And the winners are…cheesy

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) May 22, 2024

All kinds of cheesy goodness

The first two photos show the range of entries presented for our judges to evaluate during our May 4th Grange meeting Cooking Contest.   We had 6 different cooks–and two of them brought a couple of choices each!  Dishes (shown in the first 2 photos) included:  Crab Rangoons (two versions–one with cream cheese, one with cheddar), Quesedillas, Cheese Crisps, Spicy Cheese Sauce on Broccoli, Southwestern Cheese/Black Bean/Chorizo, 2-Layer Cheese & Pea Salad, and Ham & Cheese Croissants.  Please note:  not one macaroni & cheese!
Our “local celebrity” judges took their task seriously, evaluating the appearance, texture and flavor carefully.   Tom McKone and Anne Donahue seemed to enjoy the variety presented.  Eventually, they picked prizewinners, who received some wooden implements, and a “Cheesy Certificate”, suitable for framing, attesting to their prowess:

1. Cathy, who joined us from Cabot, won First Place for her Cheddar Crab Rangoons.  She’s planning to enter the VT State Grange cooking competition on July 20!
2. Betty, who joined us from Marshfield, won Second Place for her 2-Layer Cheese & Pea Salad, and may also take part in the VSG contest.
3. Albert, a Grange member who couldn’t stay for the judging, won 3rd Place for his Quesadillas–no word yet on future contest plans.

        The rest of the Grange members present watched the presentations and deliberation carefully, while licking their lips–and were eager for potluck time to come around so we could all enjoy the dishes too.
Many thanks to the Cooking Contest Committee that publicized the contest, recruited the judges, supplied the prizes and handed out the award certificates.   Liz Benjamin, Cecile Sherburn and Marty Roberts made the whole event a success–along with the cooks!
The cooks who were present are in the last photo:  Patty, Merry, Betty and Cathy in front, and Tim in back.  The extra servings of their dishes made for an even more bountiful potluck dinner than usual!

May 4 Grange meeting

We had time for a brief Grange meeting after the cooking contest excitement. We were pleased to find in the Treasurer’s Report that we have built up some financial reserves, after the pandemic greatly reduced our income for a few years.  Rentals have recovered significantly–pretty visible on the Grange Calendar.   Kudos to Merry Shernock, who wears both the Treasurer’s and Rental Agent’s hats!  We agreed that we can safely park some of the money in a short-term CD (9 months) which is much higher-yielding than the Savings account–Merry has made that transfer since our meeting.
We also talked about the request from the VT State Grange Junior Camp director that we sponsor a community dance lesson during their week-long session July 15-19.   Liz Benjamin volunteered to reach out to callers, and Amy Handy put up her hand to reach out to musicians who could play for an event like this.   See below for the plan that has come together!
Everyone was pleased to see the new carpet tiles covering the Old Entrance foyer, which I reported on in the previous Grange Notes.   Kudos to Patty Giavara who superintended the selection, purchasing and installation of the carpet.  She also arranged to get the carpet tiles which were removed for the lift installation cut and installed around the lift shaft–a nice improvement in our attractive Lower Level!
Our meeting was followed by the potluck, enriched by the cheesy dishes generously shared by both winners and non-winners of the Cooking Contest.

Starting off June with tunes!

ses (almost) every week at the Grange Hall:  the Barre-Tones!  They are pictured above, as they appeared at a regional competition for barbershop-style singing.   They won 2 awards there, and qualified to compete in the international competition in November of 2024!

• Planning for our August 3rd Barbecue Potluck, which will include music from the Senior Center Jazz Band
• Planning for the October 25 & 26 State Grange Meeting, for which we’re providing the Hall, and also providing meals for delegates!   We’ll hear from Cooks/Organizers Charles Mayhood, Alison Forrest and Richard DeCosta about their plans, which include local produce!
• Possible Resolutions for State Grange Meeting.   Anyone can propose one, and we’ll set up a little committee to word-smith it into shape.

Dancing with Grange Junior Campers: July 18

Several times in the past, our Grange–which is known for the welcoming, high-quality Montpelier Contra Dances that are held 2 or 3 times a month–has been asked to provide some music and dance-calling at the VT State Grange Fall Festival, held at the VT State Grange Center in Brookfield.   We’ve been able to recruit from the wide pool of callers in Central Vermont, and provide some participatory entertainment, usually for a relatively older audience.  This year, the call has come to help out with a younger group:   The State Grange Junior Camp, held July 15-19.   This camp is for members of the Junior Grange, which is a sub-chapter of several Granges across the state.   The Camp Director, Melody Falker, contacted me to see if we could provide some introduction to community dancing, and we’ve arranged to do just that.   As mentioned above, Amy Handy and Liz Benjamin reached out to musicians and callers respectively; here’s what we’ve got set up:
Caller:  Erin Jenkins Smith has been calling dances at the Cabot Community Dance, as well as being an organizer for the Norwich Contra Dance and on the faculty of the Upper Valley Music Center.   Besides calling, she also plays bass and fiddle!   She’s completed Music Together training, and is especially enthusiastic about involving youngsters in community dancing.
Musicians:  We’re excited to welcome North Branch, a trio from Central Vermont that includes Susan Reid and Kenric Kite on fiddles, and Grant Ornstein on guitar.   Susan has been a mainstay of Central Vermont traditional music for–literally–decades, including serving as the Assistant Director of the VT Fiddle Orcherstra for many years.   Kenric is another long-time VFO stalwart, as well as being the long-time Executive Director of Onion River Community Access (ORCA).   Grant has played with the other two members for quite a while; he’s a Calais resident, serving on the Conservation Commission there.
Dancers:   The 20-25 camp attendees will be in a wide age-range, from 6 to 15 years old.  Most have likely not done this sort of community dancing before, so we look forward to getting them excited about live music, good calling and friendly dancers.   We’d love to have some contra dancers join us to dance with the kids!  We’d be happy to involve some of the younger folks who dance at the Montpelier Contra Dances, too.   If you’re interested, please email me:  swartztim15@gmail.com.  I’ll be repeating this request for dancers as we get closer–but please start spreading the word now.
Schedule:  The dancing will be from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, on Thursday, July 18.
Location:  The VT State Grange Center is located at 308 West St., Brookfield VT  05060.  It’s pretty easy to get to, about a mile from the Floating Bridge.