Patrons of Husbandry – a website dedicated to the Granges located in Maine
One of the software providers for our website recently blogged some ideas for community events that will draw people in.
What are you going to do this summer? Don’t forget to submit your events to the MSG website calendar!
In a recent post, Seth Godin reminded us that some restaurants keep a photo of the local food critic in the kitchen. That way, if someone notices that person in the restaurant, everybody bends over backward to make things right.
But why not try to get things right even if the critic isn’t there?
What if we conducted every meeting as if there were a dozen potential new members sitting in the back? Or do we ask the gatekeeper to warn everyone, “We have guests!”
For that matter, there’s a place in the opening for honoring “special guests.” Traditionally, that means someone from “higher up” in the Grange. Maybe the steward should at least announce ALL guests, regardless of their status.
Quick tips from Granges and Grangers are always welcome… on any topic that might improve or make things easier for other Granges. Use the submission form or email yours to the webmaster for consideration!
Guilford—Valley Grange in Guilford has announced their annual Celebration of Community, which will take place on Friday, May 17, 2024, at the Guilford Grange Hall. The event includes honoring one or more Community Citizen(s) of the Year. This year, the Grange will honor the Piscataquis County Emergency Dispatchers. The event celebrates the strength of rural communities with a potluck supper at 5:30 pm, followed by a program featuring a presentation of certificates of recognition at 7:00 pm. The program includes an opportunity for guests to share testimonials and appreciation.
Program Director Walter Boomsma noted in announcing the celebration, “We always try to honor people who have their boots on the ground and give of themselves to strengthen and build our communities. These too often unsung heroes are a lifeline for our communities. The event itself brings neighbors and friends together. Even the meal demonstrates the strength and value of our communities. In the truest sense, the communities prepare the potluck supper by bringing dishes to share.”
911 dispatchers are the vital link between individuals in distress and the emergency services they desperately need. Their ability to gather crucial information, provide life-saving instructions, and coordinate emergency response teams makes them invaluable assets to their communities. They embody compassion, professionalism, and resilience, serving as the first responders in every emergency call. They work behind the scenes, gathering crucial information, providing life-saving instructions, and coordinating emergency response. Valley Grange is honored to offer this opportunity to recognize their compassion, professionalism, and resilience.
“When you think about it,” Boomsma noted, “every citizen and visitor benefits from the work these people do daily. This is a chance to thank them in person and maybe shake hands and give a hug.” Community Service Chair Mary Annis adds, “This is always such a great evening as we enjoy the chance to connect with each other, share a great meal, and celebrate our rural lives.”
Additional information about the event is available at http://valleygrange.com and on the Valley Grange Facebook page.
What’s the difference between a Subordinate Grange and a Community Grange? Hopefully, there is none! Every Grange should be a Community Grange!
Of course, that assumes the Grange is involved in and relevant to the community.
For a discussion of the term “Subordinate Grange,” see the March Exploring Traditions Column.
Quick tips from Granges and Grangers are always welcome… on any topic that might improve or make things easier for other Granges. Use the submission form or email yours to the webmaster for consideration!
If you are wondering what to do with your eclipse glasses, we are collecting them for Astronomers Without Borders! Come drop off glasses any time, putting them in our mail slot if you have a couple, or leaving them outside in a bag. We will also have a collection box very soon. You can also drop them off Sunday, the 21st, at our 150th Celebration, 1-4!
Haraseeket Grange #9 is located at 13 Elm Street in Freeport Maine.
And if you do not live near us, check the Astronomers without Borders website for locations.
Granges currently collecting glasses:
This is not a fundraiser—it’s a fun raiser! The purpose is to celebrate our communities and way of life. We’ll also honor some special community citizens—the Piscataquis County 911 Dispatchers! Here are some ways you can help support this fundraiser.
In a recent blog post, Seth Godin noted that ideas that spread win and because of technology and the changes in media, ideas that spread “horizontally” spread the fastest and farthest. Yelling from the rooftops doesn’t work so well. Telling a neighbor or friend does.
As we reported last month, millions of Americans will have an opportunity to see a total solar eclipse when the Moon’s shadow will sweep across the nation on April 8. The last time the U.S. saw a total solar eclipse was in 2017. However, this time the path of the eclipse will travel right through the heart of Maine.
Towns from Jackman and Greenville to Millinocket and Houlton are preparing for heavy traffic and thousands of tourists who will travel north to see the first total solar eclipse in Maine since July 1963. This year’s eclipse, or “path of totality,” will begin its North American journey in Mazatlan, Mexico, at 9:51 a.m. MST.
The first Maine town to see the partial eclipse will be Jackman beginning at 2:18 p.m. EDT. It will leave the U.S. through Houlton at 4:41 p.m. EDT. The total eclipse begins roughly 70 minutes after the onset of the partial eclipse.
According to recent news reports, some of those towns are depending upon eclipse tourists to salvage what has otherwise been a dismal snowmobiling season. The expected event turnout has even led to changes in school schedules, as some districts will release students early to allow them to watch it and address traffic safety concerns.
Schools in towns like Houlton and Jackman will be closed entirely. Both are directly centered in this year’s path.
Aside from its path, the major difference this year compared with the eclipse in 2017 is the size of the path of totality and the duration of the eclipse itself. According to NASA, this year’s path will be much larger than in 2017, ranging 108 to 122 miles wide since the Moon is closer to Earth.
That means the duration will be longer at about 4.5 minutes at its peak. When the total eclipse rolls through Houlton, it should last 3 minutes, 21 seconds. Totality lasted only 60 seconds in 1963.
For more information about this year’s total solar eclipse, visit NASA’s website.
Do NOT look at the sun/eclipse without protective eyewear! Please remind children – several times – of this!
Jonesboro Grange #357 and Roque Bluffs Volunteer Fire Department are conducting a HUGE indoor yard sale during the month of April, daily from 9 am to 6 pm.
Closed April 8 and 9th – Other dates and times for April will be posted at a later date on our social media pages. (Jonesboro Grange Facebook Page)
Donations may be dropped off on any day we are open. Contact LouAnn Cox at 207-434-2101 for donation drop-off, questions, and more info.
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
by Walter Boomsma
Occasional Talking Head and Cage Rattler
The talking heads – and admittedly I am sometimes one of them – love buzzwords and catchphrases like “elevator speeches” and “value propositions.” Then we can ask “What’s your [fill in the blank]?”
As a talking head, I’d suggest that elevator speeches and value propositions create an internal focus. As a cage rattler, I have a different question.
Where does your community Grange fit into your community’s infrastructure?
“Infrastructure” is the set of facilities and systems that serve an area. Without digging too deep, hard infrastructure tends to be seen as physical-buildings, roads, etc. Soft infrastructure is all the institutions that maintain the economic, health, social, environmental, and cultural standards of an area.
Don’t get too overwhelmed.
We often talk about how important it is for a Grange to be relevant to its community. Maybe it’s time to think of our Granges as part of our community’s infrastructure. The Grange Hall falls under the category of hard infrastructure. The Grange is an institution that maintains the economic, health, social, environmental, and cultural standards of an area.
Or at least it used to.
How easy it is to take the infrastructure for granted…
What would happen if tomorrow you woke up and all the street signs in your area had disappeared? You lost some hard infrastructure. Or, suppose you decided to go to the library, and it was closed and boarded up? You lost some soft infrastructure–the building is still there, but the institution is gone. You might miss it for a while, particularly when you drive by the vacant building. Maybe your GPS will replace the need for street signs. The internet might substitute for the library.
Or maybe not.
Some years ago I talked with a school guidance counselor who expressed his frustration. His impression was that there were many resources available–the problem was finding them. He was happy to learn about what the Grange was doing and could do. But his question was “Why didn’t I know about this?!”
We attempted to develop a directory of community resources. It became part of the infrastructure describing the infrastructure!
If you’re a Granger (although that’s not a requirement) find a community leader and ask the question, “What’s missing in our community?”
Then figure out how to fill the void.
Voids create pain. You’ll get more members when you find people who share that pain and who feel the need to provide the missing infrastructure.
Here’s a not-too-creative example. Those monthly potluck suppers might be about fundraising, but we’re also starting to see monthly community suppers, sometimes free, provided by volunteers and donations. They are offered in part to address food insecurity but also to provide an opportunity for people to come together simply to be together, enjoy, and know each other. That’s pain relief, and it’s also infrastructure.
We have at least one Grange in Maine that has other organizations meeting in their hall nearly every night of the week. That’s infrastructure. That community has the hard and soft infrastructure that supports the efforts of non-profits like Alcoholics Anonymous, blood drives, birthday parties, and even celebrations of life.
What’s missing in your community? If you don’t know, start asking the question of your friends and neighbors. What’s one thing our community really needs! I’ll bet you get a lot of interest and dialog. Try it!