300,000 Fill City Streets To Watch Shriners Parade

Festooned with fezzes and ablaze with Arabic flair, 4,500 Shriners paraded through the city of Boston on Tuesday and Wednesday to celebrate their annual international convention.

The Shriners, a fraternal organization affiliated with the Masons, is known for its philanthropy and colorful parades in which middle-aged men ride scooters, go-carts and camels.

For the group's 126th annual convention, held in the Weston Copley Hotel held July 1 to 6, the Shriners discussed business matters for both the organization and the philanthropic arm of their group, the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

The Shriners sponsor 22 hospitals scattered throughout America that provide free burn and orthopedic treatment to children.

At an Independence Day ceremony at Faneuil Hall Tuesday morning, Mayor Thomas M. Menino welcomed the estimated 20,000 Shriners who traveled to Boston for the convention.

The Shriners then paraded from Copley Square to City Hall in a procession that drew about 300,000 spectators and took four hours from start to finish.

"We don't think things could have gone any better," said Shriner Michael Andrews. "Everyone was as hospitable as they could be."

Faced with a declining membership base, the group voted to loosen the eligibility requirements to join the fraternity. It then inducted 350 new members.

"We're losing more members than we're taking in," Andrews said.

This convention was also the first international gathering at which the Shriners opened their induction ceremony to the public.

"There was a realization that people view us as a secret society or religious organization, and we're not at all," Andrews said. "There's no reason that we shouldn't have our ceremony open to the public."

The members also met two children who had been treated at Shriners Hospitals.

Tad Lietz, a Vietnamese orphan who was adopted when he was three years old by an American couple in Appleton, Wisc., told the group he dreamed of being a famous cellist, despite being born without a left arm.

Local Shriners read about Lietz and offered their help.

Today, Lietz, only 12 years old, is well on his way to accomplishing his goal. He played a moving rendition of the theme to Titanic at the convention by moving the cello's bow with his left foot.

C.J. Williams, 18, of Panama City, Florida, thanked the Shriners for saving her life after she suffered burns on over 70 percent of her body as a child. She was recently voted the most athletic student in her class and chosen as captain of her high school cheerleading team.

The fathers of both Lietz and Williams joined the Shriners after their children's experiences helped them learn about the organization.

Andrews said the Arabic theme of the Shriners' costumes stretches all the way back to the group's founding in 1872.

"The founders were looking for a theme to attract attention," he said. "We have nothing to do with the Arab world other than adopting their color. We're as American as apple pie."