For every year since 1954, one of the rites of summer in North Country has been the arrival of the Shriners.
This year will be no different, as close to 30,000 people are expected to descend on Hanover on Saturday for the annual downtown parade and football game between the high school all-stars of New Hampshire and Vermont.
The Shriners are a secret fraternal order that operate 22 orthopedic and burn hospitals throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada -- all of which provide free medical care to children under the age of 18.
Don Berwick, athletic coordinator for the Shriners, called the Shriners a "group of men dedicated to helping crippled and burned children."
Saturday's festivities will be kicked off by the Shriners parade through downtown Hanover.
Last year's parade included miniature cars, clowns, bands playing music, and of course, plenty of Shriners donning their trademark Fez caps.
According to Berwick, Nashua held the first Shriners parade in New Hampshire and Manchester hosted the second one.
Since then, Hanover has hosted the Shriner's parade -- scheduled to coincide with the football game -- every summer.
This year's parade marshal will be a woman from Iowa who as a child was burned over 80 percent of her body.
"She is one of the first people we saved at our hospitals," Berwick said.
The parade will begin at noon at Hanover High School on Lebanon Street.
The route will wind up Main Street and go down to the site of the old Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital on Maynard Street before heading to Memorial Field for the annual Bowl Game.
The football game is considered one of the biggest and most widely anticipated high school games in all of northern New England.
David Orr, publicity director for the local Shriners chapter, previously told The Dartmouth that there are 40 shrine games played across the country, and that the one in Hanover is the third largest.
"Every ticket we sell, every souvenir we sell, every donation we take in goes to the hospital," Orr said.
In previous years, the Shriners events in Hanover have raised up to $200,000. In the first 41 years, the Bowl Game has raised approximately $3.5 million.
