Posted in Blog on August 10th, 2026 by Christi Reed
On July 2, 2026, at the Norfolk Masonic Temple, Norfolk #1 had their Grand Master’s official visit. Norfolk Assembly was asked to attend to help serve the Masons by dishing out the food to them. We served potato salad, beans, and smash burgers. There were also drinks and dessert that we handed out as well. In attendance from Norfolk Assembly, we had our Worthy Advisor Alaina, Ava, Morgan, and I. There was a really good turnout of Masons for their official visit.
I had so much fun getting to talk to my Rainbow sisters and the Masons. I love doing serving events because it allows me to talk to the people I’m serving while seeing my friends. Everyone was so friendly and sweet. Norfolk #1 Masons are so welcoming and make us feel like we are family.
Macie R. Norfolk Assembly #15
On July 2, Norfolk Assembly #15 went to Norfolk Lodge to help serve the members of Norfolk Lodge #1 with their Grand Master Visitation. We helped serve burgers, potato salad, fries, and baked beans in an assembly line format. The Rainbow girls that were in attendance were Alaina, Macie, Ava, and me. We also had some help from our awesome Rainbow Moms! Those who went were Mom Christi, our Mother Advisor, Mom Katherine, and Mom Kristen.
We ended up serving about 45 to 50 people including the Grand Master! I definitely got my arm workout in scooping the ice! The lodge was also decorated to celebrate the 4th of July. They had cute little red, white, and blue gnome statues. I thought it was very festive for the holiday! Everyone was so nice and they invited us to eat dinner after we helped serve. After we ate, we enjoyed the delicious German Chocolate Cake and Tiramisu!
Posted in Blog on August 10th, 2026 by Christi Reed
On June 26-28, 2026, Virginia Rainbow hosted their annual Grand Assembly. This event was held at Hotel Madison in Harrisonburg, VA. This year’s theme was “Choose Your Destiny with Virginia Rainbow”. This Grand Assembly focused around ending the excellent year of our Grand Worthy Advisor, Emily.
The order of events started with practices and opening night. Since I held a State position, I needed to attend 3 different practices! Let’s just say my feet were very tired after the practice! I participated in the Flag Bearer practice where we were instructed on how to give our speeches and where to take the flags when we were done. The flag I presented was the DeMolay Flag. This flag is special to me, due to my close relationship with the order and the pride I have from my Grandfather, who was the Executive Officer for many years for the DeMolay order. My second practice was the walkthrough for being a Grand Representative. At this practice, our chairman showed us the walk through for giving our names along with listing the States that we are representing. We also practiced the motions for the Grand Representative Parade that was taking place at the Saturday sessions. All the Representatives were asked to make shields that described each of the States that we were assigned for the year. The States I represented included North Dakota and Tennessee. My third practice was the Cavalcade Flag March. This is a march where many Rainbow Girls parade around flags from all over the USA and other Countries where the Rainbow order is represented. This year, we got to march to the song “Firework” by Katy Perry. All the girls had so much fun with this march and the crowd was equally engaged in the song!
The opening session also consisted of introducing our State officers and hearing remarks from our distinguished guests. I was very excited seeing our own Norfolk girls represent our State Officers. These included Alaina, who was Grand Choir Director, Becca, who was Grand Hope, and Sarah, who was Grand Page to the Grand Worthy Advisor. After we heard remarks from our distinguished guests, I was asked to give a special thought before the conclusion of the session. I was happy to talk about how my favorite Rainbow thought was when I was initiated back in 2024. This was a special event to me, not only because I joined Rainbow but because I got to meet so many wonderful Rainbow Girls. These girls made a huge impression on me that I was inspired to learn my ritual and hopefully become a Grand Officer one day. I want to be able to make someone’s Grand Assembly a long-lasting memory that they will never forget, just like the 2024 Grand Officers did for me.
The next morning session focused around initiation. The Grand Officers initiated 5 new girls into our order, 2 for Ashburn Assembly and 3 for Richmond! The ceremony was beautifully done by our Grand Officers and it was very exciting to welcome 5 new girls into our beautiful order. Something that is also done at Grand Assembly are three additional ceremonies. These are the Rose Lecture, Dad’s Talk, and Lambskin Apron Lecture. All of these lectures were beautifully done by this year’s winners who competed in these events back in our March competitions.
The second afternoon session can be known as the crying session. Here, we got to witness our Majority Ceremony for our girls that have aged out of the order and the Book of Memories. For the Majority Service, we sadly had to promote 4 of our girls to adults of the order. The Ceremony was done beautifully by many of our Virginia Majority Members. The next Ceremony was the Book of Memories. This is where all the outgoing Grand Officers sign their names and retire their jewels. Even though this is a sad Ceremony, the Retiring Grand Officers conducted it beautifully and left an impact on all our hearts.
Saturday night was our Grand Banquet. This is by far the best event that I look forward to during Grand Assembly. This is where we hear the announcements of all the competition winners and the new State appointments. Norfolk Assembly did not disappoint with being able to come in third place for Assembly of the Year and have many first place winners for the competitions! During appointment announcements, I was announced as Grand Flag Bearer to the Masonic Flag and Grand Representative to Colorado, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. We also had 5 other Norfolk Girls be appointed as Representatives and 4 be honored with getting Grand Officer positions for the 2026-2027 Grand Year!
Sunday morning was the Grand Installation, where all the newly appointed Representatives and officers were installed for the upcoming year. Noelle went in as our new Grand Worthy Advisor. The 2026 -2027 theme is “Crowning Confidence with Virginia Rainbow” centered around the movie “The Princess Diaries”. Her charity for the year will be focusing on the American Cancer Society with her main Service Project being Relay for Life. It was a beautiful installation and I am so excited to see where this year takes Virginia Rainbow!
I’m so proud of everyone and all the new positions that they are able to occupy. I am equally as grateful for all the opportunities I get to represent VA Rainbow. A special thank you to the behind the scenes crew who set everything up and made everything possible. I’m so sad to see Emily pass the torch on, but I know Noelle will do an amazing job. I love being able to see all of my sisters from all around the state and be able to make memories that will last a lifetime.
Macie R. Norfolk Assembly #15
On Friday, June 26, at Virginia Rainbow’s Grand Assembly, there was a lot of practice and rehearsals that were taking place. I got to go to the practices later in the afternoon, but I heard there were practices starting as early as 9am! Some of these practices include, Grand Cross, where I am proud to say that my mom is the Dean of the Grand Cross of Color, and Grand Officer practice. The practice I attended was for the Cavalcade of Flag March. The song for Cavalcade that we did was Firework by Katy Perry. This was a very upbeat and fun choice to walk to and the march itself was fun to learn! We were able to do this march right when the Opening Session started.
During the Opening Session, we got to see introductions of the Grand Officers, Grand Representatives, and the Grand Flag Bearers. The Grand Flag Bearers even got to make a little speech about each of the flags they were carrying. After the informal opening and hearing all the speeches from our distinguished guests, we got to see the opening march for the Grand Officers, who marched to the theme song from “Brave”. Then, we continued with formal opening and introductions of our distinguished guests who were able to attend the ceremony. After the session, we were able to relax and watch the “Brave” movie before going to bed for the next session.
Ava C. Norfolk Assembly #15
I had a blast attending this past year’s Grand Assembly “Choose Your Destiny” session! To conclude an amazing Grand Assembly, we had the Grand Installation to appoint the next group of Grand Officers and Grand Representatives. Before the Installation, I was in charge of making sure the girls in my hotel room were up, packed, and ready to load the car! It was an early morning waking up at 7am! Everyone was equally tired and excited to close out the session with the Installation. I was especially excited since I was installed as the Grand Choir Director for the 26’-27’ term! One of our Norfolk advisors had breakfast for our Assembly once we finished loading up the car and it was delicious!
The installation of Grand Officers was absolutely beautiful and I’m so happy I got to be a part of it! The Installing team did a fantastic job and it was so exciting to hear about some of the plans that Noelle has for the year! Her theme for the year is “Crowning Confidence with Virginia Rainbow” which was inspired by the “Princess Diaries” film. I am especially excited because I love this movie! Some of the parts that stuck out to me was the Ribbon Ceremony, where the pledges in attendance got to put the ribbons on Noelle’s gavel and say parts for what each ribbon meant. They were so cute and heart warming! The other part that stuck out to me was the mascot presentation where Noelle had to answer questions about the “Princess Diaries” in order to find the mascot. The overall Grand Session was a blast, and Sunday morning Installation was definitely my favorite part. Congratulations to all of the new Grand Officers and Grand Representatives! This year is going to be amazing!
I’m super excited to work with Noelle for her term and I’m looking forward to all of the fun events she has planned!
On June 13, 2026, Bethel 42 had their installation of officers at Kempsville Masonic Lodge. Our very own JoBow and Worthy Advisor of Norfolk Assembly, Alaina, went in as Honored Queen for the Bethel. This installation had an amazing turnout!. We had supporters from DeMolay, Rainbow, Job’s Daughters, and other sponsoring bodies. The theme for her term is “A Whole New World” centered around the Disney film, Aladdin. One of the highlights for the installation was seeing a cute slideshow that shows pictures of Alaina and everything that she has done leading up to her term as Honored Queen. I also enjoyed the ceremony that takes place afterwards, where Alaina and the two princesses present their crowns to the cross. In attendance from Norfolk Assembly, we had Becca, Manuela, and our two sparkles Bella and Melissa.
I’m so happy I was able to watch Alaina go in as Honored Queen. It was an amazing installation with lots of fun and laughter. They did a great job with the decorations and the actual ceremony. Alaina is doing an amazing job as Worthy Advisor for Norfolk Assembly, so I have no doubt that she will be an equally amazing Honored Queen for the Bethel. Congratulations, Bethel
42! I cannot wait to see all the amazing things you will accomplish under Alaina’s leadership!
On June 12 and 13, 2026, Khedive Shrine hosted their annual Rodeo event. This is a two day event that takes place every June. Every year, the Rainbow girls get asked to work the bounce house area. This is a huge service opportunity for us because we get to help with making a safe environment for all the kids that want to have fun in between and during the Rodeo events. Between the two days, we saw more kids on Saturday than Friday. It may have had something to do with the crazy weather we were having on Friday night! We also had help from our Kempsville DeMolay brothers each day. It was great to have the extra hands to help with the larger crowd on Saturday!
Each year, this event is always such a big success. Not only do we help by volunteering our time, but we help in promoting the organization. Many people come up to us and ask who we are volunteering with and this leads us to talk all about Rainbow. In addition, this time, we were able to get two petitions signed for Norfolk Assembly! This was very exciting! We even had one of our prospects help to volunteer as well, starting her Rainbow service even before she is initiated into the order. Overall, this was a great event to have fun at and spread the word of our beautiful order.
The Virginia Grand Assembly is a proud member of the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls – a non-profit youth group that teaches girls what matters most – leadership, confidence, and citizenship.
