Honoring 100 years at the Grange
By MIKE MCKENNA
“Home, home on the grange …” That’s not exactly how the famous song goes, but perhaps it should. The Upper Big Wood River Grange is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and the small, tan building in Old Hailey has been like a second home to local folks for a century.
“To me, the Grange means community,” said Manon Gaudreau, an officer for the Grange. “Grange people are very welcoming and caring. Helping people realize they belong to such a kind and caring community is what the Grange is really all about.”
Founded on Feb. 11, 1924, the Upper Big Wood River Grange #192 was actually the third “Grange” in Blaine County. Carey and Gannett also had
chapters of the national organization. Granges were created in 1867 as community-based organizations to help connect people in rural areas and make positive changes through grassroots efforts. Granges have long been an advocacy voice for rural communities and gathering places for all kinds of events that make places like Hailey feel like home.
“Grangers,” as their members were called in the Idaho Statesman in 1926, have always been about supporting families and communities and putting on events to bring them all together — like the “Mustache and Nightcap Dance” the Statesman was covering back then.
“It’s such a wonderful place for people to get together and have a good time,” Maryann Knight said.
Maryann, who’s also a member of the Heritage Court, has been involved with the Grange for most of her life. She’s watched the volunteer-based organization evolve from being primarily agriculturally-focused, back when “Woodside was all farms and there were sheep and cattle on every corner,” as she recalls, to becoming more of a community service group.
Over the decades at its South 3rd Avenue location, the Grange has hosted countless dances, tai chi classes, and box and ice cream socials. It has been home to Cub Scouts and ballerinas, 4-H and veterans groups, and the Wood River Seed Library. It has hosted family gatherings, Business After Hours, Farmers’ Markets and Trailing of the Sheep classes. The Grange also gives scholarships to local graduating high school students, while adding community and pollinator gardens are in the plans.
“It’s important to have a space like this in the community. We don’t want to let go of it,” said Maryann, who is credited with keeping the Grange going strong for so many years.
In honor of its centennial and its invaluable and often-overlooked role in Hailey, the Grange has been selected as the Grand Marshal for this year’s Hailey Days of the Old West Fourth of July Parade. Members of the Grange expected to be in the parade include Joan Davies, Grace Eakin, Julie Fox, Manon Gaudreau, Maryann Knight and Hilarie Neely.
The Grange is a fitting Grand Marshal since it’s always been about building and supporting our community, helping make sure this part of the Northern Rockies range feels like home to so many of us. The Grange is the kind of place “where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.”
Find out more at TheGrange.org/UpperBigWoodRiverId192.
