Jeremiah McLane accordion & keyboard, Sarah Blair fiddle, Owen Marshall guitar, bouzouki & banjo, Corey DiMario bass & tenor guitar
Contra Dance: Dugan Murphy calling to Mulberry Street
Ben Hemmendinger, squeezebox
Perin Ellsworth-Heller, fiddle
Kristin Planeaux, keyboard & percussion
Contra Dance: Eileen Thorsos calling to Tim MacDonald & Jeremy Ward
6-8pm Weston’s Coop
private meeting of Berlin residents
Summer begins with ceremonies, welcoming new member(s)
Grange Notes by Tim Swartz, May 30, 2017
June 3rd meeting: last for the summer
New Obligations and reviewing our finances will occupy us for our last meeting before the “summer break”. After we open the meeting, we plan to formally induct our newest member, Andra Kisler. She was our 1st Place, blue ribbon winner in the Cinnamon Buns contest at the May meeting, and the Grange has paid her dues for this year’s Grange membership. We will welcome her to our Community Grange with the short “Obligation” ceremony–an initiation with no hazing, just singing and support. If there is any one else who hasn’t experienced this, please join us on June 3rd at 4:30!
We’ll also discuss some updates on quotes and planning for the Main Entrance and North side of the building–along with the Friends of the Capital City Grange Hall, I and other Grange members have been looking at alternatives for dealing with the perpetually peeling paint problems on the clapboards. And quotes for landscape work on the Main entrance at the Northeast corner of the building have led to some rethinking.
An extra beautiful spot is blooming in one of the beds by the South/dancer’s/basement access entrance. Many thanks for some anonymous work that has been done to spruce up the flower beds there–see below for a lovely photo taken by Carla Kevorkian, leader of the Afro-Caribbean dance class on Thursday mornings! The rich palette of greens, with the flower blossoms setting them off are visible all around us.
Our meetings always feature some sort of special event; this month we will be looking at our finances through the new lens that Merry has brought to our bookkeeping. As part of her taking over the duties of Treasurer last year, we began using QuickBooks Online, which gives us the capability of seeing more than one month’s financial transactions. Starting at 5:30, Merry will have a projector set up, so she can bring up various reports on rental income, average regular bills, types of renters, and more. We will all be learning more about this new system and its capabilities.
Merry is planning to provide a quarterly, detailed reports on finances, and at our monthly meetings to provide a general statement of our financial status with less detail. The intent is to get a longer-term view of where we stand, without getting into the variable details of individual months.
Summer hiatus for Grange meetings
We know that our members and friends are busy with the long days, warm weather, vacations, trips and more, so we don’t worry about having a meeting every month. No formal meetings in July & August!
There will be projects going on–like the landscaping and north-end re-siding we’ll be talking about. Want to learn more? Keep reading the Grange Notes, or contact us if you have an idea for a project you want to lead, or time you want to donate!
There will be projects going on–like the landscaping and north-end re-siding we’ll be talking about. Want to learn more? Keep reading the Grange Notes, or contact us if you have an idea for a project you want to lead, or time you want to donate!
Extra special Grange event this summer:
the 4 degrees of Grange membership on July 22nd.
the 4 degrees of Grange membership on July 22nd.
Many Grange members who joined about 12 years ago will remember the impressive ceremony put on by the VT State Grange membership on January 15th, 2005 to welcome 70 new members for Capital City Grange. This is the full, official welcome for new Grange members. Whenever you joined, please check out this message from the VT State Grange Master:
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the National Grange, Come to the Grange Center on Saturday, July 22, 2017 to witness the exemplification of the first four degrees of the Grange in full form. The Grange will open in the Fourth Degree at 1:00. At that time the First Degree Team will begin the degree with succeeding teams continuing through the Fourth Degree. The day will culminate with a Celebration Banquet consisting of a ham dinner with all the trimmings.–Brenda Rousselle, Master, VT State Grange.
Our Community Grange–the basic level of Granges throughout the country–operates “in the 4th degree” as Brenda states above. This level presumes that members have been told about all 4 initial degrees. These “exemplified” by instructions for new members. The lessons are delivered in very poetic language; they are based on 4 seasons of the year, the changing tasks that accompany the seasons on the farm, and the stages of human life. These were written in the 19th century, and are a real contrast to the rush of modern life–it’s a chance to step back and contemplate what it means to join the Grange and its mission of bringing people together.
The State Grange is looking for as many members as possible (especially new ones) to take part as “marching candidates” for each Degree. If you do this, you will be led by experienced Grange members, many of whom have memorized the degree ritual.
It is a rare opportunity to hear all the Degrees in one day, and you won’t regret it. If you’d like to be a Marching Candidate, contact me, or email State Grange Master Brenda Rousselle directly: brousselle@myfairpoint.net You’ll need to send in your name if you want some of that ham dinner at the end of the day, too!
This will all take place at the Grange Center, 308 West St., Brookfield VT 05036–easy to get to.
The State Grange is looking for as many members as possible (especially new ones) to take part as “marching candidates” for each Degree. If you do this, you will be led by experienced Grange members, many of whom have memorized the degree ritual.
It is a rare opportunity to hear all the Degrees in one day, and you won’t regret it. If you’d like to be a Marching Candidate, contact me, or email State Grange Master Brenda Rousselle directly: brousselle@myfairpoint.net You’ll need to send in your name if you want some of that ham dinner at the end of the day, too!
This will all take place at the Grange Center, 308 West St., Brookfield VT 05036–easy to get to.