Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) August 4, 2023
The weather looks promising, and we’re eager to celebrate our beautiful Hall with a picnic
It’s been a busy few years since our last Grange Picnic–it was back in 2019. In the interim, we’ve survived a pandemic, but we’ve been busy too, improving the Grange Hall. We’ll have a slide-show with pictures of all we’ve done, but main event will be sharing food.
We’ll have a couple of grills going–one gas, one charcoal, and we’ll provide the protein: beef hamburgers, hot dogs, black bean burgers plus buns & condiments. Plus ice cream and cones! We encourage everyone to bring a side dish to share, too–any thing from chips to salads to cookies, or anything in between. We’ll be setting up folding-leg tables by the ADA ramp access, and bringing out folding chairs–but feel free to bring your own as well!
We want this to be a chance to socialize and meet other Grange community members–we’ve invited the many renting organizations, as well as Grange members, Berlin Selectboard and Town administrators, State reps & senators–and you!
Here’s the current schedule for tomorrow’s get-together:
5:00: Set-up: volunteers will be setting up at least one gas grille and a charcoal grille, setting up tables, putting out plates/glasses/silverware. Want to help out? Please send an email to me!
5:30: Cooking begins, so that we’ll be ready for:
6:00: Time to eat: We’ll have the main meal ready to eat–which means we will have cooks producing items from the grilles, and y’all will have brought salads, dips, chips, breads, soups, dals and any other side-dishes to share.
7:00: Time to start cleaning up: we will be bringing dishes downstairs to start washing up, putting away cooking supplies, etc. We have a couple of volunteers signed up already, want to join them? Please send an email to me!
Photos below are from the 2019 picnic!
2023 Challenge Fundraiser
for the Grange Hall and Berlin Flood Relief
Checks can be made out to FCCGH and brought to an event, or mail them to: PO Box 192, Northfield Falls VT 05664.
Credit Card and PayPal donations accepted at: www.capitalcitygrange.org/
Join us for the main fundraiser event at the Montpelier Contra Dance on September 2, with Will Mentor calling, and Genticorum playing! Potluck refreshments at the break!
Champlain Valley Fair: Grange exhibit!
For the last several years, a few of us have put together an exhibit about our Community Grange, for display in the the VT State Grange exhibit area at the CVF in Essex–which they modestly call the Best 10 Days of Summer. This year, Alison Forrest has rashly volunteered to put together a scale model of our Grange Hall. It’s based on scale drawings that I have done over the years, and it’s designed to show off the Hall that is the centerpiece of our community service mission.
We also send a few volunteers to staff the State Grange exhibit–and it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Grange community in Vermont! There will be exhibits from 6 or 8 other Community Granges, and more about the State Grange organization. If you’d like to join us, we are “on duty” for 2 shifts on Tuesday, Aug. 29th: 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM. And you’ll get a voucher for free parking and free admission to the Fair!
And there is so much going on at the Fair: horses, rabbits, cattle, sheep, midway rides, cooking demonstrations (in the same building as the Grange exhibit!), crafts gallery, racing pigs, a model railroad…and I’m just scratching the surface. Check it all out at: ChamplainValleyFair.org. Please email me for more details about signing up as a volunteer–the time is limited!
On July 29th, we saw a sign in the sky…we must be doing something right!
