Can you identify where in Kittitas County this photo was taken? Answer
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First Ever Talent Show A Huge Success!
A capacity crowd filled our Hall the night of January 24 eager to see the wide range of talented performers assembled by our own Jean Taylor Wolf, a skilled musician and vocalist in her own right. Jean‘s husband Ken Taylor MC‘d the event and together they closed the show with their duet of .Together Wherever We Go., (photo lower right).
More than 16 acts performed, ranging from third grader Jiyoung Chang‘s Korean folk dance in elaborate traditional costume (photo below) to a techno dance by Johnnie Jausoro involving swirling light sticks. Shown at upper left is the trio of young ladies from Ellensburg – Abby and MacKenzie Smith and Abby Hughes – calling themselves the .Andrews Sis-ters., who performed a collection of songs made famous by the 1940‘s group. Cle Elum–Roslyn High School seniors Cori Sutton and Brenden Loyer (photo left) did a swing dance routine titled .Zoot Suit Riot.. This duo mixed great dramatics with acrobatic moves and an obvious love of dance. Grange member Elaine Muzzuco showed off her dance skills in a medley incorporating several line dances (photo lower left). Grange members Cheryl Hall and Tom Conner, with Raisin Cathon, sang a selec-tion of folk tunes backed up by Cheryl‘s fiddle.
It was a marvelous evening – one we hope will be repeated next year!
Mothers Day Tea…Western Style
Cowgirl Memories of the Kittitas Valley ~ brought to us by our special guests Pat Woodell and Sharon .Silver. Glen. Pat‘s parents built Hidden Valley Ranch in the late 1940‘s – not the career path you‘d think for a concert pianist and her baritone singing hubby! Pat has a wonderful collection of photos and stories from those days to share with us. Sharon Glen cowgirled all over the county during the =60‘s—‘70‘s. Today Sharon (Silver to her friends) is half of the Western Music duo .Northfork. and will bring poems and stories of the days she spent gathering cattle.
To round out the afternoon, we‘re pleased to have Barb Owen introduce her newly published book, .Making the Grade – Plucky Schoolmarms of Kittitas County.. She‘ll have books available and will be happy to personally autograph one for you following the luncheon!
Ladies, this is a wonderful event to invite your friends to! We‘ll learn the history of our beautiful area from those who knew it when cattle outnumbered people!
President’s Paragraph by Gerald Carollo
We‘ve been busy crossing off our Wish List Projects! Both restrooms now have partitions and the ladies‘ room has a second toilet. Beautiful new shelves line the pantry walls and a second electric range and tile topped cabinets have been added to the kitchen. And the vinyl floor tiles have just been stripped, waxed and polished – they look great! The coat room has been re-organized with shelving clear to the ceiling. The benches lining the hall walls have been re-upholstered in a lovely, neutral fabric. Basement walls have been framed and we‘ll be drywalling soon. The space has been divided into a utility room and a nice new space that can be used by groups like the Boy Scouts or Hunter Safety Classes. And when we refurbish that pool table, we can set it up down there!
The Hall is looking great – thanks to the hard work of folks like Dennis Giannotti, Kurt & Claire Lucke, Phil & Judy Doolittle, Bill & Gerry Lloyd, Barb & John Hamel. [Editor‘s note: Gerald would never thank himself, so I‘m adding his name here. He has spent many hours on these projects – as you can see from the photo above.] Much has been accomplished and more is to come. Top of the list is painting the Grange, a job that will require volunteers to caulk, mask and help with the painting of the exterior. If you can help, let Kurt know (509-857-2580).
The Washington State Grange Convention will be held June 17 – 21 this year in Longview. We will be sending two delegates – Barb Hamel and Claire Lucke – as our representatives. Attending the convention is a great experience, open to all our members. You get to see the bigger picture of the Grange and to meet Grangers from all over the state. See your April WA State Grange News for convention and lodging information.
Grange Prevails over Tyson Foods in Fight to Save Trademark Rights
Tyson Foods has withdrawn its filing to register and trademark the term .Grange and Grassland. on a new line of natural meat products. This action ended more than a year of administrative actions and negotiations with the Na-tional Grange, which holds the trademark rights to the term .Grange.. Our Grange provided numerous examples of how we have historically used the term .Grange. in our events and also contributed financially to this expensive legal undertaking. National Grange President Ed Luttrell stated, .We appreciate Tyson Foods‘ recognition of the importance and value of this mark to the National Grange and especially to our grassroots based community Granges that use it in conjunction with their many educational and community service projects…If we had lost the name =Grange‘ to Tyson Foods, local Granges were concerned they might have had to get permission to use the term on their breakfasts, dinners and potluck suppers. Can you imagine that?.
County Grange Fair
Tuesday, April 21 is the date of the Kittitas County Pomona Grange #58 Mini-Fair. Put on by the county Pomona at our Hall, items entered for judging will be re-ceived the evening of the 20th from 5-7:00 PM or the morning of the 21st from 8-9:30 AM and will be judged from 10:00 AM until finished, ready for pick up from 2-3:00 PM. Judges will be on hand to make the difficult decisions of who will go home with a Blue Ribbon! Top winners in each category can go to the State Grange Convention in June – if you are a Grange member! Last year we had entries in photography and various other forms of handwork. For more information, please contact Joann (509-968-4610), Violet (509-674-2708) or Bev (509-925-3297). APRIL IS GRANGE MONTH!
Women’s Activities by Shirley Garrett
The Auxiliary has purchased a second electric range and beautiful new water glasses so that we can cater luncheons in style and get away from using throw away paper products. Teamed with the new Corelle plates, we will save money and be more .green. as well. And the tables will look so classy when we cater luncheons for groups, such as the upcoming Public Works De-partment Meeting April 16 and Heritage Club Luncheon May 7.
The April meeting will be at the Grange Hall, bring a sack lunch, dessert will be provided.. May 1st is our Mother‘s Day Tea and this year the gals are doing a special program featuring cowgirl memories of the Kittitas Valley as presented by guests Pat Woodell and Sharon .Silver. Glen. Barb Owen, author of .Making the Grade ~ Plucky Schoolmarms of Kittitas County. will be on hand to talk about her book and to do a book signing. Don‘t forget to invite your friends, this potluck luncheon is a fun time to get together and all are welcome. The June 5th meeting will be at the Grange Hall, for more information call Shirley at 509-674-5867.
WE ARE A COLLECTION POINT FOR THE UPPER COUNTY FOOD BANK!
PLEASE BRING A FOOD ITEM TO SHARE WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS IN NEED.
Membership News by Claire Lucke
The first quarter of 2009 we welcomed eight new members to our Grange. Shown at left is Peter Zencak, who lives in Hidden Valley with wife Janie and two children Peter and Victoria. Peter is in charge of maintenance at neighboring Unionville Ranch where he uses his technician skills to solve problems and keep the place in tip top condition and is also involved with Boy Scout Troop 488, who use our Grange Hall for their weekly meetings. The Zencak‘s are involved with 4H, have chickens, goats (15, including the 3 week old Boer shown here) a Jersey cow for milk and a Holstein calf for meat, 3 cats and 2 dogs.
Sally & Roscoe Gililand are new residents of the Peoh Point area, having moved here from the Lynwood area. They are experienced square dancers and have joined the Blue Agates – the square dance club that meets at our hall. Sally is a retired educator and Ross is a retired carpenter. Ross is Vendor Coordinator at .Wintergrass., the largest indoor Bluegrass festival in the country, held in Tacoma. Maybe we can get his help to bring some of that great Bluegrass music to our Grange Hall!
Another square dance couple that just joined our grange is Dale & Peggy Rusho. These folks also live in the Peoh Point area and Dale will serve as President of the Blue Agate‘s this coming year. Dale is a retired mechanical engineer and Peggy taught math at the middle school level. These days Peggy enjoys knitting and sewing as well as her Aquarobics class in Ellensburg and Dale is a fly fisherman – lake, not river – and both like to cross country ski.
Remember Cori Sutton, the young swing dance gal on the front page of this newsletter? Karen Bailey, her grandmother, is another of our new members. We met Karen at the Talent Show and she sure was proud of Cori. We are too. So proud, in fact, that we‘ve asked Cori and Brenden to star in our .50‘s/60‘s Dance. on April 18th. Karen recently moved to Cle Elum and enjoys quilting, baking and travel.
Chuck Adams came up to the Grange on March 4th for a County Public Works meeting regarding the flooding along Red Bridge Road. Before leaving that evening he asked for a membership application and promptly sent in his request for membership. Chuck is a retired attorney and comes out to his ranch on Wiehl Road when time and weather allow.
If you know someone who would like to join our Grange, please contact me so I can send out an application. The Grange is full of busy folks who care about people, schools, kids, health and safety. They care so much they make time for Grange meetings, programs and activities. And when others see our involvement, they want to join too. All it needs sometimes is an invitation – from members like you!
Dance Socials by Gerry Lloyd
POTLUCK SOCIALS RUN FROM 5:30—9:30 PM. SUPPER IS SERVED AROUND 6:00 PM AND THE
ENTERTAINMENT STARTS AROUND 7:00 PM. $5 DONATION/ADULTS~KIDS ARE FREE!
The TALENT SHOW on January 24th was amazing! A standing room only crowd was treated to a wide variety of talent from performers of all ages. See the front page for more information.
It might have been snowy outside, but the sights and sounds of the Islands came alive at our ALOHA DANCE & POTLUCK SOCIAL February 24th. Here‘s a photo of the dancers from Carol Cummings‘ studio in Ellensburg. And our band, Time Warp 3, was awesome!
Stan Kvistad had the crowd roaring with his cowboy humor at the CHILI COOK OFF & COWBOY CONCERT March 21st. Western singer Andy Bales and mandolin accompanist Fred Hornshue put the story of the cowboy to music – tales of hard winters, the changing west and the love of a faithful horse. It was another full house evening, we ran out of chairs before it was time to dish up the 19 chili entries and all the side dishes provided by a happy and excited crowd. Ellens-burg resident and grange member, Helga Firkins, took 3rd place in the chili competition; Linda Popp, visiting from Poulsbo, took 2nd place and our very own Violet Burke won 1st place! We‘re hoping she‘ll fill her prize – a heavy duty cast iron pot – with another tasty entry for next year‘s Cook Off!
On April 18th it‘s time for our FABULOUS 50’S POTLUCK & DANCE! Let‘s turn back the clock, slick back your hair, dig out those saddle shoes or penny loafers and get set to rock around the clock to the music of .Rusted Soul.. Guest appearance by swing dancers Cori Sutton & Brenden Loyer!
Dates to Remember:
- First Friday of the month, at Noon, Women’s Auxiliary Luncheon and Meeting – Call CWA Shirley Garrett for info: 509-674-5867
- Second Friday of the month, 1:00 PM Monthly Business Meeting at Swauk Teanaway Grange. Join us at noon for a sack lunch.
- Pomona Meets First Monday of the month, 7:00 PM – The next meeting is April 6th at our Grange Hall.
- Saturday, April 18, from 5:30—9:30 PM – Potluck Social/50’s 60’s Dance with “Rusted Soul” – Poodle skirts and penny loafers are back in!
- Tuesday, April 21 – Countywide Mini Fair – Call Joann (509-968-4610),Violet (509-674-2708) or Bev (509-925-3297) for more information (see story).
- Friday, May 1 at Noon ~ Mothers Day Tea Potluck Luncheon ~ Cowgirl Memories of the Kittitas Valley with special guests Pat Woodell/Sharon Glen/Barb Owen.
- Saturday, May 16, Bake Sale at Cle Elum Safeway, Contact Barb Hamel with donations (509-674-2982).
- Sunday, May 17, “Juni Fisher Concert to Benefit Sparrow Clubs USA”, Refreshments at 3 PM/Concert at 4 PM, $15/person Call Claire (509-857-2580) for info/tickets.
- Wednesday, June 17 – Sunday, June 21 ~ WA State Grange Convention in Longview. See article for more info.
[Photo taken at Wild Horse Wind Farm 15 miles east of Ellensburg on Whiskey Dick Mountain]
Do you have a question? Need more information? Call one of the folks listed here, they’ll be glad to help!
- President Gerald Carollo 509-674-2373
- VP Barbara Sowers 509-674-2528
- Secretary Gerry Lloyd 509-674-1989
- Lecturer Bev Allenbaugh 509-925-3297
- Treasurer Claire Lucke 509-857-2580
- Chaplain Barb Hamel 509-674-2982
- CWA Shirley Garrett 509-674-5867
- Reporter Donna Carollo 509-674-2373
- Hall Rental: Steve/Barb Sowers 509-674-2528 (Also Gerry Lloyd and Claire Lucke )
- Membership Claire Lucke 509-857-2580
- Executive Committee Members for 2009:
- Gerald Carollo, Barb Sowers, Gerry Lloyd,
- Loyd Garrett, Kurt Lucke and Violet Burke
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