The Crookston Eagles Club will be hosting the 123rd annual State Aerie and Auxiliary Convention from Wednesday, June 17, to Saturday, June 20. The convention is expected to bring over 200 auxiliary and aerie members from across Minnesota to Crookston, providing a local boost to the city as summer begins. “We’ve kind of done it a few times here recently,” said Eagles Club Secretary Jake Fee. “We haven’t had one since 1953, but we had a mini convention during Covid in 2020. We were supposed to host it there, but Covid threw a wrench into that one, so then we hosted it again in 2023 and then now again in 2026, but this probably will be our last time for a while, as it’s a lot of work here for us locally, but it’s a good way for us to bring hundreds of people into Crookston and stay at the hotels and fill them up, and then we encourage them to move around town a little bit and visit our shops and everything too, so it’s a kind of a nice little economic boost for the city of Crookston,”
During the convention, meetings will be held at the Crookston Inn for auxiliary and aerie members, and they will also have some fun with activities like a golf scramble and entertainment at the Eagles Club, 105 S. Broadway, every night. “First, we’ll have a little karaoke going on about 8:30 on Wednesday,” said Fee. “Then on Thursday, following our banquet, we have Terry Mackner playing in the bar at 8:30. Terry used to be in Silverado, but he does an amazing job, very entertaining guy. Then on Friday at 8:30, we’ll have The Back Campers, I believe they’re out of the Bemidji area, but a very entertaining band that plays a little bit of everything, so definitely not just meetings. We do have a little fun there as well.”
The Eagles currently have 12 volunteers working hard to ensure everything is set up and ready for the convention while continuing their normal operations at the club. “It’s fun when we host it, but we also really beat up on our volunteers, and I couldn’t really want to do thank every member that’s been involved in the state convention, especially my wife Ellie, who’s been doing a lot of the work, but takes a lot of volunteers,” said Fee. “We got a lot of hands on deck here for the next week to make sure it runs smoothly, but I do very much appreciate that, because without that, we just wouldn’t be able to host this, and it is important to Crookston.”
For those interested in learning more about the Eagles Auxiliary and Aerie, please contact the Eagles Club at 218-280-3881.
