VASSALBORO: Two solar farm requests to fill June planners’ agenda

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members ended up with a single application to review at their May 4 meeting. The previous week, Board Chairman Virginia Brackett reported that Sebago Technics had postponed continued review of their application for a solar farm off Cemetery Street.

Brackett said she did not know why Sebago representatives were not ready to appear May 4. Their application is tentatively scheduled for the June planning board meeting.

New (and returning) Codes Officer Richard Dolby expects Sunvest Solar might also be ready for a June 1 presentation on their project on Webber Pond Road. Board members agreed two solar farm applications would fill up the June agenda.

The application reviewed and approved at the May 4 meeting was from Renee Zohar Fischman and Mathew Williams, to reopen the marijuana grow facility in an existing building at 1776 North Belfast Avenue (Route 3).

Action was delayed repeatedly. First, board members had trouble finding copies of the application Fischman and Williams had given previous Codes Officer Paul Mitnik before he retired at the end of April. After Fischman sent the documents, there was another pause as Brackett tried to determine whether anyone was viewing the virtual meeting and wanted to make comments.

“This meeting is going well,” Brackett remarked as board members waited for an answer from the meeting facilitator, David Trask, Vassalboro Community School’s Technology Systems Administrator.

Fischman said she has owned the Route 3 property since September, and she and Williams have been licensed medical marijuana caregivers since January. They intend to abide by state regulations as well as town ordinances.

Board members agreed the application to resume the operation was in order, because it had been closed for less than a year. Once they had necessary documents, they found the project meets all criteria in Vassalboro’s ordinance, and approved it unanimously with three conditions:

  • Fischman and Williams will maintain an adequate odor mitigation system to meet the tenth criterion in the ordinance, which requires the operation not to “adversely affect the use and enjoyment of abutting property as a result of noise, vibrations, fumes, odor, dust, glare, or other cause.”
  • They will send Dolby copies of their state caregiver licenses for town records.
  • The board approval applies only to the marijuana grow facility and does not include the adjoining lot, on which Fischman and Williams plan a modular home and new septic system. For those, they will need appropriate permits from Dolby.

Fischman and Williams plan no changes to the building exterior, access driveways, landscaping or other external factors except addition of motion-activated security cameras and lights on the building. The lights will be down-facing and should not interfere with neighbors or traffic on North Belfast Road or Whitehouse Road, Williams said.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Granges – Part 5

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The curtain on the stage of the Windsor Grange. (contributed photo)

North Vassalboro, Cushnoc, Windsor, Winslow

by Mary Grow

In addition to the East Vassalboro Grange discussed last week, Vassalboro had two other Grange organizations. According to Henry Kingsbury’s Kennebec County history, the earliest of the three was Oak Grove Grange #167, organized in North Vassalboro on May 11, 1875.

In 1883, Alma Pierce Robbins wrote, Oak Grove Grange was “reorganized” at Getchell’s Corner, then an important village. Kingsbury located the Getchell’s Corner Grange Hall a little south of the Congregational Chapel.

Oak Grove Grangers opened a store in 1889, Kingsbury wrote; Robbins said Isaiah Gifford was store manager.

It is possible that Oak Grove Grange was discontinued before or about 1900. It is not listed in available on-line state Grange documents from 1902.

In the south end of town, 39 charter members organized Cushnoc Grange #204 at Riverside (occasionally called Riverside Grange) on Jan. 13, 1876. Kingsbury wrote there were 115 members in 1892; on-line records show 130 members in 1902, but Robbins said there were 150.

Kingsbury wrote that Cushnoc Grange members built their hall in 1879, naming it Liberty Hall. It burned in May 1885.

In 1886, Robbins wrote, Howard H. Snell and Hartwell Getchell, “Directors of the Cushnoc Grange Corporation,” paid James Robbins $175.74 for the building that had been a broom factory, a multi-family tenement, the post office (until 1856) and Benjamin Brown’s store. The building stood on a half-acre lot on the east side of “the County Road from Augusta to Vassalboro” and the north side of Cross Hill Road.

Robbins wrote that the deed of sale gave the new Grange Hall the “the right to take water from two wells described in the deed of Malina S. Kimball to Nathan Coombs.”

Grangers enlarged the building and, Kingsbury wrote, opened a store on the ground floor in August 1887. Robbins quoted a source describing a store-keeper in business in the Grange Hall from about 1884 until 1905. At some point the former schoolhouse “across the road” was moved beside the Grange Hall for a horse shed.

A Friday, Jan. 19, 1894, Kennebec Journal article found on line describes the Wednesday, Jan. 17, installation of Cushnoc Grange’s new officers (not named), attended by representatives of the state Grange.

After the installation, attendees “repaired to the large dining room connected with the grange hall where a bounteous array of good things had been provided by the ladies of the grange and which received ample justice at the hands of all.”

The writer of the article concluded that in 1894, Cushnoc Grange “has one of the finest grange halls in the State, is prosperous and best of all deserves to be.”

For some years around 1900, Robbins wrote in a 1974 essay republished in the 2017 Anthology of Vassalboro Tales, Cushnoc Grange and Riverside Church each put on a Christmas celebration. In bad weather, she commented, “the long cold drive to the Grange Hall with horse and pung was more hazard than happy,” especially for families with small children. (A pung is a small, box-like sleigh drawn by a single horse.)

Cushnoc Grange hosted fairs with livestock, farm produce and handiwork; oyster stew suppers; and baked bean dinners where neighbors shared “great jars of home made pickles and dozens of apple pies.” The Grange folded in 1967, Robbins wrote. Possessions included “dishes to serve more than one hundred” that were given to Riverside Church. The hall was demolished and a house built on the lot.

The University of Maine’s Raymond H. Fogler Library’s special collections has boxes of Grange documents. According to the on-line catalog, contents include Cushnoc Grange secretary’s records from 1876 to 1914 and from 1926 to 1966.

Moving to another town south and east, Windsor Grange #284 was organized June 2, 1886. Kingsbury lists the first Grange Masters, until he completed his Kennebec County history in 1892, as C. F. Donnell (1886), Frank Colburn (1888), George R. Pierce (1890) and John H. Barton (1891).

Colburn and Barton received individual mention in Kingsbury’s history. Frank Colburn was a “farmer and school teacher”; he started teaching winters when he was 18, and was Windsor’s supervisor of schools in 1888 and 1889.

Barton was the great-grandson of Dr. Stephen Barton, who came to Vassalboro in 1774 and moved to Windsor in 1803 to join one of his sons there. John Barton was another schoolteacher; he married Ellen Goddard, of China. Their daughter was a teacher, and their son, who died in 1890 at the age of 27, had headed the commercial department at Kents Hill School.

Windsor Grange had 105 members in 1902, according to Maine State Grange records. Records at the Fogler Library are dated from 1888 to 1995.

Although Linwood Lowden’s Windsor history refers to agriculture in its title, good Land & fine Contrey but poor Roads, he gives the Grange a single paragraph. The Grange “has always rented space in the town hall,” he wrote, paying $125 for the year in 1923, “when the present hall was new.” Another $30 a year went for “space in the G. A. R. Hall.”

Like many other local Granges, Windsor Grange used a large meeting room with a stage, and the stage had a handsomely decorated curtain. Barbara Bailey, from Fairfield Center’s Victor Grange, said when the Windsor town office took over the Grange quarters, the stage curtain was refurbished and remains in the town office.

Winslow, north and west of Windsor, had a 19th-century Grange organization, Winslow Grange #320, which left almost no records to which this writer has access. According to lists of documents stored at the Fogler Library, the collection includes secretary’s records from 1894 to 1972; the earliest account books that have been preserved there date from 1896.

In 1902 Kennebec County Deputy M. F. Norcross of the state Grange wrote that Winslow Grangers “built the fine hall this year, which shows that they are prosperous and progressive.” At that time the Grange had 221 members.

Readers looking for more information on Winslow Grange might try to reach the Winslow Historical Preservation Committee, the town committee that succeeded Winslow Historical Society. The committee’s website is https://winslowhistory.weebly.com, and it has a Facebook page.

A second Grange in Winslow, Progressive Grange #523, was chartered as a Maine non-profit corporation on Oct, 2, 1914. Clyde G. Berry, at 5 Mar Val Terrace, was listed as the corporation’s registered agent.

MaineCorporations records on line skip from the 1914 filing to July 3, 1979, when a registered agent and address (not given) were filed. In 1981, the organization was sent a notice for failing to file its annual report.

The next record is dated March 22, 1991, when a change of agent and office were submitted. Annual reports were filed in March from 1993 through 2002; after a change of agent in 2002, the filing date moved to April and in 2007 to May.

In March 2009 a report was filed by a new agent and the corporation was reinstated, after having failed to file a 2008 report. In September 2010 it was again dissolved for another failure; a new agent got it reinstated in December 2010.

He (or she) was equally lax, however, because Progressive Grange was administratively dissolved in August 2011, reinstated in 2012, and dissolved for the final time in August 2013.

Clyde G. Berry was also the first agent for Pleiades Grange #355, organized in Augusta on August 28, 1987. Berry’s address was then given as an Augusta post office box.

Pleiades Grange went through a series of suspensions and reinstatements until it was suspended for good in July 1999.

Clyde G. Berry

Clyde “Sonny” G. Berry (Dec. 28, 1946 – May 5, 2018) lived an interesting and varied life, according to his obituary that ran in at least two Maine newspapers.

He was born in Glenburn, attended Bangor High School, graduated from Higgins Classical Institute (a boarding school in Charleston) and attended Husson College and the University of Maine. The obituary says he “worked for several banks before his retirement.”

The Grange was important in Berry’s life. In 1961 he joined Glenburn’s Pleaides Grange, of which he was Master for some years. He later joined and held offices in Mt. Phillip Grange, in Rome. He held offices in three Pomona (county) granges, Penobscot, Sagadahoc and Lincoln.

In the Maine State Grange, Berry was on the Youth Committee, and was Lecturer from 1981 to 1987, Overseer from 1987 to 1989 and Master from 1989 to 1997. Later, he was elected Chaplain in 2011 and Assistant Steward in 2015.

In the national Grange, Berry was a member of the Assembly of Demeter, held the positions of Steward in 1991 and Lecturer in 1997 and worked for the organization as program resource director.

At some time he lived in Vermont, where the obituary says “he was a charter member and Past Master of Upper Valley Community Grange and a charter member and First master of Heart of Vermont Pomona.” He was also a trustee of the village library in Hartford, Vermont, and a “lister” for the town.

In addition to Grange activities, Berry held memberships and offices in historical societies in Hartford, Vermont, and Somerville, Maine; genealogical societies; the Maine Old Cemetery Association; Civil War veterans’ groups; and Sons of the American Revolution.

He served a term on the Glenburn School Board and was for “many years” on the Cemetery Committee; and he co-chaired the 1972 sesquicentennial celebration and co-authored the 1972 sesquicentennial town history.

He died in Bangor at the age of 71, is buried in Glenburn and requested memorial donations to Taconnett Falls Genealogical Society in Winslow.

Main sources

Bernhardt, Esther, and Vicki Schad, compilers/editors, Anthology of Vassalboro Tales (2017).
Kingsbury, Henry D., ed., Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine 1625-1892 (1892).
Lowden, Linwood H., good Land & fine Contrey but Poor roads a history of Windsor, Maine (1993).
Robbins, Alma Pierce, History of Vassalborough Maine 1771 1971 n.d. (1971).

Websites, miscellaneous.

VASSALBORO: No comments during marijuana ordinance hearing

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Probably the shortest in town history

by Mary Grow

A dozen residents attended the Vassalboro selectmen’s April 29 public hearing and board meeting, but not to talk about the proposed “Town of Vassalboro Marijuana Business Ordinance” that was the hearing topic.

Selectboard Chairman John Melrose opened the hearing and asked for audience questions and comments. After less than half a minute with no reactions at all, he closed the hearing, making it probably the shortest on record in the town.

Voters will accept or reject the ordinance by written ballot on June 8. It is posted on the town website, in the central section.

Later, it appeared that some of the residents wanted to talk about whether John Green, who now owns Tom’s Rubbish Removal, should have a key to the transfer station. On two occasions during the winter Green was unable to dump a load of trash.

Selectmen were reluctant to give a private hauler a key to the facility, citing town liability should anything go wrong. Town Manager Mary Sabins said Green and Transfer Station Manager George Hamar have been talking, and she thinks they have resolved the issue.

Another topic of interest to some in the audience was awarding the bid to install a Kohler 250-watt diesel generator at Vassalboro Community School so the school can serve as an emergency shelter.

Sabins reported only one bid was received, from Generators of Maine, in Belgrade, for $121,250, including complete installation work. The price was $6,250 higher than the town had accumulated grant and other monies to cover.

Selectmen voted unanimously to accept the bid, planning to take the extra money from savings in other departments or from the $15,000 contingency fund voters approved at the 2020 annual town meeting.

“This is something we have to have,” said Robert Browne, known as the most conservative money person on the board.

Sabins said the Red Cross has approved the school as an emergency center. In the future, Red Cross and Kennebec County Emergency Management Agency personnel will train local volunteers to run it.

Dan MacKenzie, vice-president of Generators of Maine, wrote on the bid form that the company could start work within 154 days of the award and would try to have the generator installed by Oct. 31. However, he wrote, Covid is delaying deliveries, so he cannot guarantee the date.

Selectmen signed the warrant for Vassalboro’s June 7 and 8 annual town meeting. Board Chairman John Melrose said the Kennebec County budget has increased, mostly because of staff expansion, and Vassalboro’s share has risen by 5.6 percent. Sabins said the amount in the town meeting warrant (Art. 21), $383,911, matches the planned increase.

In response to a query from resident Tom Richards, Melrose said the state Department of Transportation has postponed plans for extensive work on Route 32, which runs from China to Winslow through the villages of East and North Vassalboro. DOT hopes to find money to repave a short section in North Vassalboro, from about the post office to about the Baptist Church.

Melrose, who is a former state Commissioner of Transportation, predicted the planned “maintenance mulch” on several other roads in town “won’t last long.”

Sabins said she had a request from an event promoter who wants to stage a July 2022 music festival featuring Waylon Albright “Shooter” Jennings, son of country music stars Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, and Coleman “IV” Williams, Hank Williams’ great-grandson. Vassalboro has no ordinance to regulate such gatherings; selectmen decided they and probably the planning board need to discuss creating one.

The next Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 13, in person in the town office meeting room.

Vassalboro holds 250th anniversary commemoration and Civil War monument re-dedication

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Featured speakers, from left, Selectboard chairman John Melrose, local historian Lauchlin Titus, and Vassalboro Historical Society President Janice Clowes. (photos by Eric W. Austin)

by Eric W. Austin

On a blustery Monday morning, April 26, around 50 people gathered in Vassalboro’s Monument Park to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the town’s founding and rededication of its Civil War memorial.

The event was organized and emceed by John Melrose, chairman of the Vassalboro selectboard.

“On behalf of the Vassalboro selectboard,” Melrose said to open the ceremony, “I join you today in commemorating the 250th anniversary of our town, as we also recognize three years of work at Monument Park to celebrate this event.”

There have been numerous improvements made to the park over the past several years, including a clean-up along the shoreline, installation of paving stones surrounding the Civil War memorial, the planting of trees, decorative bushes and other landscaping improvements, and a newly-installed granite plaque dedicating the park for the town’s 250th anniversary.

Vassalboro Boy Scout Troop #410 led the gathering by presenting the colors and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. (photo by Eric W. Austin)

Vassalboro Boy Scout troop #410 then performed a presentation of the flags and led the gathered group in a recital of the Pledge of Allegiance.

After a prayer and invocation from American Legion chaplain Pearley Lachance, the first presentation of the morning was given by Patsy Crockett, president of the Kennebec Historical Society and member of the Kennebec County Commissioners. She stated, in part, “April 26, 1771 is the date that the Massachusetts’ colonial government incorporated four area communities as municipalities: the city of Hallowell, the towns of Vassalboro, Winslow and Winthrop. They remained part of Massachusetts until Maine achieved statehood in 1820.”

Crockett continued: “Beyond sharing the same date of incorporation, the four communities have at least one other thing in common: they all originally covered a larger territory than they do today. In fact, combined, they occupied nearly half of what is now Kennebec County.”

Vassalboro was named after the Vassal family, she said, and was originally spelled “Vassalborough,” although the shorter version of the name became standard by 1818.

In 1845, the town voted to prevent the “immoral and unlicensed” sale of liquor. By 1860, the town had a population of 3,180 and in 1893 there were recorded 21 births, 32 deaths and 22 marriages.

At the end of her speech, Patsy Crockett presented the town’s selectboard with a resolution from the Kennebec County Commissioners in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the town of Vassalboro.

The next presenter was Janice Clowes, president of the Vassalboro Historical Society, who spoke about the history of the site. In part, she said, “Today we stand in Monument Park, a focal point for our community. For hundreds of years, this site and its immediate surroundings was a meeting place for those who inhabited what became Vassalboro. From our exhibits at the Vassalboro Historical Society you can come to realize how important this land at the outlet of China Lake was to the Native Americans. Later, with colonization, we know of the importance of the alewife runs at this location and downstream and how the stream powered our development in commercial enterprises.”

Lauchlin Titus, a local historian who has also served on Vassalboro’s school board, budget committee and on the selectboard, was the last presenter of the morning. He spoke about the history of the names that are listed on the Civil War memorial. Much of his talk was included in a front page article he authored that was published in The Town Line issue for April 22, 2021.

Repairs are also planned for the Civil War statue. “It was commissioned in 1905 and dedicated in 1907,” Janice Clowes explained. “[Based on] design number 407, ‘Parade Rest,’ [it] was carved by William Tregembo, of Hallowell, for the sum of $1,275, with $300 as a deposit and the remainder when the monument was completed. The base of the monument is made from Hallowell granite, while the soldier is made of Westerly granite from Rhode Island. As you may know, plans are underway to have the nose and two places on the cape repaired. The additional repair to the rifle is estimated to be more than $20,000, therefore only the other repairs will be completed.”

A video stream of the event, uploaded by David Trask, is available on Youtube at the following link: https://youtu.be/7MpFPMCFcBg.

Vassalboro Community School honor roll

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

GRADE 3

High honors: Aliyah Anthony, Zander Austin, Xainte Cloutier, Twila Cloutier, Dekan Dumont, Mariah Estabrook, Riley Fletcher, Camden Foster, Sarina LaCroix, Jade Lopez, Cassidy Rumba and CameronWillett.

Honors: Sophia Brazier, Samantha Carter, Grace Clark, Kaylee Colfer, Samantha Craig, Wyatt Devoe, Dawson Frazer, Peter Giampietro, Aubrey Gofroth, Lucian Kinrade, Landon Lagasse, Addison Neagle, Austin Pease, Olivia Perry, Juliahna Rocque, Isaiah Smith, Bryce Sounier and Haven Trainor. Honorable mention:m Lukas Blais, Chanse Hartford, Isaac Leonard, Arianna Muzerolle, Kaylee Pease and Elliott Rafuse.

GRADE 4

High honors: Emily Clark, Keegan Clark, Basil Dillaway, Fury Frappier, Baylee Fuchswanz, Allyson Gilman, Lillyana Krastev, Kaitlyn Lavallee, Cheyenne Lizzotte, Elizabeth Longfellow, Mia McLean, Elliot McQuarrie, Agatha Meyer, Randel Phillips and Grace Tobey.

Honors: Caylie Buotte, Kaleb Charlebois, Ariyah Doyen, Gabriella Duarte, Isadora Duarte, Zoe Gaffney, Jack LaPierre, Mackenzy Monroe, Emma Robbins and Ava Woods. Honorable mention: Mason Brewer, Harlen Fortin, Kaylee Moulton, Weston Pappas and Naseem Umar.

GRADE 5

High honors: Benjamin Allen, Tristyn Brown, Dylan Dodge, Jasmine Garey, Drew Lindquist, Caleb Marden Paige Perry, Brooke Reny, Judson Smith, Alana Wade, and Reid Willett.

Honors: Logan Cimino, Jennah Dumont, Ryleigh French, Drake Goodie, Cooper Lajoie, Brandon Neagle, Ryder Neptune-Reny, Trinity Pooler, Abigail Prickett, Landon Sullivan, Leigha Sullivan, Jannah Tobey and William Traynor. Honorable mention: Grayson Atwood, Zoey DeMerchant, Zachary Kinrade, Katherine Maxwell and Jade Travers.

GRADE 6

High honors: Sophie Day, Ryley Desmond, Madison Field, Adalyn Glidden, Bailey Goforth and Bryson Stratton.

Honors: Madison Burns, Emma Charleson, Eilah Dillaway, Wyatt Ellis, Kylie Grant, Olivia Leonard, Jack Malcolm, Josslyn Ouellette, Mackenzie Oxley, Natalie Rancourt and Taiya Rankins. Honorable mention: Tyler Clark, Tallulah Cloutier,
Colby Frith, and Caspar Hooper

GRADE 7

High honors: Emily Almeida, Jacob Lavallee, Ava Lemelin, Mylee Petela and Hannah Polley.

Honors: Quinn Coull, Madison Estabrook, Aiden Hamlin, Taylor Neptune and Leahna Rocque. Honorable mention: Saunders Chase, Mason Decker, Lilian Piecewicz and Addison Witham.

GRADE 8

High honors: Brooke Blais, Sofia Derosby, Allison Dorval, Kaylene Glidden, Ava Kelso, Greta Limberger and Ava Picard.

Honors: Brady Desmond, Ellie Giampetruzzi, Brandon Hanscom, Kaelyn Pappas, Seth Picard and Emma Waterhouse. Honorable mention: Landen Blodgett and Kenneth Fredette.

Up and down the Kennebec Valley: Granges – Part 4

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East Vassalboro Grange

by Mary Grow and Bernie Welch

East Vassalboro Grange

Historical records show the Town of Vassalboro has had three separate Grange organizations, of which the newest, East Vassalboro, is still active in its 126th year.

East Vassalboro Grange #332 was organized in 1895. On-line Grange records show 171 members in 1902. It was incorporated as a nonprofit organization on Oct. 3, 1910, according to on-line state records.

The Anthology of Vassalboro Tales includes an October 1938 report from an unnamed newspaper describing that month’s East Vassalboro Grange Fair, organized by Lena Kyle, Arthur Mason and Frank Rand and a “dinner committee” consisting of “lady officers” Annie Adams, Edith Canham and Nina Mason. Almost 250 people shared the chicken pie dinner, and about half as many the baked bean supper.

More than 40 pounds of candy made by “Grange ladies and their daughters” were sold. After the baked goods entered in competition had been judged, they also were sold.

Prizes were awarded for fancy work, dairy products, canned goods and vegetables. The list of the latter included popcorn (Frank Bragg’s), dynamite popcorn (Alfred Taylor’s), citrons (Ernest Taylor’s) and mangles (Frank Rand’s).

At that fair, Annie M. Cates was in charge of the candy. Special prizes were awarded to two lots of vegetables: Dr. Sam Cates took first place and Herbert and Paul Cates took second place.

Sam Cates’ cream earned a first prize for dairy products, and Mae Cates’ quilt in the fancy work category. In canned goods competition, Annabelle Cates won first prizes for mincemeat, mustard pickles and squash; and Mrs. Samuel Cates placed first for cauliflower, corn, corn on the cob, cranberries, peaches and pumpkin.

East Vassalboro Grange first floor

These competent Cates were ancestors, direct and indirect, of Paul Cates, who with his wife Elisabeth founded Cates Family Farm, in East Vassalboro, in 1970. Originally producing only gladiolus, the farm website now advertises heirloom gladiolus bulbs, other annual and perennial flowers, beef cattle, hay and lumber.

Twenty-four babies were in the 1938 baby show, winning prizes for eye color, hair (or lack of hair), youngest (a four-week-old girl) and “from the largest family” (a boy with seven older siblings).

East Vassalboro students from first through eighth grade presented their school exhibit. After supper, a cast of 12 performed Henry Rowland’s Aunt Minnie from Minnesota, described as a “farce play,” followed by dancing “until a late hour with music by the Mosher orchestra from China.”

Alma Pierce Robbins, publishing her Vassalboro history in 1971, was pessimistic about East Vassalboro Grange. Meetings and suppers continued, she wrote, “but with a lessening of interest as the younger generations search for new ways to bring about modern changes.”

Fifty years later, Bernie Welch, of Full Circle Farm, in East Vassalboro, takes up the story of East Vassalboro Grange.

At 10 a.m. on the 4th of July 1976, it was pouring a cold rain in Vassalboro. Despite the deluge, the parade started on time in North Vassalboro, heading toward the East Vassalboro Grange to celebrate the 200th birthday of our country.

16-year-old Miss Vassalboro Grange, before the rain.

There weren’t enough umbrellas to go around on the tractor-drawn, hay-baled Grange float that proceeded slowly down Main Street (Route 32). A 16-year-old Miss Vassalboro Grange sat soaking atop a bale in the fine dress made by her mother Marj. That evening she came down with pneumonia that made her miss a week of work at her father Ron’s store, Lalime’s Drug Store, in Waterville.

For the privilege of riding on that wet bale that day, she had to write an essay describing how the Grange supported her community and interview Malvena Robbins, her grandmother, who was Grange treasurer for 35 years. For her it was worth it then, and for us it is worth it now, because our Vassalboro Grange has been supporting the greater Vassalboro community all along and intends to do so well into the future.

The East Vassalboro Grange hosts numerous suppers to support fuel funds and other community programs, Grange activities and Grange Hall maintenance. Vassalboro Community School students learn how to serve a meal under the guidance of Jobs for Maine Graduates Master Specialist Victor Esposito, with David Dutton, Lauchlin Titus, Richard Lemieux and others contributing to the meals.

East Vassalboro Grange and Vassalboro Historical Society members occasionally unite to sponsor potluck suppers.

Students and community members enjoy talent shows and open mike, beginning at 7 p.m., the second Saturday of the month at the Coffee House run by Stuart Corson, Holly Weidner and Mathew Freitag. The stage comes alive with music, dance and song, not to mention the coffee, tea and desserts. Fifth Saturday Contra Dances are another Grange calendar feature.

In recent years East Vassalboro Grange has sponsored varied events to entertain and educate area residents and to benefit local causes. Prominent among them have been plays written by Paul Cates (and others), produced and performed by talented community members and using the Grange Hall’s elegant scenery.

Past productions of Cates’ plays have included Great East Vassalboro Swindle, Poor People, Romeo and Juliet Solve a Mystery and Senator Mitchell’s Sidney Farmer Goes to Washington.

On Friday, Sept. 10, 2021, Linda Titus hopes to produce Cates’ Lillie’s Apple Pie as part of Vassalboro’s 250th anniversary celebration, with an apple pie contest at intermission.

Local historical programs have been presented by residents Kent London, Alma Robbins and Vicki Schad. In August 2017 Vassalboro hosted an afternoon of Jane Austen events, presented by a California entrepreneur called Malvena Pearl’s Emporium. Participants could attend workshops on novelist Austen’s late 18th and early 19th century writing implements, her novels, farming in her era and art and sewing; and could enjoy baked goods and beverages and live music and dancing.

East Vassalboro Grange second floor.

The Grange has hosted the Vassalboro Library Book sale for nearly 60 years, the first weekend after Labor Day.

Since May 2009, the Grange has sponsored indoor-outdoor farmers’ markets through September. At first at the Grange Hall, these events are now held Sunday afternoons at the North Vassalboro mill.

In the recent past the Vassalboro Grange has supported Spring Fever Day, presenting a variety of things to make the garden grow; and The Spirit of Christmas, a craft fair Elisabeth Cates inspires with tremendous support from the Vassalboro Friends and local craft vendors.

There was even socially distance badminton in the Hall during Covid.

The upkeep of the Hall began with Grange Master John Melrose, who made sure the building was painted and kept in top-notch shape. Guy Higgins put in the new windows and ceiling, and Linda and Lauchlin Titus established cleaning protocols and got Ray Breton’s crew to upgrade our kitchen so that it is modern and certified.

Erskine Day of Caring students, Kelly Clark, Steve Jones, of Fieldstone Gardens, Boy Scout Eagle projects, Samantha Lessard and Steve Asante have made tremendous efforts over the years to keep up the building, support Grange-sponsored efforts and keep the gardens tidy.

Many outside families and organizations have used the Grange for birthdays and other celebrations; school programs; dance programs; and town, political, conservation or community action meetings. We would love to know how many of you readers were married or celebrated anniversaries or births at our Grange.

The future of the Vassalboro Grange is the future of our community. It is a place that welcomes all who would like to join others to learn, have fun or create together in a well-maintained building. It even has excellent internet.

Our Grange membership is open to new ideas and uses for the Grange. Grange meetings, open to all, are held the last Friday of each month. We look forward to hearing from you with ideas. Contact us at http://www.vassalboro.net/grange.html or 207 649 2765.

That girl on the float, the one in the rain? She is Jody Lalime Welch, the Grange master and my wife. The Vassalboro Grange has been a powerful, positive and profound influence on our families’ lives for almost 111 years now. What does a little rain matter, anyway.

(Bernie Welch holds the office of Lecturer in East Vassalboro Grange, but he is content to be called the Grange Master’s husband.)

Main sources:

Bernhardt, Esther, and Vicki Schad, compilers/editors Anthology of Vassalboro Tales (2017).
Robbins, Alma Pierce, History of Vassalborough Maine 1771-1971, n.d. (1971).
Welch, Bernie, personal information.

Websites, various.

Photos courtesy of East Vassalboro Grange.

Vassalboro selectmen to hold public hearing on marijuana ordinance

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen plan to hold a public hearing on the proposed Marijuana Business Ordinance at the beginning of their Thursday, April 29, meeting. The hearing and meeting begin at 6:30 p.m., in person, in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium. Masks are required.

Voters will approve or reject the ordinance by written ballot on Tuesday, June 8. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town office.

Agenda items for the April 29 selectmen’s meeting that will follow the hearing include final approval of the warrant for the June 7 and 8 annual town meeting and review of bids to install a generator at the school big enough to make the building usable as an emergency shelter.

VASSALBORO: Solar power, marijuana top planners’ agenda

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by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro Planning Board has a medical marijuana application and a solar power application on its May 4 agenda.

Mathew Williams and Renee Zohar Fischman have applied to re-open a former marijuana growing facility at 1776 North Belfast Avenue (Route 3). The previous business had a planning board permit, which cannot be transferred to new owners without the board’s approval.

Sebago Technics has applied to build a 4.29-megawatt solar array on a 29.9-acre parcel on the west side of Cemetery Street, not far north of the Matthews Avenue intersection. Cemetery Street parallels Outlet Stream from Gray Road north to Oak Grove Road, in North Vassalboro.

At the January planning board meeting, Michael Redding, of New England Solar Garden Corporation, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Owens McCullough, of Sebago Technics, of South Portland, made an introductory presentation.

Sebago Technics is a civil engineering and land development consultant firm that works with developers like Solar Garden. Solar Garden specializes in community solar development.

The May 4 virtual meeting begins at 7 p.m. Information on viewing it should be available under the online public meetings heading at www.vcsvikings.org.

Vassalboro Community Read will begin in May

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The Vassalboro Community School Librarian – Melora Norman – and the Vassalboro Public Library Director – Brian Stanley – have received a grant from the American Library Association – Libraries Transforming Communities – to do a Community Read in Vassalboro.

The Community Read will begin in May and be centered around the Alewife Restoration Initiative, in Vassalboro. The two books chosen are Swimming Home by Maine author Susan Hand Shetterly, and The Alewives’ Tale, by Barbara Brennessel. Both of these books describe similar alewife restoration efforts in Maine and New England. They will be available through checkout at the Vassalboro Puvblic Library and donated to residents of the community in the summer.

Authors of the books and some experts of the Restoration Project will share their expertise via a special series of online presentations in May. Interested individuals throughout the state are welcome to attend these programs. Please check the website for a full list of events and to register.

Vassalboro voters to decide fate of marijuana ordinance

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by Mary Grow

One issue Vassalboro voters will decide at their June town meeting is whether to approve or reject a new ordinance titled “Town of Vassalboro Marijuana Business Ordinance.”

Selectmen have scheduled a public hearing on the ordinance for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29, in the Vassalboro Community School gymnasium. Because the vote on the ordinance will be by written ballot on Tuesday, June 8, voters will not have a chance to debate it in open session before they vote.

Town meeting begins at 6:30 p.m., Monday, June 7, in the VCS gymnasium, and continues with written-ballot voting from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday, June 8, at the Vassalboro town office.

The marijuana business ordinance repeals the town’s current ordinance and prohibits any new marijuana businesses in Vassalboro. If voters approve, the only allowable marijuana businesses in Vassalboro will be those in operation before the effective date of the ordinance (Feb. 18, 2021, the date selectmen approved it), and licensed medical marijuana caregivers and their cultivation facilities of up to 1,000 square feet.

By ordinance definitions, caregivers’ facilities cannot operate a retail store or dispensary. Pre-ordinance businesses must have town licenses, for which their owners must apply within 60 days after voters approve the ordinance.

A copy of the ordinance is on the town website, www.vassalboro.net, in the center section, below notices of 250th anniversary events and assessor Ellery Bane’s property inspections.

Ordinance provisions spell out license requirements, inspection procedures and related issues. Selectmen will set annual license fees after town meeting, if voters approve the ordinance.

Many provisions are based on issues raised by residents during planning board reviews of applications for marijuana facilities. For example:

  • Applicants must provide evidence that they have all other required state and local permits and approvals.
  • No facility can be located within 1,000 feet of a “public or private school, state-licensed daycare of any size, or occupied residence,” unless the applicant owns the residence. Pre-existing business that do not meet the requirement may continue to operate, but may not expand in any way.
  • All premises must have lockable doors and windows and an alarm system connected to the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office; interior and exterior video surveillance operating continuously; and exterior lights with motion detectors.
  • All premises must have odor control systems that ensure no detectable odors outside the “area controlled by the business.”

A marijuana business that violates town regulations can have its license suspended or revoked and can be fined.