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Grange Notes for January 3, 2015 by Tim Swartz

January 3, 2016 by Tova

Coming on January 24th–a Family Fun Day to build community!

These images show some of what our next celebration by the Friends of the CCG Hall will provide–fun, dancing and food on Sunday, Jan. 24th from 3:00 to 6:00.
Instead of focusing just on raising money for projects, we’re hoping to raise community as well–especially including building bonds with our neighbors in Berlin.   As regular readers know, we are getting tax exemption for the Grange Hall put on the Berlin Town Meeting ballot. We want to make a push to get more Berlin families to visit us, and see the potential for us to serve as a “Community Hall” for this spread-out town.   In return, we are asking Berlin to join all the other towns in VT which give Grange Halls a tax break.
Our “Family Fun Day” will feature a community dance, designed to get everyone out on the floor, led by veteran caller David Kaynor, with music from Vermont’s own VT Fiddle Orchestra, which he leads.   David has been calling dances for all types of crowds for decades, and will make sure everyone has a good time.
Besides dancing, we’re going to provide (as the pictures suggest) fun with balloon animals and facepainting–and then dinner featuring home-made macaroni and cheese, plus VT-grown root vegetables (carrots, onions, potatoes, beets and more). All made by two of our great Grange cooks, Alison Forrest and Gail England.   Plus cookies–bring some more to share!
While we are eating downstairs,we’ll also be showing some short, family-friendly movies upstairs.
All of this is available cheap–we’re asking $5 per person for whatever you want to enjoy, or a maximum of $20 per family.    Our goal is to welcome folks to the Hall and cover our costs, rather than trying to fund a big project with this event–but as you know, donations are always welcome!

Paying our debts, with thanks

We’ve all gotten used to using our new bathrooms–we haven’t needed to use the emergency exit, thank goodness! Luckily, Patty Giavara stuck to her work, and completed the grant report, and filed it on time with the VT Arts Council, which gave the Friends of the CCG Hall the grant which made it all possible. That report was accepted, and the Friends received the payment of $25,265 in late November.
On Sunday, Dec. 13th, Patty Giavara (chair of the Friends) and I went to the monthly meeting of the Executive Committee of the VT State Grange, bearing a check written to the State Grange by FCCGH treasurer Carol Noyes. In the photo above, Patty and I are passing the check over to Nancy Perkins, Secretary of the VT State Grange.
This completes the story of the construction financing: the State Grange gave us an interest-free loan for half of the project’s budget, since we would not receive the grant until the project was completed. We’re very grateful! Without this loan, we would have had to borrow that amount from a bank or begging for loans from the Grange community–this made it much easier (and cheaper) to get this project going!
The State Grange is very supportive of our efforts to improve our Hall and increase our involvement with the communities around us–and very supportive of our efforts to get tax exemption from the Town of Berlin–where we’ve been part of the community since 1952!

Many opportunities to dance yourself warm, as winter finally arrives

We had a big crowd at the CDU dance last night, Jan. 2nd, with about 200 dancers by my estimate–guess people want to get together and have a good time! Our Hall will host many more events this winter–here is a list of the next few weeks’ event so you can plan ahead–see the CCG Calendar for more info:

Saturday Jan. 9: Contra Exchange dance series continues–Luke Donforth calling with Cardinal Direction, plus waltzing and instruction with Gina Sonne.
Saturday Jan. 16: Grange meeting at 4:30, with a potluck dinner at 6:30! Followed at 8:oo by theCDU contra dance, Bill Olson calling, and the Dead Sea Squirrels playing.
Saturday Jan. 23: Fundraiser and concert for the NE Heritage Music Camp, featuring performances by staff and campers
Sunday Jan. 24: See above for details on our first Family Fun Day and Dinner
Saturday Jan. 30: 3 CDU dances this month–this one will feature Mary Wesley calling, with old favorites the Clayfoot Strutters playing!
Saturday Feb. 6th: a new month starts with Swedish dancing from 12:00 to 3:00, with a Grange meeting at 4:30, potluck dinner at 6:30, and then the CDU dance: David Kaynor calling, with George Wilson and David Guertin playing….

And it keeps on going, keep checking the Grange Calendar for more info: https://capitalcitygrange.org/events/2016-01/

December 30, 2015 by Tova

Grange Notes for December 29th 2015 by Tim Swartz

Quick note this time–we’re moving this month’s Grange meeting away from the holiday weekend

Having just gotten past the Christmas rush, I realized that I haven’t sent out a Grange Notes since before our Dec. 5th meeting. At that meeting, the CCG decided to postpone our next meeting until the 3rd Saturday, January 16th. The New Year’s holiday weekend is filled with other events, and we need a little time to get ready for the next month’s activities–and there will be plenty!
Jan. 2nd at 8:00: Dance with Nils Fredland and the Irregulars!
Jan. 9th at 8:00: Dance with Luke Donforth and Cardinal Direction!
Jan. 16th at 8:00: Dance with Bill Olson and the Dead Sea Squirrels!
Jan. 24th starting at 3:00: FCCGH puts on a family fun day, designed to showcase the broad appeal of the events at the Grange–featuring balloon animals, face-painting, community dance with David Kaynor & the VT Fiddle Orchestra, and home-made mac & cheese dinner, with locally grown roasted root vegetables and more! We’re reaching out to bring in new users, especially from the local community–spread the word!
And remember to check the Grange website Events listings for all that is happening.

Remember–we’re still working on getting signatures to get our tax relief petition on the Berlin Town ballot–we need signatures by 1/15/16, and then we need the support of the people of Berlin to take the burden of property taxes ($7200 per year) off our volunteer, non-profit Hall! Contact me or Merry to offer your help.

https://capitalcitygrange.org/4396-2/

Singing on Saturday, more dances, maybe a sound system, and Wholeshare growing

December 3, 2015 by Tova

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz for December 2, 2015

Remember: singing at the Grange this Saturday, and then a potluck dinner!

We’ll have our usual Grange business meeting on Dec. 5th–discussing progress on the petition campaign to get tax exemption from Berlin, and much more–and then we’ll have a sing-along, starting at 5:30! Liz Benjamin, an experienced song-leaders will bring rounds, carols, and other songs–but we’d love to have you bring your own songs to share–Christmas? Hanukkah? Kwanzaa? Pagan solstice songs? Kids’ songs with nonsense choruses? Sure!
And bring your instruments to play along! Guitar? Banjo? Accordion?
We’ll go until 6:30, when we begin another Grange potluck–hope you will join us for all of the above.

Montpelier Contra Exchange” dance series will debut on Dec. 12th

A group of dancers from the thriving, Grange-located dance community have decided that we need even more dancing in the area.   This new volunteer group is organizing a new series of dances to happen on 2nd Saturdays.    These will feature contra-dancing, with a lot of familiar musicians and callers–along with other dance styles.
The first dance on Dec. 12th, for example, will be “Contra and Blues”, with music by “the Figments”, and calling by Adina Gordon, for the contra section.   And there will also be a blues dance workshop, led by Alison Nihart and Adam Franco.
Future dance combinations will include contras + waltz, Scandinavian, English, swing, advanced contra and more.   Check out their website:   https://www.contraexchange.org/ for more information–and come on three Saturdays of dancing in a row, on Dec. 5th and 19th with the usual great CDU dances, and in between on the 12th with the new series.

A sound system for the Grange?

The new dance group described above made a quick job of meeting their fundraising goal of $1,000 on Kickstarter. Now, they have a couple more weeks–and they are seeking additional funding with their second goal–buying a sound system to use in the Grange Hall. The concept is to mount main speakers permanently, with a sound-board, monitors, cables and other components. If you want to support this, please visit the Contra Exchange’s Kickstarter page, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/300413495/montpelier-contra-exchange? . Also accessible from their own website.
There remain some questions–will we have exactly the right parts? Who will set this up for events at the Grange? Who will take care that all the parts are stored correctly, and accessible? Please keep in touch if you want to help us figure all of this out–it could be a nice improvement for our Hall, and it could be a tricky thing to manage–but it seems it will be part of our future.

Wholeshare–continuing to grow at the Grange

I’m pleased to report that the Wholeshare buying club, which delivers to our Grange Hall every 2 weeks has continued to add members and sales. Above is a partial picture of the groceries and household supplies which were distributed in a recent order. There are about 100 members, and the order pictured totaled about $1500.
Wholeshare has been delivering produce and meats from Black River Produce, and household supplies from Honest Green and Honest Green Pantry to our Hall since the spring, and orders have continued to grow as more people discover the benefits and multiple choices available. Group members can buy whole cases–or join “splits” to get part of a case, or crate, or box, depending on how the products are sold. Members order online, and payment is made online so finances are simple. Products rang from eggs, to ground pork, to lacinato kale, to peppers, to crackers, to non-toxic household cleaners, to toilet paper and paper towels–and much more. The total number of products is over 30,000, in fact.
To join the group, just go to: https://www.wholeshare.com/join/5182, where you can see the choices and decide if this is for you. Joining does not obligate you to purchase anything.
Deliveries are made to the Grange Hall kitchen, to be picked up on the nights of CDU contra dances–the next pick up is this Saturday, Dec. 5th
This project was organized by Rob Fish, the consultant for the Vermont Digital Economy who helped us get our new website organized, our Hall Wi-Fi, and me to start using MailChimp for these newsletters. He’s available to answer questions, and sends out occasional emails to group members about available “splits”, deadline reminders and more.
Merry and I are among the members who have enjoyed getting these products–including VT Coffee Company beans for $9 per pound, cheddar cheese for $1.05 per pound, and much more. If more of you join, even more splits will be available for us to share–that’s my vested interest!
For the Grange, Wholeshare sends us a check for 5% of the total orders, so there is an obvious benefit for those who support the Grange and its Hall!

Singing in December, filling in the gully, and saving money on heat!

November 24, 2015 by Tova

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz for November 1, 2015

Parking Lot Gully is Newly filled in, with drainage redesigned

Excavation contractor Matt Dwyer took care of our parking lot drainage problem, which had concentrated all of the run-off in one area, by filling in the eroded area, and then re-grading the south end of the parking area.   The drainage is now designed to slow down before “sheeting” over the edge of the parking area, rather than converging in one spot.
Filling in the gully required 3 truckloads of fill, plus a couple of loads of large stones to serve as ballast, to hold the fill in place–see the “after” picture for a view from below.
Matt Dwyer is also the contractor who re-graded our driveway in the fall of last year, along with digging footings for the new sign and the fire exit concrete pad.   We’ve been impressed with how well the driveway drains without producing gullies, which encouraged us to have him do the work on the parking lot drainage.
Patty & Kurt Giavara seeded the newly filled area with some grass; we’ll want to do more seeding next spring to help hold it all in place. And we’ll need to monitor the flow of water after the winter to see how snow-plowing has affected the grading.
The truckloads of materials, and the bulldozer work to compact and shape the fill comes at a cost, of course–the Grange spent $2300 for this project. Luckily, the Friends benefit on Labor Day weekend led to a $1500 donation which has helped our cash-flow in the short-term. But in the long-term, we are still struggling with supporting our Hall–see the article on our tax relief petition to the town of Berlin for part of our strategy for survival.
Remember, it’s easy to donate to the Friends of the Capital City Grange, at the Grange website.   Here’s a link: https://capitalcitygrange.org/donate/ And remember, donations to the FCCGH are tax-deductible!

Berlin tax relief petitions handed out

It’s time to take the next step to get our property taxes reduced. At our Grange meeting, on Nov. 7th at 4:30 PM, Merry Shernock, who is leading our effort to have our property taxes removed, handed out petitions and explanatory material to Grange members–but they are available for anyone who can help.
The petitions, the info-sheet, and some “talking points” about the value of the Grange to the Town and the surrounding area are all available on the Grange website:
Petition: https://capitalcitygrange.org/?attachment_id=4308
info-sheet: https://capitalcitygrange.org/?attachment_id=4304
Talking points: https://capitalcitygrange.org/?attachment_id=4309
We need to get at least 130 signatures to get our measure on the ballot for the Berlin Town Meeting, on Mar. 1, 2016–and we have specific plans for ways to get them. Merry has been conferring with contacts in Berlin about the best places to canvass door-to-door. Contact Merry (see info at the top of these Notes). Anyone who knows someone in Berlin (whether or not they are currently using the Grange) can help us–every signature counts!
Of course, once we get on the ballot, the next step will be getting the word out about our Grange Hall, and how valuable it already is to the community–and how much more can be done with more users. We’ll need to get more than 50% of the voters to support our tax relief proposal–in return for use of the Hall by Berlin community organizations and families.This campaign is a major step to helping the Grange survive–we get a lot done, but we still lose money every year. Our biggest single expense–about 1/3 of our budget is the property tax burden: over $7150.00 going to the Town of Berlin every year. We really need help for this effort! Check out the info in the linked documents, and do whatever you can to help us!

An AED for the Grange Hall?

Our Grange Meeting program on Nov. 7th featured a presentation on the purpose and use of an “Automatic External Defibrillator”, more conveniently known as an AED. Jim Baraw, long-time head of the ambulance volunteers in Northfield, and Emergency Management Coordinator for that town was our guide. He showed us how it works, how it can save the life of a heart attack victim, and how easy it would be to use–if there is one around when an attack happens.   We heard stories of heart attacks happening on the dance floor at other halls, and at the Champlain Valley Folk Festival in past years.   And Jim’s opinion is that public event spaces like ours are likely to be required to have them in the relatively near future.
This is an area in which I have some knowledge, as one of about 10 people at my work-place who got trained on the AED there–I can vouch for the simplicity of operation, including clear prompts and effective monitoring of the patient by the machine.   While I hope to never have to use it, I know I would rather be able to help do something in an emergency situation.
So should we invest in this life-saving technology, plus some training?   The cost for one will be around $1200 to $1500, plus the training cost, so they are not cheap–but not having one at the right time could make it impossible to help someone at the critical moment.   I have already had one generous pledge of $500 to help us–are there others out there who want to support this plan? Let me know.

What a difference a year makes…

Last year, we went into the heating season with a certain amount of trepidation–we had to have the burner in the furnace replaced, and we took a technological leap forward by having a programmable thermostat installed, which can be reached via the WiFi in our Hall.   Our new (at the time) Grange member Bill Chidsey recommended and installed both of them, based on 40 years of experience with heating/ventilating systems.
Well, I’m pleased to report that his recommendations and new technology paid off–we have data now from a full year with the new system, and we’ve saved about 24% in gallons of heating oil, compared to the average of the last 5 years–even with the cold winter we had last year. We paid 43% less for our oil than the previous winter.   It’s great to start the year with a credit in our oil account!
Given this success with the upstairs thermostat, we have gotten Bill to install another one downstairs (since there is a somewhat split heating duct system), so we can separately adjust to meet the needs of Hall users.   Every week, Bill consults the website Calendar, and sets up the thermostats to raise the temperature for users–and to drop it back down at the end of the needed time. This second part is vital!    There are no more times when I or someone else finds the Grange still heated the day after an event, with the oil doing no good except attempting to heat up the outdoors…
It is important that Merry be notified by renters which floor of the building they plan to use, so the heating system can be appropriately set.
A related note, as heating season starts: as many people have observed, the old entrance doors are far from air-tight, and they are certainly something we plan to replace–with insulated, weatherstripped doors with insulated glass windows, like the new/ramped entrance doors. This is not a cheap endeavor, unfortunately, but it is certainly high on the list.
In the meantime, we want to keep the heat from going out those un-sealed door openings, while still making sure that the water-fountains don’t freeze. To do this, we want to keep the all the doors to the stairs and foyer closed–except the ADA bathroom door next to the water fountains.   This includes the door at the bottom of the front basement stairs, and the doors to the Hall upstairs. I’ll have signs up to that effect soon! Please help us by observing these guidelines, when you close up the Hall after your events!

Another success story–Friends help Grange with more floor covers!

We’ve had 3 floor cover rolls for about 2 years now. The 3 red covers were purchased for the Grange to allow use of the upstairs Hall for events with refreshments (and people with wet/muddy shoes and boots) by the FCCGH. These have worked well, to cover about 1/2 of the floor area, and we have worked out storage under the stairs on a purpose-built cart I was able to design and build.
Now, the Friends have agreed to purchase 3 more, so that the entire floor can be covered. They will be tan, so different areas can be color-coded (for chairs and for coffee,for example). The picture below shows one set-up of the 3 red covers, I’ll try to get one of the whole floor covered once we have them.
Please note that using the covers is simple–but care should be paid to dust-mop the floor before rolling them out, and mopping the covers before rolling them back up, so grit is kept off our wonderful floor! Directions are attached to the cart which holds the rolled up covers, so they are easy to find.

December Grange meeting will feature singing!

Our meeting next month (on December 5th) will have a special “program”–not our usual educational mission, but instead more of one of the things everyone enjoys at our Grange meetings–singing. We know that all the “regulars” at our Grange meetings like the singing we do as part of the meeting, and that many people who have come to our meetings once always comment on how much fun the singing is. We’ve had a couple of sing-alongs in the past, and it’s time for another one!
So this time, starting at 5:30, we’ll sing a few rounds, a few Christmas carols, and whatever else people want to sing. We’ll sit down at 6:30 for a potluck dinner, and everyone is welcome to that, as always!
We’d be happy to have some more musicians join us–play the Grange piano, bring a guitar to play along, or whatever you want. Invite your friends!

Scary Things

October 28, 2015 by Tova

Grange Notes for October 18, 2015 by Tim Swartz

Scary thing #1: Halloween comes back to the CDU dance

Grange members and friends who are part of the contra dance community may remember 5th Saturday dances in October of the past, when the Hall is inhabited/haunted/decorated with strange-looking people in costumes. The dance calendar has not produced this date for a few years…but now it’s BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
On Saturday the 31st, Luke Donforth will call, and Maivish will play, and Merry and I will undertake the difficult task of picking winners of prizes for the most interesting, or most elaborate, or most scary, or most original….or whatever seems appropriate. One year we gave a prize for best use of cardboard.
Come enjoy the fun, 8:00 to 11:00 as usual!

Scary thing #2: Advice for our Parking Lot Landscape Feature, A.K.A “the gully”

On Friday, Oct. 16th I met with a stormwater specialist from the VT Agency of Natural Resources, Ryan McCall, to get a free consultation on our newly enlarged hole. He was very positive, seeing ways that we can deal with the problem–but also made it clear that we will have to plan a comprehensive solution. Ryan pointed out how all the water running over the parking lot collects in one stream, since our parking lot is basically bowl-shaped. Because the edge of the parking lot drops off sharply on all sides, erosion of a gully like the one we have developed this summer is inevitable–there is no easy way to spread out the out-flow. He strongly recommends that we work with a contractor to design a permanent solution to the problem.
He believes that this will involve building a catch-basin to which the water will flow; that should lead to a culvert which will take the water down to the lower level of our property beyond the south side of the parking lot. There, it will need to go into a basin to dissipate the energy of the falling water–otherwise, we will just shift the erosion down there.
For the short-term solution, we’ll be looking at filling the gully with a mixture of large-to-small rocks, which will need to be done to resist immediate washing-out–but it will need to not make the permanent solution more difficult. We’ll need to do the filling before we get a snow-plow stuck in the hole this winter….We have an excavation/grading contractor to talk to, who re-graded our driveway and dug the holes for the sign foundation last fall, and did a good job.
Ideas and expertise welcome–contact me.
Contributions of money also welcome–contact the FCCGH via the “donate” link on most pages of our website: www.capitalcitygrange.org/donate/ will take you there, and you can donate with Paypal or a credit card. Or send checks to FCCGH: PO Box 31, Northfield Falls VT 05664

Not so scary…but impressive!
Grange kitchen gets TLC…and hoeing out!

On Sunday afternoon, an energetic group of volunteers who love the Grange and its kitchen gathered for a few hours of work–and what a lot got done!   My less-than-great pictures convey only some of the volunteers doing some of the work. Many cupboards got opened for the first time in a while, and many shelves, nooks and crannies got cleaned for the first time in an equally long while.   The coffee urns got tested! A pile of stuff that we just don’t need got sorted out–see the bottom picture for some of the pile.
The volunteer crew included stalwart volunteers who have been part of many photos I’ve taken of Grange work crews: Merry Shernock, who organized the project, Alison Forrest, Elizabeth Templeton, Marisa Keller, Patty Giavara, Jody Pettersen and me–and also our Master of the VT State Grange, Brenda Rousselle, who has been a friend of the CCG for a long time. Everyone worked hard!
The “get it out of here” pile will stay in place on one of the cafeteria tables until November 9th, when it will be taken to recycling or the trash. Take a look when you are at the Grange Hall, and take home a useful item–or a souvenir!   We’d be happy for these items to get a new home.   The table includes ceramic dishes with chips, hundreds of bingo cards, a variety of out-dated kitchen tools, and much more.   Check it out!
The volunteers also did a lot of re-organization of the items in the various drawers and cupboards, and planned for even better labeling. The goal that kept being discussed is “how can someone who was never here before find….” and that led to items being moved to better places, with associated tools and supplies.
My contribution was implementing Merry’s idea to have a work-counter behind the peninsula sinks, where a pre-rinse plastic tub now has a place, and there is room for a “busing tray” to be set down–without walking into the busy work space in the center!   Supplies for “set-up” for a meal are now centralized in that area too–table cloths, table covers, and more.
There is much more that could be done to improve the kitchen, its functionality, cleanability and comfort.   It’s going to be a while before we can afford a real renovation–see the article above about the gully in the parking lot, for example!   But even without a major project, more TLC will make it a nicer, better organized work-place. A couple of volunteers who could not make it to the Sunday work-day have signed up already to rebuild the bottom of one of the sink cabinets (John Mallery), and to paint the walls to harmonize the colors (Cynthia Haviland, continuing the excellent work she has started on the south end of the kitchen, plus the cafeteria wall). Merry has started a Kitchen Binder with suggestions and instructions on best ways to make a meal, or set up a dinner, and then clean up afterward, for which she is soliciting input. You can always contact her at her Grange Rental Agent email address: merrykaysings@gmail.com. What else can you do to improve our Grange Community Hall?

Grange Notes for January 3, 2015 by Tim Swartz

Singing on Saturday, more dances, maybe a sound system, and Wholeshare growing

Singing in December, filling in the gully, and saving money on heat!

Scary Things

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