Grange Continues to Have a Presence at Ag Progress Days

by Carl Meiss, PR Director

Senator Mike Brubaker, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, took time out of his busy Ag Progress Days schedule to stop at the PA State Grange booth for a photo op with our Youth Ambassadors Adam Waite and Gail Switzer (left) and Junior Princess and Prince, Brittany Haag and Braden Gourley (right)

The PA State Grange booth at Ag Progress Days

The Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, PA, nine miles southwest of State College is the home of the annual three-day Ag Progress Days sponsored by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

This year, more than 375 commercial exhibitors displayed their latest goods and services. And the PA State Grange was one of those exhibitors.

Ag Progress Days runs Tuesday through Thursday, so Monday afternoon I arrived with a pickup truck loaded with exhibit supplies. This year, I was again met by Libby Green from Northumberland Grange #218 eager to set up the booth. Also helping this year was Ron Shaffer from Elizabethtown Grange #2076 and President of the PA Grange Service Corp. Board of Directors.

With all that help, we had the basic 20' by 20' booth set up within an hour. Fort Granville Grange #1902 from Mifflin County, rents the front table of the booth to sell Grange cookbooks and raffle tickets for an Amish-made quilt. Jim Aurand supervised their set-up and helped us as well.

Ron set up one table for information from the Service Corp. and the Credit Union. Then the third table is mine to display our seven brochures (Membership, Benefits, Family Membership, Youth, Scholarship, Junior and Legislative), give-away items (Band-Aid dispensers this year) and Grange "tattoos" (seen in photo). Then I headed for the Super 8 Motel in State College, my home for the next three nights.

Tuesday morning bright and early (about 7:30 a.m.) I arrived on site at the booth and set things up for the day (Ag Progress Days actually open daily at 9:00 a.m.). The State Master arrived a short time later and she helped in the booth throughout the day when she didn't have to attend other meetings or hearings. The key reason for the PA State Grange booth is to "Talk Grange" to as many people as possible...to recruit members and "sell the Grange,"...to let people know that the Grange is still alive and well in Pennsylvania.

Things shut down at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday and I was back in the booth again at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Wednesday is always a long day...a lot going on and closing time isn't until 8:00 p.m. But I had a lot of outstanding help in the booth Wednesday. Our Junior Prince and Princess, Braden Gourley and Brittany Haag, along with our Youth Ambassadors, Gail Switzer and Adam Waite, and Youth Advocate Heather Thielman spent most of the day in the booth talking to people.

At noon, I took Braden and Brittany to the Governor's luncheon where they got an opportunity to listen to Senators Specter and Casey along with a long list of Representatives in addition to Attorney General Tom Corbett and Governor Ed Rendell.

Betty Grove showed up in the afternoon to help in the booth after the Royalty had to leave.

Thursday morning saw me back in the booth for the last day. Betsy got to spend more time in the booth Thursday and Libby Green returned to help in the booth as well as in tearing everything down and loading it back in my truck.

We ended up passing out nearly 1,000 Band-Aid dispensers and nearly as many brochures during the three days. So I know that there are at least that many more people who now know that the Grange is alive and well in Pennsylvania.