On Saturday April 28th, Masons from across the country (and around the world!) converged upon Ezekiel Bates Lodge in Attleboro for the third annual Masonic Con. The brainchild of Wor. Bryan Simmons and his team at Ezekiel Bates, Masonic Con has grown in three short years to a world-known premier event for Masonic education and fellowship.

With four floors full of fraternal vendors, displays, and lecturers, the old lodge building was bursting to the seams with Brothers and friends from every walk of life (some flying from as far away as Texas, California, and upper Canada to get there!)

Aleppo Nobles manned an informational table on the first floor and welcomed prospective members. On the third floor the Potentate, Ill. Bro. Harlan Woods Jr., members of the Divan, and other Nobles swore in three candidates throughout the day who became new Nobles in an abbreviated Cold Sands ceremony. The new Nobles were “capped” with “FEZ” hats to hold them over until they receive their fezzes at the next ceremonial.

Although it wasn’t nearly as hot as last year, we saw many of the water bottles donated by Aleppo put to good use. Each bottle had a custom label with the square and compasses, and information about Aleppo and the Shrine.

on the fourth floor the Aleppo Archives provided a display of many great pieces of Aleppo Memorabilia in order to show the importance of preserving our history and the pride we take in our organization. We had many interested Brothers and members of the public stop by to talk about our display and pieces of the collection; it helped that we were positioned outside the “Tower” lodge room where all of the day’s lectures were. We were joined by displays of other members of the Masonic Historical Preservation Society including the Cambridge Temple Collection as well as an extensive private collection from a Brother in Milford.

made many new contacts from many lodges across the area to whom we put out the message that we’re building our archives and looking for any Aleppo memorabilia they might have and be willing to share.

We were especially pleased to meet the Grand Librarian of the Grand Lodge of Maine, a former Aleppo Noble (now a member of Anah) who shared some of his stories of being in the Aleppo Band back in the 1960s before we moved to Wilmington.