LOSTINE — Some eight years after a devastating fire, members of South Fork Grange in Lostine are planning a slate of events to celebrate their centennial — but longtime Grange stalwarts say new members are essential if the organization is going to endure for another century.

The Grange’s centennial-year celebration kicks off unofficially with a pie and cake auction on Thursday, Dec. 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. at M. Crow, 133 Oregon Highway 82, in Lostine. Proceeds will go toward paying for fire insurance for the Grange.

But even as South Fork Grange celebrates a centennial, longtime members such as June Colony are stressing the importance of passing the reins to a younger generation.

“We want to go into the new century,” she said. “It’s very important that we get into our second 100 years. It’s important for the community, and the people of the county, because we are a way of building our community together.”

In fact, Colony said, the events that the Grange’s meeting hall is used for now are examples of that kind of community-building.

“Right now, just the simple use of the hall is relevant,” she said. “We’ve had two memorials, business meetings, a birthday party, a baby shower. It’s used often, just the hall itself, let alone the events we hold together for the community.”

She added that there is no other similar facility in that area of the county.

“We’re it, as a hall,” she said, “so there’s a practical nature to it.”

But the Grange has had other uses as well over the years.

In the past, she said, U.S. and state elected officials have met constituents at the Grange. Candidates for the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners have debated there. Area residents have gathered there for community Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

“Right now the 4-H kids are using it, they meet here at the hall, they use our library, our facilities, they have a warm safe place to meet.”

Century of serviceNationally, Granges date back to 1867, starting as the Patrons of Husbandry, a fraternal organization originally composed of farmers. The organization grew to include thousands of Granges, primarily (but not exclusively) in rural portions of the country.

Initially, when Granges were was created nationally, it was to give rural people a chance to organize and to be a community. This is still true today, as the organization’s mission statement explains: “The torch is passed from one generation to another as our members from various backgrounds and ages imagine, plan and conduct programs of importance for their hometowns.”

The South Fork Grange dates back to 1922. But its history took a dramatic turn on a snowy Saturday morning in February 2014, when a fire at Norton’s Welding spread to the adjoining Grange. Fire departments from throughout Wallowa County, traveling over slick and snowy roads, responded to the blaze.

State Fire Marshal Scott Goff said the cause of the fire appeared to be combustible materials too close to a heating device in Norton’s Welding.

Colony was in the Grange hall that day and smelled smoke an hour before the blaze erupted, but thought the smoke was coming from outside.

The Grange lost more than a building. Historical documents and photographs went up in smoke, along with an irreplaceable mural. But its members never lost their spirit. Within a year, they acquired a new home.

“We found a run-down ‘home’ on Rosewell Street, and after selling our empty lots to Norton, we turned around and bought those Rosewell lots and buildings.,” Colony said.

The Grange converted the old house into a meeting place. A new roof, new kitchen, a new meeting room, a new furnace, a library area, and an accessible bathroom all blossomed.

“With grants and donations,” she said, “we remodeled the main building into a beautiful community space, and held our community dinners and parties once again.”

Surviving COVIDThen COVID-19 hit. South Fork Grange shut down for over a year.

After a year of mostly dormant Grange activities — and with a decline in rental fees from other groups — the organization finds itself in a bit of a financial bind, Colony said.

The bind mostly revolves around the insurance payment for the remodeled buildings, she said. That’s where the pie and cake auction at M. Crow on Thursday fits in.

But Grange members hope the event raises more than just money.

“We’re going to have membership applications, and we’re going to talk a bit about the Grange, hoping just to get more members in our community,” Colony said. And, she said, since programs at the Grange are based on both the needs and interests of people in the community it serves, the auction also is an event for participants to suggest service or program ideas.

Starting in January, the Grange will begin kicking off its next century with a weekly Tuesday “Brunch and Browse” gathering.

“Our local restaurants are closed for midday meals on that day, so we are offering a ‘by-donation’ meal, and a chance to browse our extensive library shelves for the great books we inherited from the county library,” Colony said.

Grange members also will begin delivering Tuesday meals to people who are homebound, she said.

It’s a two-way street, she added: Grange members are providing services to the community — and the community can help the Grange, in part by renting the hall for events. (The hall recently was the location of a meeting for Lostine and other communities to discuss last summer’s fires in the area and preparations for other fire seasons.)

To reserve the hall for an event, email Colony at grassjune@hotmail.com or call her at 541-569-2388 or learn more at M. Crow store on Thursday.

Colony said she sees younger people coming into the community, and if they want a platform or a forum to dream, to create opportunities for their communities, the Grange might be a good fit.

Her own story is instructive.

“I used to live in the upper Imnaha at the very end of Freeze Out Creek Road,” she said. “I was homesteading up there. I was invited by the Imnaha community to join the Imnaha Grange. It was about 13 miles up river and that connected me to the community, made me feel welcome; I was not an outsider or a stranger, because everybody here is accepted.

“So I joined the Grange then, and after moving to Lostine many years later, I rejoined the Lostine Grange and I have been a member since the 80s and love that I’m living my dream by helping feed our community.”