CHIMACUM — Members of a reformed Chimacum Grange celebrated the event last week with a new president vowing to bring the organization back to its roots in agriculture, land and water rights.
“We hope to invigorate the building, and we’re going to ask the membership what they like,” said Port Townsend fruit grower and the Grange’s new president, Judi Stewart.
Dick Bekkevar, a rancher from the Diamond Point near Gardiner, installed Stewart in her new post, a Grange duty he has carried out for 40 years.
The Grange hall, which was originally chartered in 1918, is on Rhody Drive, or state Highway 19, across from the Tri-Area Community Center.
The original Chimacum Grange charter was presented to Stewart at the Grange hall Thursday, where it was hung on the wall there.
“One of the things we’d love to do is tackle some of the stewardship issues, and we’d love to set up a farmers market on the property next year,” Stewart said.
The building would also be open for community meeting space, she said.
“We’re interested in providing service to the community, and education.”
