| SEPTEMBER 2008 --
Killingly Grange #112 held its annual fair on Saturday, Sept. 13, inviting local craft vendors to sell their wares and showing off the winners of both local and state agricultural contests.
According to Grange Vice President Girt Blaine, the Killingly Grange Fair has been an annual occurrence for more than 15 years.
The Killingly Grange is part of a historical fraternal organization that has been assisting the farming community since the mid 1800s. Grange #112 was established in Killingly in 1890 and currently has 42 active members, according to its Web site.
Several crafty individuals from Connecticut and Massachusetts came to the fair. Just outside the main building, Jana Colacino of Glastonbury offered various handmade, tie-dyed items of her own design , selling everything from infant onepieces and blankets to tee-shirts of all sizes and colors.
“[I’ve been] making tie dye for probably 20 years,” Colacino said, adding that she’d been creating the artful clothing since she was in college. Colacino said she often does tie-dye parties for Mom’s Clubs and takes her business, Color Theory , to craft shows and to events like the Killingly Grange Fair.
Joining Color Theory outside was The Lost Spool. Julie Dalpe, from Dayville, is a seamstress specializing in Renaissance clothing and embroidery. A large digital sewing machine loaded on to the back of a pick-up truck allowed her to bring her work with her to the fair and demonstrate how new technology is often used to create beautiful embroidery patterns.
Hand-painted and decoupage-decorated birdhouses created by Dawn Fennessy and her husband Dave Baker of Woodstock covered a table with natural flair. Fennessy said she does decoupage from tissue or wall art. She also praised her husband’s painting talent. “He really sits there and gets creative,” Fennessy said. Of her business at the fair, she said, “It’s a little slow, but the weather’s holding.”
Two men from Oxford, Mass., Richard Willis and Patrick Beaudry of Fairy Spa, completed the outside vendor experience with their table of all-natural soaps, lotions , jams and butters. Occasionally, the scent of lavender and patchouli filled the air as natural bug repellents, as Willis tried to keep the insects away. It was Fairy Spa’s first time at the Grange Fair, and the men were a little disappointed with the turnout. “You never know though. You have to try,” said Beaudry.
Inside the Killingly Grange building were tables covered with collections, collages , photography submissions, apple pies, quilts and prize-winning vegetables and flowers. The quilt, coconut cake and apple pie contests are all Connecticut state contests, while the Grange provided more than $200 prizes and ribbons for the rest of the competitions.
Denise Aubin, president of the Grange, explained the meaning behind the fair. “All of these things are done so people can come see how things are still done,” she said. Aubin expressed concern that high gas prices might explain the reason for a low turnout this year.
Aubin shared the importance of Grange membership, saying, “People say ‘I don’t know why you bother with the Grange – it’s a dying organization,’ but we have every age level [of member] covered .”
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