I think it's a great thing a sign of the times that the Odd Fellows can support such a great endeavor. The community celebration of our nation's indenpendence is certainly a worthy cause and the Odd Fellows have been a long standing contributor to our community. Good luck with your new endeavor.

Just a little correction to Hornet's post. The WI Lodge 14 meets Every Wednesday at 7, doors open at 6.

Thank you for posting all that information on the organization!

Independent Order of Odd Fellows:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Order_of_Odd_Fellows

Rebekahs:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Association_of_Rebekah_Assemblies

Photos of the vandalism/fire: www.gazetteextra.com/slideshows/oddfello...

History of IOOF in Wisconsin: http://www.ioofwi.org/history.htm

Location/Meeting info:
JANESVILLE - Wisconsin Lodge No. 14. Meets 1st & 3rd Wed., 8:00 p.m., 22 N. Main St.
Janesville Rebekah Lodge No. 14, Meets 2nd & 4th Thurs.,7:00 p.m. I.O.O.F. Hall, 22 N Main St.

From the WI IOOF website:
=========================
Want more info? http://www.ioofwi.org/moreinfo.htm

Who can be a member?

A man or woman of good character, who is loyal to his or her country and believes in a Supreme Being, the creator and preserver of the Universe, is eligible for membership. Odd Fellowship strictly forbids any interference with one's religious beliefs or political opinions.

===

I AM AN ODD FELLOW:

I believe in the Fatherhood of God, and the Brotherhood of man.
I believe in Friendship, Love and Truth as basic guides to the ultimate destiny of all mankind.
I believe my home, my church or temple, my lodge, and my community deserve my best work, my modest pride, my earnest faith, and my deepest loyalty, as I perform my duty "to visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan" and as I work with others to build a better world, because, in spirit and in truth, I am and must always be, grateful to my Creator, faithful to my country and fraternal to my fellow-man;

I AM AN ODD FELLOW!

Odd fellows membership was so big in Janesville there are actualy two building in down town Janesville, one on main street the other on Milwaukee I believe. Look up at the buildings down there and you may see the 3 links. The building on Milwaukee was sold some time ago.

Thank you very much Odd Fellows for taking on this responsiblity. I might actually stay in town to celebrate the 4th of July this year. I just couldn't stomach it in years past when the celebration was sponsored by the local strip clubs.

if u are curious about the odd fellows come check them out they hold a meeting every wednesday night doors open at 6.00 p.m. at 22 n main in janesville

After recovering from vandalism last year, taking over the fireworks on the 4th is great way to get their name out again. Members are inducted all the time over the country, but it is the older membership that tends to hold more prestigous roles.

The odd fellows is one of the oldest fraternal orginazations in the world. They are not a motorcycle club. They are the only orginazation besides the military to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the unknown Soldier. They have a float in the Rose Bowl Parade every year. I believe they hold a chair at John Hopkins. They allowed women to vote before the womens sufferage act. Vice president Shular Colfax was a member. The reason you may not have heard of them most members are old, and have not brought new members in.

The Odd fellows, or Independent Order of Odd Fellows(I.O.O.F.), Is a faternal organization that is dedicated to helping those in need. They run benifits through out the year and donate to diffrent charities. There motto is Friendship Love, And Truth, or FLT, and symbolized with 3 links of red white and blue.

A good precentage have motorcycles, but not all do, so they do a Poker Run every year to raise mony for a charity of choice.

They had an act of vandilism at the lodge, and have been rebuilding for the last year.

be_happy I believe it is a motorcycle club, they had their club and a venue upstairs of a building on Main Street which burned down a few years ago....not the building but thier club.....Thanks for supporting Janesville Odd Fellows

Im sorry I have to ask,but who are the oddfellows? I have been hearing the name lately but I dont know who they are or what they are about.Sorry for my ignorance.

cool²

I'm happy that they are going to have an alcohol free family day. One year when our children were small, we were in line to buy some popcorn, a very drunk man came up to the garbag can near the booth. After he was finished no one was in line anymore. We all had lost our appetites!

Here here cougar21! I think it is a better location overall at the sports complex. Though it has always been fun watching the fireworks over the river.

Great! Thanks to the Odd Fellows for picking this up. Let's hope they keep it at the Sports Complex.

Way to go OddFellows!!! You Rock!!!

This is good news. The Jaycees have obviously been increasingly overwhelmed. I do suggest the IOOF keep the scale of the event in mind and proceed cautiously. (This year is probably not a good one for donations, so the event will have to be self-supporting as much as possible.) Good luck!

yes i know the odd fellow group and think is wonderfull what the are doing..keep up the great work..looking forward to a great fourth of july..

"July 2 is being considered as a special family fun/youth focused night with no beer sales, according to the press release."

--- I know that beer sales help raise funds to put on the show, as well as (maybe) bring in some fundraising dollars for other needs for the host group. But it is nice to see that Barry Golden and Cathy Comstock are including a night without beer. Being a native of another state, I'm so alarmed that beer/alcohol is so prevalent in Wisconsin society...especially at the UW campuses! (Not so in my home state.)

---Glad they've got the sponsorship figured out so far in advance of the event, so it will be easier to put together a really good show for the community. I hope there's a good turnout.

This is a positive note for our community Thank YOU!!!!!