April Events

(Before we leave March, don’t forget this weekend [March 23-24, 2024], is Maine Maple Weekend!) April is Grange Month, with celebrations throughout the month. Here’s some we know about!

  • April 2, 2024, Open Mic Night at Trenton Grange. Doors open at 5:30 pm, and the event is from 6:00 to 8:30 pm. $5 donation cover. Trenton Grange Website.
  • April 2, 2024, Piscataquis Pomona Meeting at Valley Grange Hall. Contact Bill Bemis FMI. (Note different day of the month.)
  • April 5, 2024, Community Potluck Supper at Trenton Grange, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., 1134 Bar Harbor Road in Trenton. For more information, see this post or visit the Trenton Grange Website.
  • April 6, 2024, Benton Grange Craft Fair and Flea Market, 9 am until 2 pm. Call 207 453-4796 for information.
  • April 6-7, 2024, Community Bazaar (crafts, farmers’ market, yard sale…) at Trenton Grange from 9 am until 2 pm both days. For more information, see this post or visit the Trenton Grange Website.
  • April 8, 2024, Solar Eclipse Day Are you safe?
  • April 13, 2024, Kennebec Valley Grange Take-out Dinner, starting at noon. For more information, see this post.
  • April 13, 2024, Parkman Grange Daddy Daughter Dance starting at 6 pm, see this post!
  • April 14, 2024, Deadline for the MSG Bulletin
  • April 14, 2024, Cumberland Pomona Degree Day at North Scarborough Grange starting at 1:00 pm. Contact Yvonne Johnson FMI. (603 506-1374)

Parkman Grange Springs into Spring!

The Parkman Grange has a busy spring planned, starting with its Daddy Daughter Dance on Saturday, April 13, 2024, from 6-8 PM. Young ladies are invited to attend with their dad or an important person in their life. D.J. Steve Boddy will spin tunes and have fun dance games with prizes. Light refreshments will be available. A keepsake photo will be taken to remember this special night. Admission is $5 per person at the door.

The popular Mother’s Day Tea will be on May 11, 2024 from 10 to noon.  Kelly Brasier is the guest of honor.  Tea sandwiches, sweets, and beverages will be served. Live entertainment and lots of door prizes make this a special occasion which has become a spring tradition for family and friends. Admission is $5 per person, under 5 free. Reservations are required at 207-717-6248. 

Applications for the Minnie Bridge Scholarship are available at the Parkman Town Office or anytime on the bulletin board on the porch of Grange Hall. These $500 scholarships are for SAD #4 area, second-year higher education students. The deadline is July 12, 2024. 

 The Parkman Grange meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 5 PM at the Grange Hall. If you are interested in these and other community-based events, come join them; you don’t need to be a Parkman resident. The hall is located on the corner of State Hwy 150 and North Dexter Road in Parkman

Jonesboro Grange Featured on WABI

Jonesboro Grange is recently featured on WABI-TV5. Watch the story online!

and don’t forget their Easter Basket Festival March 22-24, 2024!

  • Free Easter Egg Hunt for ages 12 and under with 7,000+ Eggs on March 23rd1
  • Free Photos with the Easter Bunny
  • $50 Door Prize
  • 50/50 Raffle

Membership Moments – March 2024

By Rick Grotton,
Membership Committee Director
207 582-5915

April is Grange Month, and many Granges are busy with events scheduled during this time. Do you have any members who have not seen the four degrees or need to take them? If you do, then you are in luck! Below are the scheduled dates when the Community (Subordinate) Grange degrees will be performed. Please inform your new members and encourage them to attend one of these sessions. I haven’t been to a degree day in a while, so I am looking forward to them.

April 14 at North Scarboro Grange, 74 County Rd., Scarborough. Contact Mike Griffin, Master, for information and to let him know how many will be coming. The meeting starts at 1:00 p.m.

April 21 at State Grange HQ, 146 State Street, Augusta. Contact Maynard Chapman, Chief Deputy, for information and to let him know how many will be coming. The meeting starts at 1:00 p.m.

Please refer to the website at mainestategrange.org to find out what other Granges are doing. The site has a ton of information pertinent to all members, so please visit and subscribe.

Jonesboro Grange Easter Basket Festival

Jonesboro Grange announces affordable family fun with a reasonably priced Easter Basket Festival!

Click to enlarge

Festival includes :

  • Free Easter Egg Hunt for ages 12 and under with 7,000+ Eggs on March 23rd1
  • Free Photos with the Easter Bunny
  • $50 Door Prize
  • 50/50 Raffle
  1. The rain date is March 24. Please bring your own collection basket, employ your eggs, and return them to our egg boxes for reuse! ↩︎

Come buy tickets to try and win fun and unique Easter Baskets! 

  • 25 (1 sheet of tickets/$0.40 per ticket) for $10 
  • 50 (2 sheets/$0.30 per ticket) for $15 
  • 75 (3 sheets/$0.26 per ticket) for $20 
  • 125 (5 sheets/$0.20 per ticket) for $25

The drawing of winning tickets will be live-streamed on Facebook at 2:30 pm.

Visit us on Facebook at Jonesboro Grange #357 or email Jonesborogrange357@gmail.com with questions! 

Jonesboro Grange Hall is located at 746 US Route 1 in Jonesboro, Maine.

Kennebec Valley Public Take-Out Dinner

April 13, 2024

Kennebec Valley Grange will offer a public take-out dinner on Saturday, April 13, 2024, from noon until the food is gone. The menu includes ham w/raisin sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits, and carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Cost is $12.00.

For additional information, contact Diane Pinkham (207 314-5135).

Kennebec Valley Grange is located at 560 Main Street in Madison, Maine.

March Grange Events

  • March 1, 2024, Community Potluck Supper at Trenton Grange, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., 1134 Bar Harbor Road in Trenton. For more information, see this post or visit the Trenton Grange Website.
  • March 2-3, 2024, Community Bazaar (crafts, farmers’ market, yard sale…) at Trenton Grange from 9 am until 2 pm both days. For more information, see this post or visit the Trenton Grange Website.
  • March 5, 2024, Open Mic Night at Trenton Grange. Doors open at 5:30 pm, and the event is from 6:00 to 8:30 pm. $5 donation cover. Trenton Grange Website.
  • March 9, 2024 Benefit Dinner at Norway Grange at 5:00 pm. Door prizes, auction, 50/50 and more. See post for more information.
  • March 14, 2024, Deadline for the MSG Bulletin
  • March 16, 2024, Excelsior Grange Anniversary Celebration starts with lunch at 11 am. FMI see this post.
  • March 16, 2024, Junior Grange Meeting at Danville Grange. Contact Director Betty Young for more information.
  • March 18, 2024, National Grange Virtual Legislative Fly-In. Hear from Grange leaders, representatives from Congress, and issues partners about what the Grange is working on for all of rural America. Register at http://grange.biz/flyin2024.
  • March 18-22, 2024, Agricultural Literacy Week
  • March 19, 2024, Ag Day with the Maine Legislature. Donations of fudge are needed! Contact Roberta Meserve, Ag Director for more information.

Have you submitted yours?

Excelsior Grange Celebrates

150th Anniversary Celebration – March 16, 2024

150th Anniversary Meeting, March 16, 2024. The meeting starts at 11 am with a ham dinner at noon. Please RSVP for the meal by calling 207-998-2301 or email Steve Verrill. The program will start at 1 pm and will consist of a history of the Grange, a presentation of membership certificates, and music by Kathy Hammond, a local entertainer. Pictures and other memorabilia will be on display.

Excelsior Grange #5 is located at 446 Harris Hill Road, Poland ME

Norway Grange Sponsors Benefit Dinner

March 9, 2024 – 5:00 pm

Membership Moments – February 2024

By Rick Grotton,
Membership Committee Director
207 582-5915

Some of you who read my columns may be thinking that I may be on some Cloud 9 somewhere with the way I explain how to gain membership. You may think, “That does not apply to my Grange,” “We are too small and do not have community events,” or “What he says does not seem realistic,” or the worst one of all, “We are not interested in gaining new members because we are fine.” Which word, however, appears in each of the above-quoted sentences? Ah, yes, did you find it!! The word NOT!!!! A negative connotation. Negative energy. How do you know the suggestions and hints will not work? If you do not try, they certainly will not work! We all can and must continue to keep our Granges active. New membership is a priority for all organizations. The Grange has much to offer, so let us build on changes and improvements.

The information provided to you is basic and realistic to all Granges and other organizations for that matter. Such information contains the building blocks and principles needed to build a strong organization and needs to be maintained and updated according to your needs without losing the identity of the original basic rules.

Yes, there are Granges in Maine that are not interested in adding new membership. The majority of those have closed due to such, however, there remains a few who want to keep things the way they have always done without outside interference. The Grange is more than just “our” organization. It belongs to everyone who comes through the doors, those whose lives have been changed because of something the Grange has done for them, those who have attended suppers, bingo, and yard sales, and to those who will be our successors who will keep the Granges active and touching lives in their communities for a good cause. Remember to inform others about joining the Grange when talking to them that it applies to ages five and up. Explain the Junior Grange and its function to them. The Grange is a family organization, so advertise it as such.