Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) October 16, 2026
VT State Grange Annual Session
Coming next week!
For the 3rd year in a row, our Grange is hosting the yearly gathering of VT Grange members from around the state, for 2 days of meetings, elections–and meals. Our Grange is providing meals for up to 75 people, with the same “head chef” as last year doing most of the food prep. Albert Sabatini is a retired chef, who still is the head of the Montpelier Community Meal program, as well as a Grange member. Last year, his cooking was very popular with State Grange members! Merry Shernock has been lining up local food sources for many of the ingredients for the menu, as well as recruiting a couple of people to do prep work for Albert.Friday 7:30 AM kitchen setup: work with Albert to bring in food he’s prepped beforehand, and ready for putting together lunches & dinners
Post-meal cleanup & dishwashing:
We need a crew of at minimum 2 (3 would be better) to do post-meal cleanup for and dishwashing after each meal–we’ll be using the Grange’s excellent assortment of dishes, glasses, silverware, etc. As we know from our potluck dinners, it’s pretty efficient to pre-rinse, wash and rinse in our multiple sinks, and can be an enjoyable social time for those involved! Approximate times will be:
Friday 12:30 PM: 3 volunteers
Friday 6:30 PM: 3 volunteers
Saturday 12:30 PM: 3 volunteers
Saturday 6:30 PM: 3 volunteers
Note: we’ve had 1 person respond to earlier requests–thanks, Grant!
To find out more and sign up, reply to merrykaysings@gmail.com.
Also needed for State Session: tables!
We have about 8 folding-leg tables at the Grange Hall, but for State Session we will need more! If you can loan a table or two (of any size) by Thursday evening, Oct. 22, when we’ll be setting up the Grange Hall with tables for officers, committees, printers, displays, etc. we’ll be really grateful! Please label your table(s) with your name, so we can keep them all straight. We’ll be done with them after Oct. 23 &24, and will arrange times to pick them up. Please reply to this email, or email me at: swartzim15@gmail.com. If absolutely necessary, I will arrange to pick them up, but if you can leave them at the Grange Hall, that would be great!
October Grange meeting report
Our October 3 Grange meeting included the usual 8 or 9 stalwart Grange members–please note that we always have room for more people to participate! Keeping both the Grange organization and the Grange Hall running smoothly is vital for our survival. It’s more fun if we have a group working together–and it’s a great way to support a great community center that benefits–literally–thousands of users every year.
At this meeting, we went over finances, which have improved since the summer, as rental inquiries and uses have increased. Every year, some of our regular users (notably the VT Fiddle Orchestra and the Green Mountain Youth Symphony) take the summer off; the Barre-Tones take the month of August off. This last summer there were also fewer one-time rentals, it seemed. All that has changed since Labor Day is past, and our cashflow has improved.
We also discussed the fact that the gas range that has been in the kitchen for years has effectively died. We have considered replacing that with a second electric range, but the cost of adding a 220V receptacle, plus a new stove is more than we want to pay right now. Eventually, a completely redesigned kitchen will be planned, but before then we will get along without a second stove. If anyone has a piece of countertop we could install in the place where the gas stove is, get in touch!
Our bigger discussion was about whether we should consider updating the name of our Grange, since we have not been located in Montpelier, the Capital City for which we are named, since 1953. Many different considerations were discussed, including:
- Would we confuse potential users, especially from Montpelier, with a change? We are hoping to rent the Hall to VT Legislative committees for hearings, etc.–especially with our new, padded chairs!
- Would we appeal more to users from other areas, by reflecting our regional appeal?
- Would we improve our relations with Berlin in some manner? We greatly appreciate the support that Berlin voters have shown us in renewing our property tax exemption!
After much discussion, we decided that we don’t yet have a solid reason to make a change at this time, when we do have a good number of loyal renters, who don’t have any trouble figuring out where we are located. It’s still a possibility in the future, if the need seems more urgent. The Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall will independently decide on a name change, to meet the requirement of the National Grange that only organizations that are subject to the laws and regulations of the National Grange may use the word “Grange” in their names.
As usual, we began and ended the meeting by singing songs from the Grange Songbook, accompanied by Charles Mayhood, our Grange Musician.
One other musical note: we have scheduled our Grange Holiday Sing-Along for Sunday, Dec. 20. Mark your calendars, it will be here before you know it.