Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) March 31, 2026

April 4th Grange Meeting &
Lisa Masé program!

Next Saturday, from 4:30 to 5:00, we’ll have a short Grange meeting to deal with a few issues.

• Chair purchasing decision:  Grange members will be voting on spending about $4,000 for 100 new folding chairs with padded seats and backs, as recommended by the Chair Committee and the Executive Committee.
• May 3rd–First Degree:  We’ll hear about arrangements for performing this “degree” of Grange membership, on Sunday May 3, starting at 3:30 PM, with a Grange potluck to follow!
• Chili Cooking Contest in June:  we’ll hear from Cecile & Marty about plans for judges and prizes.  We hope you are starting to practice your recipes!
• After the meeting, at 5 PM, we are looking forward to hearing from Lisa Masé, a Central Vermont-based nutritionist.  In a newsletter she sends out, she says that she’ll be talking about the “enteric nervous system (ENS)” and its relation to our brain.   This is an example of her integration of current research with traditional understanding.   The ENS is embedded in the walls of our digestive tract, and is affected by the conditions of the microbiome, the vast quantity of bacteria, protozoa, fungi and viruses that live more or less happily in our guts.  Lisa will give us more information about how fiber-rich whole foods improve not only digestions, but also support mood regulation, resilience to stress, and overall vitality.  You can find out more about Lisa on her website.
•  Armed with the knowledge Lisa shares with us, we’ll be ready for the usual tasty Community Potluck starting at 6:00.  We hope you will join us for all of these events!  There are Zoom links for both the meeting and program on the Grange’s website Calendar listings for April 4.

Bob Dylan fans and Bob Dylan Wannabes were thick on the ground at the Grange!

A very full house gathered on Saturday evening, March 28, to see and hear the challengers for the title of Best Wannabe.   Nine different people took to the stage as contestants, all with diverse presentations of the legendary folk/rock/songwriter and performer on instruments from keyboard to banjo to guitar.   In the end, there were 3 prizes awarded, but the real winner was the People’s Health and Wellness Clinic in Barre!   The concert raised about $1,700 to support this free clinic, which welcomes every person who comes in, whether or not they have insurance or any other means of payment.  The message about the need for the clinic, and how much donations mean was clear in the announcements made by PHWC director Daniel Barlow, main impresario for the event Browywn Fryer, and emcee Dan Jones.
On this evening of the day that many performers and attendees spent time at “No Kings” protests, there were quite a few political opinions expressed, as well, to great applause.
The 3 judges (Andy Pitt, Daniel Hecht and Zach Nugent) selected:  Merry Trudeau (3rd), Aaron Adler (2nd), and Jim Thompson (1st) as the winners.   We’re already talking about repeating this event next year, so start working on your playing, singing and persona in honor of Bobby D. for next March!  The Grange is proud to partner with PHWC to host this event.  If you can add to the fundraiser total, check out their website to donate online.
Below is a picture with most of the contestants onstage at the end, singing Blowing in the Wind, along with the crowd.

Do you love the Grange Hall?
Pick one from this list of tasks:

• Changing the water filter:  every 6 months.
• Changing the furnace air filter:  every 3 months, only in the heating season.
• Changing the 2 Iso-Air pre-filters:  every 3 months.
• Changing the Lower Level Dehumidifier filter:  once a year.
• Changing the ERV air filters:  about every 2 months–we’ll be monitoring it.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) March 21, 2026

Have you ever wished there would be a Bob Dylan concert in Central Vermont?

A busy March 7 Meeting

As expected, we had lots to talk about at our last meeting.   We were pleased to have a few new faces join us, including new members Nancy Snow, a member of the Crones–the women’s chorus that rehearses at the Grange on Friday mornings, and her husband Paul.  We look forward to including them in our performance of the First Degree on May 3rd!
Here are the highlights of our discussions and decisions.

• The meeting decided to delegate the decision about which chair to order to replace the folding chairs stored in the Main Hall to the Executive Committee, based on input from the Chair committee.   I can now tell you that the EC met on Sunday, Mar. 15 and accepted the Chair committee’s recommendation to purchase 100 of the “NPS” folding chair.  That one has a 10 year warranty, and is affordable enough that we can cover most of the purchase cost for 100 using the very generous donation provided by North Branch Grange in honor of Charles Martin.  The full Grange will make the final decision at the April 4th meeting.  One more note:  assuming we do purchase 100 chairs, they will fill all 3 of the storage bins under the stage; the Church of Christ has agreed to relinquish their metal chairs and the storage bin they have been using.  They appreciate the advantages of padded chairs too!  We expect that having better chairs will also help us attract more rentals for daytime meetings, including State of Vermont legislative and agency groups.
• Marty Roberts and Cecile Sherburn have volunteered to take the lead on organizing and publicizing our Chili contest.   The Grange cooking contests are an annual event; following the guidelines for the VT State Grange cooking contest, we’ll be judging in 2 categories–with meat, and meatless.  The only limitations are that the entry can’t be from a can, or from a mix–we’re looking for “homemade” chilis.  Marty & Cecile will be recruiting some “celebrity judges”.  Start making “practice chili”–I already have!
• I reported on my visit to the Berlin Town Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 28, where I renewed old acquaintances and spread the word about the Grange.  The display I made for that meeting is currently set up in the Lower Level, if you’d like to see it.
• We heard from Patty Giavara, who as Grange Lecturer is responsible for setting up the “Community Programs” we feature at our Grange meetings in the even-numbered months.  Patty has arranged for Lisa Masé  to present a program on “The Culinary Pharmacy:  Food as Medicine”, which is the title of her new book.   Lisa is a Vermont-based holistic nutritionist, who blends modern nutrition science with ancestral traditions such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Mediterranean way of eating.  Her talk will encourage participants to personalize their eating, understand the energetic qualities of foods, and build a kitchen stocked with ingredients that nourish and support wellbeing.   Her talk will begin at 5:00 PM on April 4th, after a half-hour Grange meeting.  It will be followed, of course, by our usual tasty Community Potluck starting at 6:00.  We hope you will join us for all of these events!  There are Zoom links for both the meeting and program on the Grange’s website Calendar listings for April 4. 

Kids Trade & Play:  10 years, and lots
of clothes given away!

A week after our March Grange meeting, one of our great community partnerships celebrated 10 years of helping families!   Kids Trade & Play was started originally by Erin Barry at a Grange Hall in Santa Cruz, CA.  When she moved to Vermont, in 2014, she came to our Grange and asked if she could replicate what worked on the other side of the country.  We’re really glad we said yes!  On March 14, an anniversary edition of the clothing exchange brought in a record 101 adults and 50 kids!
When she came to the Grange, Erin asked for some storage room in the back end of the Lower Level of the Grange Hall; Merry Shernock located some industrial shelving, Erin’s husband brought them to the Hall on top of his car, and we set them up.  Erin recruited a team of volunteers, advertised on Facebook and Front Porch Forum, and started getting families to come and donate clothes, games and books that the kids had outgrown, and to take ones that fit their needs.  She bought a bunch of bins to store the items in, and with her volunteer team has been running Kids Trade & Play ever since.   Once every month, on the 2nd Saturday, from 9:30 to 11:30 AM, the crew puts out all the size-labeled bins–over 50 of them–full of clean and inspected items, sorted by size.  We ask for a $5 donation per family, but let in everyone, even if they can’t pay, and encourage them to “take all that you can use”.
During the event, families bring in bags and boxes of good-quality clothes, plus books, games and toys, as they pass on the things their kids have outgrown.  Vol

unteers inspect all the items that are brought in, to make sure that they are in very good shape (clean, with no rips, stains or smells), and sort them into the bins.  A play area is set up with toys, games and books

for kids to use, while their family members can socialize and “shop” from the bins.  Erin usually provides some baked goods for volunteers and “shoppers”–in addition to keeping kids’ stuff out of the landfill and helping families, one of the goals is to help parents and kids make connections.
If you’d like to volunteer, or for more information, please email Erin!

Do you love the Grange Hall but…
… you’re not so interested 

in meetings?

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) March 2, 2026

Welcome to March, with a Grange meeting this Saturday!

Please join us at our meeting on Saturday, March 7, as we plan for Spring events, and perhaps make a decision about new chairs for the Grange Hall!

• One decision that we have already made is to hold a performance of the “First Degree” ceremony of Grange membership on May 3rd.   I’ve written about this already, please come to the meeting to learn more!
• We now have 3 choices of upholstered chairs we might purchase to upgrade the seating in our Hall.   The 3 choices are pictured below.  All have vinyl covered padded seats and backs–vinyl is recommended as the most durable choice.  They are accompanied by “feedback sheets” where Hall users can rate the chairs for different features, so we can see what people with various body types, leg lengths, etc. like and don’t like about these choices.   Please try out these chairs (they’re currently located in the Lower Level) and fill out a line on the form to let us know how they work for you!   We’ll see if we are ready to make a choice at our March 7 meeting.
• We still need to schedule a Hall Cleaning Day and confirm when we want to hold our Chili Cooking Contest.  Should we combine one or both with our June 3rd Grange meeting?
• I’ll be reporting on my visit to the Berlin Town Meeting on Saturday, Feb. 28, where I renewed old acquaintances and spread the word about the Grange.   In 2028, we will be petitioning the Town Meeting to renew our exemption from property taxes from the Town’s voters, so it’s important to remind them of the Community Hall that Grange volunteers keep running in Berlin!
• At the meeting, I will also be talking about our need for Grange webmaster help.   I’ve spent a number of hours over the last couple of weeks trying to solve a problem that cropped up.  I hope I’ll be done with it by the meeting–I am a complete novice at this, even after several years of emergency problem solving.   Are you savvy about running a website?  Want to make our website better, and take one headache off our long list of tasks?  Please send me a reply and we’ll talk!

Coming very soon to a town nearby–
Wednesday in Northfield

As the editor of the Grange Notes for over 20 years, I’m using “executive privilege” to publicize a FREE community gathering and activities which I’ve helped to organize in Northfield–just a few miles south of the Grange Hall on Rt. 12.  The poster below provides most of the information.
In Northfield, where I live, I’ve been part of the “Accessibility, Walkability and Pedestrian Safety Task Force” (AWPS) for nearly 3 years.  We advocate for the interests of people who want to or need to get around without cars, and to increase the physical and social connections of the Town’s citizens.  Last year, we were able to apply for a grant from AARP to put together a “winter place-making event” to bring people together and get them to enjoy doing things outside their houses.  And it’s  happening this Wednesday, Mar. 4!
As you’ll see on the poster, everyone is welcome for this event, starting with the FREE lunch at 11:30 AM.  Then, all afternoon we’re providing a wide variety of “workshops“, in Plumley Armory of Norwich University, and outdoors as well, during the afternoon.  And we’re having a Contra Dance for the community from 3:30 to 5:00 PM.   The dance will feature calling by Mary Wesley, a regular caller at the “Montpelier Contra Dance” series at the Grange Hall–as well as all over New England and the whole U.S.  Live music will be provided by “Frosty Frog”, a Plainfield band which includes Macey Mayfield on fiddle, and Erik Pendleton on guitar; they come highly recommended.
At 5:00, we’ll gather everyone by firepits, where cocoa and cookies will be available, and we’ll start organizing our “Lantern Parade“.  This features lanterns made of paper, bamboo sticks and LED lights, by Northfield folks who came to one of several lantern workshops held in the Town in February.  Some of these workshops were taught by MK Monley, who is the founder of the Waterbury River of Light, which happens every December in that town.   Our parade will be smaller, but equally fun!  We’ve hired the Brass Balagan band to lead the parade with their assortment of instruments!
I hope some of you folks will come and join us to celebrate the returning light happening now–and continuing as we get closer to actual spring!   It will be a fun opportunity to socialize and connect.  I’d especially love it if some contra dancers would come and help to encourage the folks of all ages we hope to have at the dance!
For more info, get in touch with me, Tim:  swartztim15@gmail.com.

They’re back at the end of March–
the Bob Dylan Wannabes!

Last year, the benefit “Green Mountain Bob Dylan Wannabe Contest” at the Grange raised about $2,500 for the People’s Health & Wellness Clinic in Barre.  We’re sponsoring the contest again this year, by providing our Grange Hall, and we hope you will attend, enjoy and donate!   Put March 28 on your calendar!
As noted on the flyer, if you want to be a contender, you can contact Bronwyn Fryer to see if you can be added to the list.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) February 23, 2026

Erica Heilman on making “Rumblestrip Vermont”

We had a good turnout, on Feb. 7, to hear Erica Heilman, who produces her award-winning podcast from her home in East Calais.   She spoke about her individual approach to interviewing and podcasting from a chair, with her laptop on her knees so that she could play clips from her show.   The first was one from her friend and fellow podcaster Scott Carrier, reading selections from the Montpelier & Barre police logs; she played several others during her talk.   She also shared her good memories of when she rented our Grange Hall for her 50th birthday party…
She said she had no interest in listening to “experts” and famous people; she feels that everybody knows something, and is the expert in their own life.  She makes her shows for herself first, making audio stories about “unimportant parts” of everyday life.   Erica feels that she does her best work when she “falls in love” with the person she’s interviewing, and can get listeners to fall in love as well.  Together, Erica and her interviewees create a “new thing” between them, more than each of them separately.   Some of her favorite conversations are with kids–who are the authorities on childhood.   And she strongly believes that one can either judge other people or interview them.
Editing is not her favorite part of the work.  Listening to her recorded interviews, she finds, is “about 80% self-loathing and confusion”–but at the end “there’s a sweet, sweet place” that emerges.  To hear her own words, check out her Rumblestrip Vermont website, where you can hear over a decade of podcasts–all free (though she is happy to get donations).
We were pleased to get a good turnout–by our standards–for this presentation–about 20 people came in person or by Zoom.  Keep your eyes peeled for the next program in our series, on April 4!

February Grange meeting report:

• We agreed on a date for our Grange to perform the First Degree of Grange membership, on Sunday, May 3rd.   This ritual welcome to new members provides links to the past of the organization, with metaphors drawn from rural life.   The Executive Committee has been tasked with arranging the details; we have invited North Branch Grange (in Worcester) and Caledonia Grange (East Hardwick) to join us in putting this on.   The ceremony is open to everyone; all paid-up Grange members are urged to join us in particular!
• Grant Orenstein and Indivisible Calais asked for and received Grange support for another benefit contra dance, to be held on Saturday, May 9th.  Proceeds from this  one will benefit VPIRG, the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, and will feature calling by Don Stratton, and music by The Turning Stile.  Grange sponsorship means that we will not charge rent, so that more of the proceeds can go to VPIRG.

Join the Grange–and renew your membership!

If you’re already a Grange member, please send your annual dues (which now costs $36) to the Grange PO box in the header.  Please pay by check made out to Capital City Grange.
If you can help us manage the Grange Hall, and increase our community services, we’d love to have you join the Grange, and vote at our meetings.   You can fill in an online form, or download a fill-able Word doc at this webpage.
If you mostly want to support the Grange financially, please note that annual membership payments provide our Grange with only $6 per year; the balance goes to support the State and National Grange.  Tax deductible contributions to the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall can be made online at the Donate page on our website, and will support major building renovation projects.

March 7 meeting plans

• We will be signing people up to fill all the officer roles which have speaking parts in the First Degree performance on May 3rd.  We’ll also be working out some of the details of how that will go.   Any Grange member can be part of the Degree Team; we have scripts and “stage directions” available, and we don’t expect everyone to have their part memorized.  We’re planning a partial rehearsal at the May 2 Grange meeting.   Get in touch with Tim to learn more.
• Time to schedule our annual Grange Cooking Contest which this year is Chili–with or without meat! Possibly at the June meeting?  Start testing recipes!   No canned chili or use of chili “kits”–we want your home-made best!
• We’ll be reporting on our experience with the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) project–we now have the ERV functioning, and are able to schedule that and our two air purifiers remotely!
• We’ll have the legally required “Capital City Grange, Inc.” corporation meeting–we hope to do it in 5 minutes or less!
• We’ll have a report on new, padded folding chairs from the Chair replacement committee meeting–and hope to have at least 2 samples for all to test!
• Grant Orenstein and Indivisible Calais will be asking for sponsorship of another dance event, in August or September.  That one will be for the benefit of “Vermont Bridge to Care“, raising funds to train counselors so more care is available for those who need it, and to pay for mental health care for Vermonters.  Founder Kathleen Landry will be coming to tell us about it and answer questions.

Freshly cleaned!

Thanks to planning by Patty Giavara, our Lower Level carpet, plus the carpeted stairs and foyer at the original entrance got professionally cleaned.  Delair’s Carpet brought in their steam-cleaning truck, after Patty & I piled the chairs on the fixed tables, and made the carpets look–at least for a little while–almost new!   We’ve been advised that leaving dirt in the carpets leads to earlier wearing-out; this is the second time we’ve had them cleaned since their installation in 2020.

New screen in our Lower Level!

A while ago, our Rental Agent/Treasurer, Merry Shernock, located a projection screen, same width as the one upstairs, being sold on locally for $25!   Recently, I installed some chains to make 2 locations for hanging the screen: in the “center aisle” for folks in the cafeteria section, and in the “coffee-house alcove”, for smaller meetings and gatherings.   We think they will be useful for various group sizes, and will make the downstairs even more attractive to renters.  Want to hold a movie night?  Show pictures from your hike on the  Appalachian Trail (as recently happened upstairs)?  Email Merry to make arrangements!

Available–for a little while:  FREE risers for your chorus!

The Barre-Tones, who have rehearsed in our Hall almost every Monday evening for at least 10 years have purchased a new set of risers for their singers.   They are giving away their old ones–shown set up in the Grange Hall, with the hope of helping other groups who need a little help getting up in the world!
If you’re interested, contact Jane Watson via email to make arrangements.  The ones they’re giving away are on our ADA porch, and need to be moved out as soon as possible–or go to the metal recyclers.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) February 1, 2026

Erica Heilman on making
“Rumblestrip Vermont”
Saturday, Feb. 7,  5:00 to 6:00PM

We’re looking forward to hearing this well-known Central Vermont podcaster talk about what it’s like to make her diverse and personal shows.  Working from her East Calais home, she’s gained a world-wide following.   The Wikipedia page about the show describes it as containing “true life portraits of “road-crew workers, defense attorneys, farmers, Vermont’s mental-health-care system, taxidermists, and numerous rural subjects”.   At the program on Saturday, we’ll be able to hear first hand from her about what it’s like.
When our Grange Lecturer, Patty Giavara asked Erica to describe what she’d like to talk about, she said “Rumble Strip Vermont:   Making stories in the closet. In this hour, we’ll talk about the art of interviewing, the horrors of editing, and what’s the point anyway? We can all figure that last part out together.”
On the RumbleStripVermont website, she describes her stories as:   Erica Heilman invites herself into people’s homes to find out what they know, hate, love, what they’re afraid of, and what makes them more like you than you’d realized. These are messy, obsessively crafted stories of the everyday.”

The program will start at 5:00 PM on Feb. 7 at the Grange; you can also attend virtually using the Zoom link in the Program listing on the Grange website Calendar:  https://capitalcitygrange.org/event/erica-heilman/.  And of course there will be a great potluck afterward!

February Grange meeting:

• Grant Orenstein and Indivisible Calais will be asking us if we will be willing to sponsor another benefit contra dance, on May 9, to benefit VPIRG.  His group raised about $3,000 for Migrant Justice through a November dance at our Hall.
• Scheduling a performance of the First Degree (see the Jan. meeting report below).
• Report on progress of the ERV and air purifier project.
• Report on progress to having a policy on art displays in the Hall.
• Report on folding chair replacement possibilities.
• Start discussion of a possible benefit music/dance event at the Grange, featuring the band “Gnomenclature” a “funk rock with horns and soulful vocals”, which rehearses at the Hall.  The band is eager to help the Grange this way.

We want to get multiple viewpoints on all the decisions we make about the Grange and the Grange Hall–if you care about either or both, please join us for productive conversations and shared decision-making!

Join the Grange–and renew your membership!

If you’re already a Grange member, please send your annual dues (which now costs $36) to the Grange PO box in the header.  Please pay by check made out to Capital City Grange.
If you can help us manage the Grange Hall, and increase our community services, we’d love to have you join the Grange, and vote at our meetings.   You can fill in an online form, or download fill-able Word doc at this webpage.
If you mostly want to support the Grange financially, please note that annual membership payments provide our Grange with only $6 per year; the balance goes to support the State and National Grange.  Tax deductible contributions to the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall can be made online at the Donate page on our website.

January Grange meeting followup:
Blood drive results, plans for First Degree

• The small increases in rental prices we announced is continuing to yield good cooperation from existing renters, and is not discouraging new renters–we remain an affordable option, and hear compliments on our good communication with renters, and the comfort of our facility.
• We have gotten positive reaction to our plan to combine forces with North Branch Grange (in Worcester) and Caledonia Grange (in E. Hardwick) to put on the First Degree Ritual of Grange membership.  At the February 7 meeting, we’ll decide between May 3 and May 17 (Sunday afternoons) for timing, combining the degree with a Chili Cook-off, for our annual Grange cooking contest, and a potluck dinner to follow.
• By the time of the February meeting, we expect to have  the scheduling and control hardware working on the Energy Recovery Ventilator; the Iso-Aire ceiling mounted air purifier is being scheduled through a smart outlet, and is popular.
•  Our Red Cross Blood Drive was a disappointment, resulting in only about a dozen donors.  We were told that there was another drive scheduled on the same day nearby.  Following this low turnout, Red Cross has told us that they are cancelling the previously scheduled drive on May 15 of this year.   We’re disappointed that they did not seem willing to spread out scheduling of competing drives.

Our fascinating tenants

I’ll occasionally include a picture of one of the activities of one of the groups that rent space at the Grange Hall.  This winter, that includes “Historical Fencing” practice.   These folks are not wielding sharp blades, and the are wearing modern protective clothing.   And they have provided proof of insurance!   All of those are important.  Having watched part of their practice recently, I can vouch for them working hard–they have asked to not have the heat raised above 50 during their times, as they sweat a lot.   If you’re interested in learning more, contact Logan Whittington via email.    He says they would welcome more participants to share the rent and the fun!

Would you like to rise up in the world?

Another of our tenants is upgrading their risers–the Barre-Tones, the award-winning women’s barbershop chorus which rehearses on Monday evenings, has been able to get newer, lighter risers on which the singers stand for their rehearsals and performances.    They would be happy to pass these on to another chorus, at no cost, except hauling them away.  They are pretty heavy.  The Barre-Tones are expecting the new ones to arrive sometime this week, and after that the new risers will be stored in the space to the left of the stage that the B-Ts rent.   We will need to old risers moved very soon thereafter!  If you’re interested, contact Jane Watson via email to make arrangements.