Fairfield Elks member Rich Metcalf named Southeast Iowa Elk of the Year

FAIRFIELD – Fairfield Elks member Rich Metcalf was named the Southeast Iowa Elk of the Year during the district meeting of eight regional Elks Lodges on Jan. 21.

This honor puts Metcalf in the running to be named Iowa Elk of the Year, which will be awarded during the state convention in April. In 2023, the Iowa Elk of the Year was none other than Fairfield Elk Kevin Curran.

Metcalf said he was surprised and honored to win the Southeast Iowa Elk of the Year, and that he’s proud to represent the club. He said that Fairfield Elks has always stood out from the pack for being so involved, both in the local community and at the state level. In fact, a number of Fairfield Elks have gone on to become Iowa Elk of the Year, including Curran last year, Jeff Koontz in 2018, Chris Davis in 2016, Art Hutton in 2007, Neil Crossland in 1998, Pete Nelson in 1994 and Ernie Riepe in 1990, just to name a few.

“We’re the fourth largest Elks Lodge in the state, membership-wise,” Metcalf said, noting that only Iowa City, West Des Moines and Sioux City have more members than Fairfield’s Lodge, which boasts 450 members.

Metcalf has been an Elk since 2012, and began serving on a state committee just two years later when he joined the Veterans Leather Program. The program takes deer hides donated by hunters and turns them into leather used for therapy programs for veterans, as well as leather wheelchair gloves for veterans.

Metcalf was born and raised in Fairfield, and graduated from Fairfield High School in 1986. He works on the production floor at Dexter Laundry, and has a part-time job at Bomgaars. He’s also available to fill in whenever the Elks Lodge needs a helping hand during a dinner.

Metcalf said he had a lot of friends and classmates who were members of the Elks, and during one of the Lodge’s Rocky Mountain Oyster feeds, they asked him why he wasn’t a member.

“I told them, ‘Nobody has ever asked me,’” he said. “They got me an application, and a month later I was initiated.”

In the years since, Metcalf’s wife Aileen and their three children Logan, Tanner and Miranda have all become Elks.

Metcalf’s first role in the club was a Lecturing Knight in 2014-15, and then he advanced onto new titles with new responsibilities each of the following years continuing with Loyal Knight in 2015-16, Leading Knight in 2016-2017 and finally Exalted Ruler in 2017-2018.

After serving as Exalted Ruler, Metcalf joined the Board of Trustees for a five-year term. On the fifth year of that term, that longest serving trustee gets together with the Exalted Ruler and the two work out a budget for the next year, which is a big responsibility since the Elks do so many things.

Fairfield Elks does a lot for the community, including planting trees every year in a city park, and collecting deer hides in Jefferson County and neighboring counties for the Veterans Leather Program. In recent years, the Elks have partnered with local first-responders to put on the Shop with a Hero program where kids are accompanied by first-responders while they shop for Christmas gifts in Walmart.

The Elks host meals on Friday nights at their location on the west side of the Fairfield square, and they do a number of fundraising meals throughout the year.

“Our biggest meal is coming up on March 9, which is our shrimp feed,” Metcalf said. “It’s an all-you-can-eat shrimp feed, or you can get one serving of prime rib. I’ve been doing that since 2017. We get 250-plus people up here eating.”

The Elks and Boy Scouts collaborate for the annual Flag Day ceremony in June at the Ron Prill Bandstand in Central Park. The Elks also sponsor an essay contest for sixth-graders on “What the Flag means to me.” Metcalf said the club plans to put a new roof on the structure at the Dexter Soccer Complex this spring.

The Elks Lodge is hosting a couple of events on Saturday, Feb. 10. That morning from 7-11 a.m., the Elks are hosting their annual Elks National Foundation Fundraising Breakfast, open to the public. A buffet of sausage, eggs, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, coffee, juice and milk will be served. Tickets are $12 at the door, and adjusted for children. The Elks National Foundation is the charitable arm of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks.

Later that day, the Elks Lodge will partner with the Southeast Iowa Blues Society to host the Tammy Jones Memorial, which was originally scheduled two weeks earlier but got postponed because of weather. Jones, who passed away on Nov. 2, 2023, served as a chaplain, trustee and secretary with the Fairfield Elks. The bar will open at 5:30 p.m. that night, and the Lodge will serve in-house pizza starting at 6:30 p.m., with musical guest Van & The Movers performing at 7:30 p.m. The cover charge is $10.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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