March 13,2007

The Guiding Star Grange is one of the most beautiful granges in the country. I know this because, as a traveling musician, I have seen many of the grange halls sprinkled over the countryside from Michigan to North Carolina, to Washington state. We have a gem!
Many of you dancers know that our grange has become the focal point of the living growing contra dance community. There are many sad stories from other parts of the country where dancers have rescued a hall, labored to stabilize and refurbish, invested time and money only to loose it when the owner realizes what a valuable asset they now possess. Sometimes the rent for the hall goes out of reach for the dance community, sometimes, once the hall is "rediscovered" the owner prefers to schedule more lucrative events such as weddings and private affairs instead.
In recent history, the older members of the grange, beleaguered by debt and a decaying building, as well as dwindling membership almost gave their hall to the town of Greenfield to be used as, well who knows? It didn't happen only because David Kaynor put out an urgent message to the music and dance community to save the hall, join the grange, get involved! Many of us did and grew to love it. I'm sure the older grange members were not a little apprehensive about the new influx of dancers who had no history with the grange organization. We, for our part, had no idea what we were getting ourselves into either. Surprisingly, or maybe not, the two factions took an instant liking to each other. Still there is a gap which could be closed, I think for the better. In the meantime, it's great for us newcomers to be working side by side with the old guard.

I know that many of you who support the grange through the friends have dug deep to help us all out. And what a help it has been! As well, some of you may actually want to consider the benefits of becoming more closely tied to the workings of the grange by becoming a member. It has great potential to affect political or social growth in our community. The full "degree ceremonies" which are the grange initiation rites will be performed at the next two regular meetings. Hope to see you there.

David Cantieni, Master of the Guiding Star Grange #1

Here are some excerpts from a piece I delivered at the dues paying potluck and meeting in January.

January 1, 2007
Tomorrow is the first grange meeting of the new year. We'll have the "Dues Paying Potluck" first. Of course, on our plate will be the usual ongoing business which accompanies the maintenance of a building and an organization. It turns out this is not a small or unimportant undertaking. The grange building is, as I've said before, a treasure to our whole community especially the dance community which stretches clear across the country and beyond. The grange organization as well has been a benefit to us as a social and community building entity since our grandparents and great grandparents were in their prime.
The past year has seen many changes both seen and unseen at the grange.Blessed with a Liberal Harvest, we, with a lot of help from the Friends of the Grange, have almost attained our fund raising goal. This, along with the generous donation of significant funds from an anonymous donor, has relieved us of the primary financial restraints on the continuing renovation efforts. That is not to say that we are proceeding with out an eye to the most economical approach to the project, but we are empowered to proceed with the needed improvements without being cheap. As you my also know, our benefactor donated a sound system for use at grange events. Any of you who have danced in the hall recently have probably enjoyed the improved sound permitted by the placement of permanent speakers next to the stage and the sub woofer currently placed on the floor near the grange piano.
In conjunction with the new possibilities afforded by the many gifts we received, the continuing upgrades and improvements dictated by the state building codes have been overseen by the dedicated and hardworking building committee headed up by Liz Toffey. But...our ace in the hole as far as keeping up with the program is Peter May. His generous donation of his talents as a contractor is above and beyond anything we could possibly hope or ask for. As someone with extensive experience in construction and renovation, his expertise is invaluable. He has helped us develop a vision and a logical progression from becoming handicap accessible to dealing with the complicated drainage issues, to bringing the wiring up to code, insulating the building, and replacing the well used dance floor...
Thanks must be given to those of you who continue to attend these sometimes long and arduous meetings. As well I must acknowledge you who are newcomers who are willing to give new energy to the cause...
I, for one, feel honored and blessed by the people who trust us to continue working in the interests of the grange and the community. I'm not only committed to continuing the improvements that the generosity of others affords but also to make the grange, the intangible entity involving the ritual, the support system, and deep experiences of those gone before, vital, fun, and relevant.