Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) June 26, 2026
June 6 at the Grange–Tasty & Tuneful
We had a great combination of skillful cooks and enthusiastic singers at our Grange Chili Cookoff and Sing-Along on June 6th. In the picture to the left, you can see all the judges and most of the cooks. From left to right:- Jody Pettersen: 2nd prize in the “carnivore” division
- David McGaw: 1st prize in the “carnivore” division
- Albert Sabatini (back): Judge and chef for the Montpelier Community Meals program
- Amy Handy (front): 3rd prize in the “vegetarian” division
- Calvin Cutler: Judge, and WCAX Montpelier correspondent–he produced a brief story about the Grange, here’s a link to it: WCAX Chili contest
- Lisa Burr: Judge, and co-owner of “Feed Every Need“, a non-profit making prepared meals for those who can’t cook
- Bill Meckel: 3rd prize in the “carnivore” division
- Patty Giavara: 4th prize (shared with Charles Mayhood, not shown) in the “carnivore” division
- Tim Swartz: 1st prize in the “vegetarian” division
- Steve Boylan: 2nd prize in the “vegetarian” division
- Bragg Farm Maple Syrup (donated by Bragg Farm)
- Hand-carved mahogany cooking spoon (donated by the maker, Alexandra Forbes)
- Plainfield Co-op $20 gift certificate (donated by the Co-op)
- 2–Hunger Mountain Co-op $20 gift certificates (donated by the Co-op)
- Lydia Bastinich cookbook (donated by Anonymous)
- Marble Cheese board (from Capital Kitchen
- Capital Kitchen $20 gift certificate
If you want to enter, on Saturday, July 11, just bring your chili to the VT State Grange Center, which is located at 308 West St., Brookfield, VT 05036. Judging will happen at noon, so get there before then! Just as in our contest, there will be two categories, meat and meatless. Attach your name to the container or crockpot–but covered so the judges can’t be biased. Also attach a copy of the recipe they can see. There will be a cash prize, I believe!
Please note that there will be no Grange meeting or potluck in July, as July 4th is the First Saturday. In August, we will have our annual Barbecue/Potluck/Picnic
- Setup: starting at 5:00, bringing out tables and chairs, plus plates, silverware, etc. And starting to crank the 2 ice cream makers!
- Cleanup: starting at 7:00, taking in all the tables and chairs, plus washing dishes.
Just Food Hub will again be offering their fair-trade chocolate, coffee and other items for sale–with a portion of the proceeds donated to our Grange!
Can you help us keep our Hall looking great?
As faithful readers will know, we got a lot of cleaning done about a month ago, thanks to the Community Service Day volunteers from U-32 High School. Now, we want to keep the Hall looking good–so we need your help.
Especially if you’re a Grange member, we know you love the Hall. If you see some particular part of it looking grungy–please consider cleaning it! It can be as simple as using a damp rag to clean windowsills, or seeing crumbs from a party in the Lower Level on the carpet, and getting the vacuum cleaner from the kitchen to clean them up.
We have a cleaning service which we pay to get the bathrooms and the kitchen cleaned up, and the carpeted areas vacuumed, but they only come every two weeks. It will make a real difference if even a few folks help out in between those cleanings.
Questions? contact Tim: swartztim15@gmail.com Incidentally, When I’m there, I frequently do chores like emptying the drainers, putting dishes back in the right places, checking cleaning supplies, etc. You can do those too!
Updates from the EC: stove decision, new bathroom supplies, and a septic cleanout
- The gas range in the kitchen has been out of commission, due to oven control problems, and (possibly related) a very burned-on spill in the bottom of the oven compartment. We agreed that it is better to stop using a gas stove, for indoor air quality and safety reasons. We investigated having a new 220V stove outlet installed, so that we could purchase a 2nd electric range–but 3 electrician’s bids ranged from $1,257 to $2,177. We decided that it makes more sense to postpone installing a new stove until we are ready to do a full kitchen renovation, when we can integrate our stove decision with the whole design. Since our kitchen is used primarily for heating up potluck dishes, and for caterers to heat up food, we are investigating more counter space with outlets for crockpots, a better microwave and other food-heating appliances as a better use of space compared to a stove. Note that the Fire Marshal has said that we should not allow frying, broiling or other cooking that produces greasy vapors, due to our lack of an exhaust system.
- We considered whether we want to increase what we pay for our cleaning service (as mentioned above, they come every 2 weeks, and clean kitchen and bathrooms). While we could increase the scope of the cleaning, we decided that we will continue for now with the current scope and schedule, and encourage Grange members and Hall users to pitch in.
- We’ve received a request to provide menstrual supplies in the bathrooms. We agreed that this is a good addition that will make a difference to people who need them. We will have provide some wall-mounted “baskets”, and will purchase bulk tampons and sanitary napkins to stock them, from the same supplier that we get toilet paper and paper towels from. Look for them soon!
- Septic cleanout–it’s time for the biennial cleanout of the septic tank. We need to recruit at least a couple of people to used pickaxes and shovels to dig down about 1-1/2 feet into our parking lot (near the original entrance), to expose the access hatch to the tank. Would you like to be part of the crew? Likely we will do it on a Sunday afternoon, and have it pumped on Monday. Please contact me at the email above, or just “Reply” to this newsletter. My shoulders are no longer up to the heavy work!
Indoor air quality: improved in the summer!
This winter, when we had the ERV installed in the attic (left) and the ceiling-mounted air purifier on the Main Hall ceiling (below, above the rehearsing Barre-Tones), we talked about how they would help to make Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) better. This should help to reduce the chance of virus particles circulating in the Main Hall. We also expect to improve IAQ in the summer, by filtering out pollen and (if it happens again) wildfire smoke particles!
Both of these units are pre-scheduled remotely. We are scheduling them to run during all rentals, except ones where we expect the exhaust fan will be on, and the windows will be opened for extra ventilation–the Montpelier Contra Dance series being one of the obvious ones in that category! The large amount of airflow from the fan and the windows make the ERV and air purifier superfluous. But when people are keeping the windows closed, the ERV will be bringing in fresh air, filtered with a MERV 13 filter that will remove the tiny pollen and smoke particles! And the Iso-Aire ceiling purifier will also be filtering out particles. This is our two-pronged approach to IAQ improvement.
If you’re a renter, please let me know by emailing me here, to let me know if you’re keeping the windows closed, so I can make sure the ERV and the purifier are on. If you’re sure you’ll be opening windows, especially here in the summer months, let me know that so we can save some electricity by not running these units. We’re certainly not ever running the duct heaters in the warm weather!
The Iso-Aire air purifier in the Lower Level is also scheduled to be on during rentals, to reduce the particles of all types. We will be asking for donations so that we can afford to match a grant we hope to get to install an ERV for the Lower Level as well–starting at the August 1 BBQ/Potluck/Picnic! Those donations can be made anytime by clicking this link to the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall‘s page on the website, where you’ll find a PayPal link for tax-deductible contributions!