Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) October 3, 2025

Please join us for a brief meeting, and a fascinating program

I’m sending out this reminder for an interesting meeting, and also a program that gives us a chance to think about what happens to our bodies after we die.   And to discuss options with an expert!
Our informal Grange meeting will give us time to discuss the immediate future:  planning for the State Grange Session on 10/24-25, our finances, and progress on our ventilation project.
At 5:00 PM, we’ll turn to our “Community Program”–Patty Giavara has booked what promises to be a fascinating presentation about something that will happen to all of us–we’ll all die–and about an option you can choose about what happens to your physical remains–your body.   The presentation start with about film about 20 minutes in length:  From Earth to Earth:  the Lost Art of Dying in America.  This film about natural burial is produced by the Vermont Forest Cemetery.
The film will be followed by a Q&A session with Michelle Hogle Acciavatti, Founder of VT Forest Cemetery in 2023.  Michelle has the reputation of making discussion of funerals and burials meaningful and involving–even with flashes of humor.
A link to a Google Meet which will stream the Grange meeting and also the Program is posted on the Grange website’s Calendar listing for the program.  We’ll be happy to have you join us in person, but we also welcome anyone via the virtual link as well.
The picture above is from the VT Forest Cemetery’s website.

We also hope you’ll join us for:
Community Potluck, 6:00 to 7:00!

Everyone is welcome to join us for this monthly event, whether you have been part of the meeting or program, or just want to eat!   We typically have a wide variety of dishes, including choices for carnivores, vegans, and omnivores!   We’d love to have you bring a special dish you’ve made to share, but we’ll also happily eat chips/dips/hummus/cookies/drinks/etc. you’ve picked up on the way to the Grange Hall too!  It will be a chance to discuss the program, or to just hang out with other friendly people.

Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, Grange President (with everyone’s help) September 26, 2025

With donations large & small, we met the Challenge!

Every year since at least 2010, the Montpelier Contra Dance community has supported the Grange with the “Challenge Fundraiser”, so this year’s successful completion marks at least the 15th time that the contra dancers who enjoy the Hall have come through with their donations.   The picture above shows the announcement at the dance on Saturday, Sept. 6 when the donations (small and large) from dancers reached $2,000, matching $2,000 pledged up front by a small number of generous folks.  In the end, we got even more–a grand total of $4540 has been received by the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall!   This major donation to improve the Hall and keep the Grange, with upcoming projects to keep making the Hall safer, more welcoming to all, and more energy efficient!
Besides the financial boost, these annual fund drives make it clear to the Grange and the FCCGH how much the Hall means to the people who enjoy the contra dances and the many other events that happen there.   This is great encouragement for all the volunteers who keep the Grange going, and keep making improvements!  Thanks to everyone who contributed!   That includes the Montpelier Contra Dance committee, the Grange officers and members, the FCCGH, and the people who brought “potluck snacks” to the festive finale dance, and to Jonathon Blake, who documented the event with a great set of photographs, including the one above.   We also thank Mary Wesley, the caller for the dances that night, who kept the enthusiasm going–she’s the one holding the microphone in the picture.  We literally could not do it without everyone involved.

Sept. 6 Grange meeting

We had a full agenda for the meeting, as expected.   I’ve written up a longer report, which is located at the end of these “Grange Notes”, so I can feature upcoming events including a unique Community Program nearer the top.  Please scroll down for the meeting report!

October Grange meeting and program!

On Saturday, October. 4, since it is in an even-numbered month, we’ll have a brief Grange Meeting from 4:30 to 5:00 PM, followed by a one-hour Community Program.
The meeting will including a financial report, an update on the Indoor Air Quality Improvement project which is getting underway, and plans for the State Grange Session on Oct. 24 & 25.
The program starting at 5:00 PM will feature a short (20 mins) documentary film describing natural burial and its benefits, through stories from the people who worked to make it legal in Vermont, plus the stories of people whose experiences show the ways it can help them come to terms with the loss of a loved one, and with one’s own mortality.  The film features the opening of and the first burial at Vermont Forest Cemetery.
The film will be followed by a Q&A session with Michelle Hogle Acciavatti, Founder of VT Forest Cemetery in 2023.  Michelle has the reputation of making discussion of funerals and burials meaningful and involving–even with flashes of humor.   We all know that there is an end to life; this will be a chance to consider options for what happens then.
A link to a Google Meet which will stream the Grange meeting and also the Program is posted on the Grange website’s Calendar listing for the program.  We’ll be happy to have you join us in person, but we also welcome anyone via the virtual link as well.

Community Potluck, 6:00 to 7:00!

The Program will be followed by one of the Grange’s renowned potluck dinners, in the Lower Level.   Everyone is welcome, whether you have been part of the meeting or program, or just want to eat!   We typically have a wide variety of dishes, including choices for carnivores, vegans, and omnivores!   We’d love to have you bring a special dish you’ve made to share, but we’ll also happily eat chips/dips/hummus/cookies/drinks/etc. you’ve picked up on the way to the Grange Hall too!  It will be a chance to discuss the program, or to just hang out with other friendly people.

VT State Grange meets at our Hall:
Oct. 23-25
Volunteers needed!

We’re honored that the VSG enjoyed meeting at our Hall in 2024 (as well as in 2020), and that they want to come back again.   Our goal is to host this one without overburdening too small of a core group of volunteers–which did happen last year, and we don’t want to repeat that.  The State Grange has started reaching out to other Granges across Vermont for helpers.   We have gotten a major boost by the volunteering of Grange member Albert Sabatini, who is part of the Senior Jazz Ensemble which rehearses every Tuesday morning in the Main Hall.   Albert, who’s a retired professional chef, has stepped forward to be the lead chef and meal planner for the 2 lunches and 1 dinner which will be needed.  He is working with Merry Shernock on sourcing locally produced ingredients for all the meals, and has also given us this list of volunteer spots which need to be filled, I’ve added one volunteer slot for setup and one for cleanup of the Hall to his list:

• Thursday afternoon, 10/23:  One person to help with food prep.
• Thursday evening, 10/23, 7:30 PM:  One person to help me (Tim) set up tables, table covers, chairs, Grange ritual Stations, etc.
• Friday lunch, 10/24:  Two people to put out lunch & serve the VSG delegates.  Plus:  Two people to clean up.
• Friday dinner, 10/24:  Two people to put out dinner and serve the delegates.  Plus:  Two people to clean up.
• Saturday lunch, 10/25:  One person to put out lunch and serve the delegates.  Plus:  Two people to clean up.
• Saturday late afternoon, approx. 4:30:  Two people to work with me (Tim again!) to put away tables, chairs, Grange ritual Stations, and to sweep the floors.

We are also in need of a few more folding tables, similar to the 9 we have in the Hall, for use for VSG displays, officers, etc.   Please email Tim:  swartztim15@gmail.com about tables, kitchen volunteers, etc.   If we get these shifts filled, no one will have to work too hard–if we don’t, it could be an ordeal for those of us who are there.   If you can help out, you’ll also meet some other really nice people, who keep the State Grange going, just like the core group of CCG members who keep this Grange and the Hall running!

Sept. 6 Grange meeting report

• Our first order of business was to “Drape the Charter”, the Grange ceremony to honor members who have passed away.  We performed the ceremony to honor Phyllis Skinner at this meeting.  We shared memories of our good friend and her always-friendly work as part of our Grange, including providing “Health Concerns” reports for many years, as well as recalling her many years as an RN.  The draped Charter will be on the wall by the stage until next month’s meeting.
• Patty Giavara, Chair of the FCCGH reported on the grant that’s been awarded to the Friends–I’ll give more info after our Oct. 4 meeting.  We applauded, and thanked our “sister organization” for their help.
• We discussed the offer of 2 “relay speakers” to be mounted on the side walls of the Main Hall, to provide better sound for the far end of the Hall.   They will be of most benefit for the Montpelier Contra Dance series, and the costs may be covered by the MCD committee.  We voted to accept the proposal.  Update:  MCD member Will Cleland and I mounted the speakers on Friday, 9/26!
• The Treasurer’s Report by Merry Shernock  reported on slightly lower revenues over the summer months, but no concerns about our cash-flow.   A committee is to be set up to discuss the possible need to increase rental rates slightly.  Merry also announced that North Branch Grange, in Worcester, has donated some funds to our Grange to help us purchase some padded chairs, in honor of Charles Martin, the long-time Master of North Branch, who also served as our Secretary for over 20 years.  Charles passed away in 2024 and is much missed by all who knew him.   We will be researching chair options and discussing them.
• Liz Benjamin, founder and main caller for the Dance, Sing & Jump Around series of dances for kids and their families, announced that she and the other organizers are starting the series in October and running through May, extending the season to 8 months, on the 2nd Sunday afternoons.  The Grange is happy to sponsor this series, hosting it with no rental fee.  Check it out Oct. 12!
• We heard a proposal by Grant Orenstein, a Grange member who is also a member of Indivisible Calais.  On their behalf, he asked the CCG to sponsor a benefit contra dance on Nov. 21, by not charging rent.  The net proceeds from the dance will be donated to Migrant Justice, a Vermont organization that works to support and protect immigrant farm-workers in Vermont.  We approved this unanimously.
• We discussed the upcoming Annual Session of the VT State Grange which will be held at our Hall on Oct. 25 & 26–see the article below on this event for more details.
• We also discussed the exhibition of posters and art prints by Bread and Puppet founder and director Peter Schumann which was installed in late August.   The meeting voted unanimously to require that the exhibit be reduced in scale to better fit the mission of the Grange as a multi-purpose Community Hall, one which serves a wide variety of groups and families.  The motion also required that any fire-retardant treatment must meet the requirements of the Fire Marshal.   We also resolved to come up with a clear policy about future art exhibitions for the Hall, to avoid the confusion that contributed to the problems that we initially faced.   I can report that a few days after the meeting, Patty & I met with the Curatrix for Bread and Puppet, Alexis Smith, and quickly reached agreement on ways for the exhibit to comply with the Grange’s needs.  She has been part of dance classes at the Hall for about 20 years!  We appreciate her willingness to work with us to modify the exhibit, and we look forward to displaying the artwork of Peter Schumann, who is celebrating 65 years of Bread and Puppet Theater with this exhibit.  We hope you will enjoy it; it will be up until Nov. 30.