Mason? Sahib Shriners would love to meet you →