Last Thursday, Occoneechee Lodge announced that the 7th annual Trade-O-Ree, hosted at Camp Durant, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were informed through an email with reasonings as stated:
“The Trade-O-Ree Team has spent the past weeks discussing the proposed event with lodge and council leadership, County and State health officials to see if we could safely hold the event. We considered many different options to make the event possible. But in the end, we decided to cancel this year’s event based on feedback, restrictions and most importantly the safety of our vendors, patrons and Scouts.”
Then, on Friday, the Lodge announced the cancellation of Gentgeen, an annual AIA training weekend also hosted at Camp Durant, would also be canceled for the same reasoning. Many were saddened that another weekend of brotherhood, cheerfulness and fellowship was canceled, but they understood the decision.
Only about six hours after the cancellation of Gentgeen was announced, Section SR-7B announced the cancellation of Conclave 2020, which was supposed to take place at Camp Bowers hosted by Klahican Lodge. Regarding registration fees and memorabilia purchases for Conclave, refunds for conclave will be processed automatically in the next few weeks and memorabilia will not be refunded and will be sent to each lodge for distribution to members.
The Section stated that its main focus now is looking on to the future, starting with Conclave 2021. Klahican will now host Conclave 2021 at Camp Bowers, shifting each lodge’s original host year back one year. Occoneechee Lodge will not host again until 2026, instead of 2025. Also, 2020-21 Section Officers will be elected through a teleconference on Thursday, July 30th at 8:00 pm. To be eligible to vote in these elections, Arrowmen must be under 21 on July 30th at 8:00 pm. Arrowmen must pre-register for the teleconference in order to be able to vote through this form.
