| OCTOBER 1, 2023 -- As I write, fall is beginning with shorter days and cooler nights. The trees aren’t so much turning color yet as losing leaves due to earlier periods of low rainfall. It brings to mind the season of Harvest as represented in the Third Degree of the Order. Likewise, fair season is upon us and I have been to the Hamburg Fair and Greenfield Hill Grange #133 Fair. For about ten years now, I have been helping out the folks at Greenfield Hill by displaying antique items of interest to the fair goers. It seems to attract curiosity and attention and I enjoy talking to people.
In my corner of the state, Cheshire, Cannon, Harmony, Norfield, and Wallingford Granges have had their fairs (plus some others in other areas) and I apologize for being unable to attend. Like Greenfield Hill, they show products from the garden, edible and decorative, as well as baked goods. Hank was eyeing the cakes at the Hamburg Fair. I had to remind him that equines don’t eat wheat! Activities for kids, dinners, arts and crafts, rummage sales and contests round out these community events. I want to thank all the hard work of Grangers for these fairs that spread the name of the Grange across Connecticut. May look forward to coming to out fairs every year.
I have just completed my first weekend working in the New England Grange Building and had a great time. I enjoyed the camaraderie of Claire and Steve Logan from Rhode Island, Judy and Jim Meserve as well as Mike Griffin, all from Maine, and our own Noel Miller, building manager. We sold quite a bit of goods over the weekend. Ted Powell and Noel built a platform (Thank you gentlemen!) for the vaccination booth (RSV, Influenza, and COVID) which was part of a National Grange partnership with Merck. They set up a ten by twenty foot space outside the Grange Building in which vaccines were administered by trained pharmacists. Well over a hundred were administered each day of the first three days. I got my flu vaccine and the new COVID booster. These are covered by insurance (Medicare or private) though the uninsured would not be turned away.
The Grange building also has a new 70” TV on the stage, thanks to Glenn Gibson, President of the Massachusetts State Grange. It runs a continuous loop of videos submitted by the northeastern Granges. Thanks to Terri Fassio for assembling the Connecticut video on rather short notice. There was also a table with materials on the ACP, Affordable Connectivity Program, another National Grange partnership, this one with the Oregon Institute for a Better Way. ACP aims to provide reduced rates or free internet to those meeting eligibility requirements. This is a great community service. Our National Grange President Betsy Huber attended the Big E over the weekend to launch this program.
As the Grange tries to attract new members, there are a growing number of membership categories: adult, junior, junior+1, affiliate, associate, family and student. Some of these we don’t get much of here in Connecticut such as the associate one. The family membership has caused some confusion, and I won’t go into detail here but advise you to check the yellow information page distributed by Secretary Todd Gelineau. You can also check the National Grange Digest of Laws for definitions of these categories. Digests are in the possession of all Granges.
Some of the newer and reorganized Granges have asked about conducting Grange business in between meetings when tough situations arise. This is what your Executive Committee is for. The Committee should be three elected members with staggered terms and the President of the Grange. They can consult between regular meetings to take care of issues with your buildings like repairs and bill payments. This will also prevent Grange members making unilateral decisions in the name of the entire Grange and thus forcing expenditure of Grange funds without proper approvals of the membership.
I continue to visit Granges and appreciate that no two Granges operate exactly the same. Some are more into the ritual and some not so much. Some meet in formal setup mode and some less formal. However, across the board, I see dedicated Grangers doing projects and fundraisers, proud of their Granges, and having fun with each other. Sure, there a few frictions between people at times, but I hope we can work past these and get along by remembering our solemn pledges of honor. For some of the newer members (and even the older ones that haven’t witnessed a degree recently) that have not seen all the degrees, pick up a Blue Subordinate Manual and read some of the ritual sometime, especially the Obligations. I charge anyone willing to do this and hope that many will look back over these parts.
Until next time…
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