Grange aims to sow new traditions

By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)

KINGSTON TWP. – An organization with 19th-century roots can flower with 21st-century ideas.

That’s the belief of Mountain Grange No. 567 President Carol Swanson, who sees endless possibilities for the nonprofit fraternal organization founded on the principle of improving life in rural areas.

She envisions holding board game nights, family movie nights, chili competitions and covered-dish suppers at the Grange Hall. Projects could include community gardens, flower shows and demonstrations on canning and preserving.

“We’re only held back by our limited imaginations,” she said.

Swanson is hoping new members will join the organization and help preserve its traditions while coming up with and helping carry out new family- and community-oriented activities.

Swanson, 67, says her own family tree is rooted in the Grange. Her parents owned Sutton’s Store on Carverton Road – it was featured in one of the advertisements on the stage curtain at the old Grange Hall – and were members of the Grange, as were her grandparents.

Although founded to help farmers, you don’t have to be one to join.

“I’m not a farmer,” Swanson said. “A lot of people are just interested in family-oriented, old-fashioned values.”