Pictures from Knights of Malta's International Assembly
Vancouver BC, August 2002

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Friday 5am the Knights’ carriages (Adam, Bob, Tom and Tom, Kevin, Amber, Frank, Daniel and Johnny) left Fresno for San Francisco Airport. With the weekend being the last major holiday, we wanted to be early. We all met at the airport and got checked in, then relaxed in a tavern for a while before our flight. Then it was time to fly away!

We arrived in Vancouver on time and were greeted by several of the local Knights including Gordon, their President; they had a limo waiting to whisk us downtown to the Hotel Dufferin. The Vancouver Chapter was working like busy bees getting everything set up for the weekend. We all went down to the back alley bar in the Dufferin for the Meet & Greet which included snacks and strippers. Unlike in the US, the strippers in Vancouver can strip naked but you are allowed to look, not touch! We partied till midnight, then the Fresno Chapter took over and held hospitality till about sunrise; the entire hallway was full of Knights and invited guests.


Saturday eye openers began at 9 am. It was fun to see everyone bleary-eyed with a few exceptions. At 10am we departed for a 3-block walk to Panama Jack’s at the Holiday Inn hotel for a lovely brunch.

The staff commented that we brought the sunny California weather with us. After brunch we had time to go shopping on Davies Street and to the Pumpjack Saloon for a Beer Bust with the bears and local leathermen. Then we went back to the hotel to get ready for our formal dinner at the Holiday Inn. We walked down in our formalwear to the dinner, the food was wonderful and we turned quite a few heads in the hotel!

After dinner we went back to the Duff and got ready for the interclub show. The tension was building: Seattle went first, Vancouver went next and Fresno went last. The competition was fierce but our chapter was victorious with a 20-minute production number written by Amber, Kevin and Kirk about an evil Dominatrix, the Knights and the White Satin Dildo.

During the show water rained down on the stage from a bath overflowing upstairs in a guest’s room! Later we all went back upstairs to the hospitality suite where Seattle was hosting the party. Johnny was caught playing chutes and ladders on the fire escape, and at 3:00 am we went out to get some pita sandwiches....Yum!


Sunday 9am, once again everyone was rousted for eye openers and then we all walked or stumbled over to the Holiday Inn for brunch at Panama Jack’s Café. Free time was given to those not attending the interclub meeting. The formal meeting went fast and at 3pm we were loading the bus, driven by Harvey from the Jet Chapter, for Granville Island.

We had fun finding a parking spot but finally everyone got out and help spot the bus into a safe place. We boarded the Yacht Rosella III for a cruise and dinner in the harbors and waterways around Vancouver and we hit some rough seas. Kevin was the first to get seasick then Adam and a few others. The owners had some medicine to help us get through the rest of the trip.

The dinner was great and went fast. Once we got back to shore we headed back to the Duff for the variety show, then the Vancouver chapter had the farewell party in the hospitality suite and by that time everyone was bushed from so much fun and frolic over the weekend.



Monday we all straggled in at 10am for the farewell breakfast hosted by the First Lady and others, dressing in 50s diners fashion. There was the grand raffle with items worth a few hundred dollars, and our Frank won it! When breakfast was over we sent everyone off that was leaving that day.

Tuesday - we lined up at 4:45am to catch the limo to the Airport. We had a gay driver that asked a lot of questions, we told him to check out the Vancouver chapter.

Overall the Assembly was a great success and a lot of fun for all; we all renewed our bonds of brother/sisterhood and showed a lot of people what it is to truly be a Knight.

by Kevin Calwell