| AUGUST 13, 2010 -- When "My Darling Clementine" was a new song being sung across the country, the Southington Grange was just getting started. This year marks the 125th anniversary of that organization, which also happens to be holding its 60th annual Grange Fair this weekend.
Mildred Bell, 92, has been around the Grange for 78 of those 125 years and, along with her late husband, was instrumental in starting the fair in 1950. She has seen the nature of the organization change over the years.
"I joined when I was 14 and I've been really active in the Grange for all those years. My mother and father belonged, and so I joined. Back then there wasn't too much going on, anyway," Bell said. "Now I can go just about anywhere in the state and find a personal friend I met through the Grange."
The Grange was founded in 1885, when much of the country was feeling the changes of the Industrial Revolution. Granges popped up nationwide to assist farmers after the Civil War. Southington Grange President James Lamoureux said the national Grange initially helped with lobbying efforts on behalf of agriculture, and it still maintains its national headquarters in Washington.
"In post-Civil War America, they were almost looking for a lobbying group for farmers. They wanted a voice for agriculture in Washington," Lamoureux said.
Though it was started as a sort of agricultural booster club, the group has always had a social function. It was at a Grange dance where Bell met her husband, Joseph Bell, whom she married in 1939.
When the Southington Grange formed, it was known as the Union Grange. Lamoureux said many Granges would name themselves instead of using a town name, as Grange lodges do today.
After meeting in a hall downtown for years, Grange members decided in the 1940s that they would like to have their own building, Bell said. Bell was put in charge of a committee to raise money for a building.
The committee bought the current building, at the corner of Knowles Avenue and Summit Street, from the Slovak Society as a fixer-upper, replacing floors and walls to accommodate their needs, Bell said. Later, an addition was put on to accommodate a joint meeting hall with the Odd Fellows. Bell talked that organization into paying a 10-year rental fee in advance to help pay for the renovations.
The Bells also began the tradition of a chicken barbecue, which won acclaim throughout the state. Bell said a group of Southington Grange members would travel around selling their famous barbecue, cooked in a homemade contraption.
As agriculture began disappearing from the state over the years, the organization shifted its focus and became more of a community service organization, though it maintained some of the original orientation.
"I think that fraternal or social part has always been a piece of the organization, but now we are more of a broad-based community service organization with a lot of different activities," Lamoureux said.
Lamoureux and his wife, Lisa, got involved with the Grange about 12 years ago. They were recruited by Bell and a few friends after Lisa Lamoureux entered flowers into competition at the Grange Fair.
"We were interested in it and liked that it was a group that we could both join together and be part of the organization," James Lamoureux said. "I would still say, for me personally, it's a vehicle and a way to give back to the community."
The membership has declined overall since the fair began in 1960, though it has seen a slight increase over the past few years as members work to reinvigorate old traditions in an effort to attract people.
When the fair is held for the 60th time today, Bell will serve as secretary. She has never missed a fair in her 78 years with the club, she said.
The fair begins with a pancake breakfast at 9 a.m. and features many old country fair favorites throughout the day, such as exhibits of needlework, baking, photography, flowers, vegetables, crafts and canning, a community flea market and a chicken barbecue from 4 to 6 p.m.
The exhibit entries will be sold at auction after the dinner. Bell is looking forward to auctioning off her famous lemon meringue pie, which has sold for as much as $25 in the past.
Also planned are animal and educational exhibits from the Hungerford Nature Center and the New England Ghost Hunters Guild. Representatives from Our Companions Domestic Animal Sanctuary will collect pet supplies, food and monetary donations for the organization.
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