By WILLIAM FORRESTER

For The Beachcomber

When I unlock the door to the Grange hall and show it to potential renters, I always describe it as either the island’s second living room or like the mess hall at summer camp where you drank bug juice. Either way, for the last 10 years, it has been an honor to be a Grange member, rental agent and one of the stewards of this cherished island institution.

We have rented to so many of you, catering to a wide range of events from Irish and Flamenco dancing performances, to meditation workshops, art classes, retreats, state representative meetings and voting, Vashon Island Grower’s Association annual meetings, Vashon Island Marijuana Entrepreneurs Association presentations and weddings and memorial services for some of our beloved friends and neighbors.

Does it not warm our hearts when, in an age of cool, modern architecture, we enter a cozy hall with a stockade of wooden timbers that reminds us of the summer camp mess hall of our youth? In the last 20 years, we have seen too many other venerable island establishments decay and disappear, such as the Tahlequah, Dockton and Portage grocery stores and the old Chautauqua gymnasium. I am writing to you today because we don’t want to see that repeated with our beloved Grange hall.

The Vashon-Maury Grange hall actually began as the North End Community Center sometime in the 1910s. It didn’t become a Grange hall until 1941.

The Grange is our country’s first homegrown fraternal and agrarian organization, started amongst settlers on the prairie in 1867. Its official name is The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, thus the “P of H” on our logo of the sheaf of wheat.

Before there was the Lions Club, The Eagles, Rotary, Kiwanis and so many others, there was the Grange. The Grange was born out of a need to build a coalition against the ruthlessly monopolizing railroads and to stave off debilitating loneliness on the desolate prairie. Grange halls became a major destination for social contact. The Grange was an early supporter of women’s rights, and Susan B. Anthony praised the Grange during women’s suffrage, pointing out that Grange men and women had equal voting rights from the Grange’s beginning. It took our country 53 years to catch up with the Grange in that department.

Our Vashon Grange’s most visibly active years were the 1960s and 70s, with many members contributing to the upkeep of the hall, vibrant events, lots of pancake breakfasts and always a colorful float in the Strawberry Festival parade. The Grange was an integral adhesive agent in the community, as it was all over the country, when we as a culture were more disposed to be joiners of organizations. I often consider the high standards of character to which the Grange aspired to be: a direct contributor to the vigor and strength of what we now call The Greatest Generation.

The Vashon-Maury Grange is now just four or five of us “characters” who — though we also aspire to possess some strength and moral character — do not possess the time and stamina to keep up with our hall’s repairs. We have recently painted the outside of the hall and had some crucial tree trimming done. But with our farms, jobs, nurseries and ever-encroaching ages, we need help.

We are looking for individuals and organizations with whom we can partner to plan and execute renovations in the coming year. We seek willing electricians, plumbers and carpenters, but also some willing journeymen and journeywomen to help us rewire, repair, refinish, repaint and generally renovate the Grange hall to remain vibrant, strong and loved.

We must keep this island treasure safe, strong and up-to-date with the needed renovations to remain a resource and destination for years to come. As we have been a community center for you, we now seek you, the community, to help us into the 21st century.

Who knows, maybe a coalition of us can even start dreaming of a new kitchen, solar cells on the roof and amendments to make it possible for us to operate as a staging site for the Emergency Operations Center when “the big one” hits.

I can’t promise that, but I do promise this: When we first sit down to discuss our goals, I will fill those venerable summer camp-looking pitchers with bug juice for you to drink.

To find out more about plans to help with 2016 Grange hall renovations, please call or email John Browne at 206-463-9641 or jbrowne001@centurytel.net, or William Forrester at 206-567-4548 or greenmanfarm @comcast.net.

— William Forrester is an island farmer, artist and member of The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.