Live benefit concert tomorrow! With a picnic beforehand!

Co-sponsored by the Contra Dance Umbrella and the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall, the Grange Hall will host an outdoor concert featuring two Vermont bands who have played many times for dances.   Since we are not yet able to hold dances safely, this concert will celebrate and encourage donations to match the $2,000 Challenge assembled with donations from long-time supporters.
We’re starting at 6:00 with a picnic outside, in the Grange parking lot, open to everyone of course.   Bring your favorite food and drink for you and your party–it’s not a pot-luck this time.   But it is a chance to see and socialize with friends, people you’ve danced with, and others you will like too!
The Grange Hall will be open for access to the bathrooms and the drinking fountains, but we will ask you to wear a mask indoors–we’re following the VT Dept. of Health recommendations.  We’ll also ask anyone who has not been vaccinated to stay masked–for everyone’s health!
The music starts at 7:00, and will run to about 9:00 PM–live and streaming via Zoom.   You can find a link to register for the Zoom live-stream at:  https://bit.ly/3jKSsAc, plus more info about the bands:

          On the bill:  Atlantic Crossing, and The Turning Stile!  Both bands have played for contra dances at the Hall for many years, and both have strong concert repertoires besides the tunes which get you on the dance floor.
Admission to the concert will go to pay the bands.   The CDU (and the Grange) are committed to supporting our music and dance community by paying bands well–especially in these times when gigs have been few and far between.   Here’s what we’re asking:

         The concert will run to about 9:00 PM with a break to change the setup for the 2nd band.   Peter Macfarlane, who will also be playing with Atlantic Crossing, is providing the sound–and the Zoom live-stream, which will open at 6:30.
There are pictures of the bands, and more info available at the link given above–but we also want to tell you about the fund-raising purpose of this event:

For many years, the Contra Dance Umbrella, the all-volunteer committee which organizes the dances has raised money to keep the Grange running and to improve the Grange Hall, by sponsoring a “Challenge Fundraiser” every fall.    We find a number of generous folks from the dance community, who put up about $2,000 as a challenge for other dancers and Grange supporters to match with their own donations.
Until 2020, we’ve been able to promote this at a month of dances, culminating in a celebratory dance with special decorations and a dessert potluck, and an air of mounting excitement as donations are tallied on a big sign.  Admission to the dances pays for the bands, callers, and the Hall; donations come in on top of that.  We can’t hold dances or the potluck safely, so we’re offering this concert as the big event this year–as we did with a Pete’s Posse live-stream concert in 2020.
The money raised this year will be split between the Contra Dance Umbrella and the FCCGH (Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall).   The CDU has been supporting the Grange with payments of 1/4 of the normal rent for the usual dance schedule through the pandemic–cutting into their bank balance considerably.   The Friends have funded major Grange Hall improvements like:

        This year, the Friends will be working on ways to install a fresh-air ventilation system for the Hall, to make it safer for everyone, even when we can’t open the windows.   There are lots more improvements waiting to happen, and your donations will help make them real!    The FCCGH is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity, and donations to them are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by the law.
We hope that if you can, you will donate either online at:   www.capitalcitygrange.org/donate, or by check or cash at the concert, or by mailing checks to:  FCCGH, PO Box 192, Northfield Falls VT 05664.   All donations by check or via the Paypal link at the website will be acknowledged for tax purposes.
Every dollar you donate will help us keep the dances going as soon as we can safely hold them again, and will keep the Grange surviving and thriving as vital part of the community for all sorts of dances, music, meetings, family celebrations, and much more.   The all-volunteer Grange, the all-volunteer FCCGH and the all-volunteer CDU will make good use of all donations for everyone’s benefit!

We’re please to announce that the Just Food Hub, a new non-profit business that sells and distributes food products from Equal Exchange will be selling a selection of their line at the picnic and concert.   And they will have free samples as well!
You can learn more about their dedication to selling fair-trade products from small farmers and the global South at their website:  https://justfoodhub.us/.   A portion of the proceeds from their sales will benefit the Grange, too!