The Dixie Fellowship is the Order of the Arrow conclave for 11 lodges that stretch along a center line across the North Carolina / South Carolina border. In the west it reaches Asheville, NC (Tsali 134) and dips down into eastern Georgia with Augusta (Bob White 87) and Savannah (Tomo Chi Chi 119). The name was first coined for the event in 1952 and this annual gathering has been held every year except 1969 when no conclaves were held across the country. Through different alignments the Dixie has contained as many as 14 different lodges in multiple configurations over time. Since the early 2000s the current makeup of 11 lodges has held firm. The memorabilia issued by the Dixie is highly collectible and has a history that dates back to the 1947 Area Z patch. The modern Dixie includes a variety of items including member lodges producing memorabilia promoting their spirit theme for the weekend.
Dixie Fellowship
What year did Dixie Fellowship patches just indicate the host lodge and not of participating lodges? 2) why does today Dixie Fellowship patches not include the Confederate flag?
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The answer to your first question is really just the choice of the host lodge. They come up with the design and in some years they made an effort to include all the lodge numbers and in some years they have gotten away from this. The patch has always resembled the totem of the host lodge but in some recent years the patch designers have not tried to make it too complicated with listing 10 lodge numbers. To answer your 2nd question it was 1991 when an article came out in The State (Columbia, SC) newspaper. The article was critical of the tradition of including the Confederate flag and somebody higher up made the decision it would not be allowed. In some later years there was a nod to it in the patch design (1998 for example). Today all patch designs have to get cleared by the National BSA and nothing with that element on it will every be approved since it is divisive.
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