| June 5, 2019 -- May is starting out cold and wet and everybody seems to be waiting for spring to arrive. The farmers in our area are having a difficult time trying to plant their crops because of the cold and wet weather. On Mother’s Day there was wet snow in the northern parts of Connecticut. Hopefully by the time you read this article we will at least have a couple of eighty degree days and we’ll see a little more summer-like weather heading our way.
My General Deputy and Pomona Deputy are inspecting the three Pomona Granges in Connecticut. Mountain Laurel Pomona conferred the Fifth Degree for nine new members on the first Saturday in May. On the second Saturday in May, Eastern Connecticut Pomona put on the Fifth Degree. Nutmeg Pomona will be inspected on June 2 and this will complete the inspections for the year.
The Community Granges have been sent a questionnaire to fill out and send back to me by June 1. If you haven’t returned the questionnaires, please do so as soon as possible. That way we can evaluate our Granges in Connecticut. I am also looking for the 2018 Executive Committee Report which you will find in the center of last year’s Blue Book.
The Connecticut State Grange Youth Committee Director, Dawn Anstett, has been working on setting up the Northeast Youth Conference which will be held July 12-14 at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. If you are interested in being a judge or helping out that weekend, please let Dawn know.
On May 16, I attended the annual meeting of the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA. It is known to most of us as the Big E. The 2018 exhibition attendance was the biggest in Big E history with the highest total attendance of 1,543,470 for the 17 days of the fair. On Saturday, Sept. 22 the fair had what was the biggest single day record of 172,659! They are hoping for another good year in 2019. I am looking for volunteers to help at the New England Grange Building during the Big E. Each of the six New England states and New York have two days to cover the sales room. Connecticut is responsible for Sept. 26 & 27. If you are interested in working in the building, I need eight volunteers for each shift that run from 9 to 3 on those two days, so please let me know so I can get parking and fair passes to get you into the fair.
This will be the last call if anyone is interested in chairs, tables and Grange stations. We will be putting Good Will Hall on the market in June and we need to get it cleaned out.
Since this has been such a cold and wet May, I remember this saying from long ago: “a cold wet May; a barn full hay.” I hope it dries out so farmers can make hay!
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