SANFORD -- The Maine Elks Association Ritual Team continued their domination of the Area I Interstate-Relations Ritual Roulette Championships by winning for the ninth straight year, and retiring their third regional trophy. The event was held at the Sanford Elks Lodge on October 5, 2008. The purpose of the contest was to promote excellence in the performance of the Elks initiation ritual, and to foster better relations among the State Elks Associations.

In the event, Maine narrowly defeated Connecticut by only 0.518 points, as both teams performed exceptionally well. This was not an easy contest for Maine, as only a week prior to the event; the State was able to pull together enough players to compete in the contest.

This contest is called "Roulette," as it involves four of the Lodge's seven officers drawing for their ritual parts only 5 minutes before their team competes. This is extraordinarily difficult, as those four officers must memorize and be ready to perform their parts extremely well during the competition. The positions that draw are the Exalted Ruler, Leading Knight, Loyal Knight, and the Lecturing Knight.

Once the four chair officers are determined, the team must perform before several judges, who evaluate them on Impressiveness, Pronunciation, Word Accuracy, Deportment (movements), and Appearance. Deductions are made for each mistake, starting with a perfect score of 100 points and working downward. The initiation ceremony takes approximately 45 minutes to complete, and requires each officer to maintain their concentration during that time.

Earning recognition as Area I Champions for 2008 are: Exalted Ruler Rick Williams. (Biddeford-Saco Elks), Leading Knight: Tom Spellman (Sanford Elks), Loyal Knight: Frank Ricker (Sanford Elks), Lecturing Knight: Wayne Cotterly (Lewiston Elks), Esquire: Peter Baker (Sanford Elks), Chaplain: Lynn Joslin (Brunswick Elks), Inner Guard: Bruce Brunelle (Sanford Elks), Candidate: Andy Bolz (Sanford Elks).

In addition to winning the overall team competition, several individual awards were earned as well. These awards were presented to: Tom Spellman., Wayne Cotterly, and Bruce Brunelle for achieving the highest scores in their respective positions above.

L-R: Peter Baker, Tom Spellman, Wayne Cotterly, Rick Williams Frank Ricker, Lynn Joslin, Bruce Brunelle, and Andy Bolz