Santee Lodge - Scout Memorabilia

Special Flap Issues

October 24, 2009

One of the concepts that became a part of the lodge lexicon during this time was the idea of a patch being the lodge totem.  This was a concept that the scout executive brought and basically said that the one flap that you wore – the Ordeal flap – was the “lodge totem”.  This was the flap that could be restricted and sold only to lodge members.  All other flaps he considered to be special issues including the Brotherhood and Vigil flaps.  The new trader flap also fit into this category.  By taking the proverbial trigger off the conservative ways of the lodge in just the year 2003 the lodge had three new special issue flaps.  It should be noted that from 1997 to 2004 the lodge executive committee made all decisions regarding memorabilia without consultation with the entire lodge through a business meeting.  In fact many brothers lamented that business meetings lost their cantankerous flavor during this period of ECM power.  Some will point to the Fall 2007 business meeting – 10 years in the making – as the possible return of youth led great debates about the memorabilia of the lodge.

The first special issue of 2003 was a first for Santee.  Jay Carlson designed a “Night Vision” set that would have a special 65^th anniversary flap accompanied by three fellowship segments called by many chevrons that would fit under the flap making eventually a full pocket set.  His original design called for the use of iridescent glow-in-the-dark thread which was a new curiosity in the early years of the new century.  However, when the price quote came back excessively high for this thread the lodge staff adviser squashed the idea and instead ordered the set with regular embroidery.  We will never know what the “Night Vision” set would have looked like glowing in a dark space.  Even so the set was popular with Arrowmen and many purchased the flaps as they were reordered at least once and sold out by the end of 2003.

Santee hosted the 2003 Dixie Fellowship at Camp Coker.  The ECM supported by the Dixie Committee voted to have two flaps available to brothers in conjunction with this event.  The first was the Dixie Service flap again designed by Jay Carlson.  This flap had to be earned by a brother taking part in Dixie work weekends.  The flaps were not distributed until the event and sales were tightly controlled by the staff adviser.  The other flap issued for the Dixie was a conclave delegate flap.  Ironically, neither of these Dixie issues was allowed to use the words Dixie Fellowship by order of the scout executive.   The 2003 Conclave Delegate flap was sold at the event.  There was a reorder on this flap because of confusion over when and how they were sold to members.  It was also during this time that the lodge began using the Krelman Company again to create its patches.  The Dixie Adviser David Surrett became the lodge adviser shortly after the Dixie in April.  Since Krelman was used to issue the Dixie memorabilia they were given the lodge’s business.  It is worth noting that the ECM in later years approved delegate flaps for the 2005