Eagles Hall hits the market
CLUB IN PROCESS OF FINDING NEW FACILITY IN CITY
Over a proud history covering 90 years in Lethbridge, the Fraternal Order of Eagles has donated millions of dollars to community causes.
Members have held countless fund-raising events, hosted innumerable dinners and events in their northside hall — and enjoyed doing it all.
Now the Lethbridge club is turning the page. With a smaller membership today, it no longer needs a 9,000-square-foot facility. So club secretary Dave Gulash says the Eagles are selling their familiar 13 Street N. hall, and looking for a rightsized location.
“Our whole mission is ‘People helping people,’” he points out — but too much was being spent on operating costs.
The two-level hall was built in 1964, he notes, the latest location for a club that kept on moving as it grew. As its official number — Aerie 2100 — attests, the Eagles organization had grown remarkably since its founding on the West Coast in 1898. By 1927, when the Lethbridge charter was approved, the service club had spread across North America from its roots in Seattle and Vancouver.
At its post-war peak, Gulash says, the local club counted nearly 750 members.
“Back then, it was the thing to do.”
And Lethbridge had many clubs, lodges and service groups to join. Fifty years later, some remain active while others have folded.
With a renewed focus, Gulash believes the Eagles will continue to serve for years to come.
“It’s a great fraternity,” with younger members as well as long-timers continuing to raise funds for services like Stars Air Ambulance, the Jack Ady Cancer Centre and the therapeuticriding organization. Across the continent, the Eagles have long supported a number of medical research and clinical causes — and the Lethbridge club has been part of that, too.
With fewer service groups active today, Gulash feels it’s even more important that organizations like the Eagles carry on to support community causes.
By moving to a smaller facility, while stepping up membership activities, he sees a promising future for current and prospective members.
Though the hall was listed for sale just recently, Gulash says a purchase offer is already on the table.
So where should the Eagles land next? Remain on the northside — where most of the other halls are located — or elsewhere in the city?
“We would like to get some feedback,” he says.
That decision should be made in coming months, he says, along with a plan for what features and amenities the new location should provide. Then Goulash and his colleagues on the board hope to invite the public to see the Eagles’ new facilities — and consider the benefits of joining.
Even with its current building, he notes, the club has been successful in recruiting and retaining younger members. And these days, he observes, more Canadians have become active in supporting social causes.
“I have a lot of faith in the younger people.”