SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
Fire
Saturday, March 10
Florence Events
Center
Begins at 5
Dinner at 6:30
Live Auction at 7:30
Sponsored in part by:
Cascade Title Company
AeroLegends
Berkshire Hathaway, Hewlett, Voogd,
Phelps
Law Office of Jane C Hanawalt
Paula Becker
Representative Caddy McKeown, District 9
State Senator Arnie Roblan, District 5
Oregon Pacific Bank
The JGroup
TR Hunter
theflorencerotary.org
Let the Games Begin
Rotary celebrates a world fi lled with possibility, raising funds for
scholarships for Florence area youth and other community projects.
from 1A
“There were seven pieces of
equipment from SVFR on site,
along with two from Gardiner
and one from Reedsport,” said
Chief Director Jim Langborg,
who explained that firefighters
from Mapleton and the Lane
Fire Authority assisted with
back-up at the scene.
“Due to safety concerns relat-
ed to the large HVAC unit on the
roof and concern for safeguard-
ing the surrounding structures
that might have been at risk, we
decided a strategy of contain-
ment was best,” Langborg said.
“We set up a perimeter and
made sure the blaze was brought
under control.”
As of Friday afternoon, the
specifics regarding the cause of
the blaze of the blaze are still
Ada Grange from 1A
“I think back to 1918, there
wasn’t a bridge into Florence,”
Pugh said. “There wasn’t a good
road to the ferry, so it was a way
for families to get together and
socialize and discuss issues of the
day. Most of it was farming and
dairy.”
Discussing issues of the day
eventually led to improvements
to Ada, including getting power,
phone and rural mail delivery to
FRAA ART CENTER
120 Maple Street
Phone: 541-997-4435
Hours Open: Wed-Fri noon-5pm,
Sat 10am-5pm, Sun. noon-5pm
Classes, Workshops & Events
Henry Evans Print Sale
Saturday, March 10, 1-5 pm during the 2nd
Saturday Gallery Tour. FRAA is hosting a
special event to sell about 25 Henry
Evans’ prints (most signed and numbered).
The proceeds will be donated to local non-
profit organizations.
Need Help with your Florence
Fest Submittal?
March 6th at 6:30 pm. Admission is free
and refreshments will be available.
Next Art Change-Out Day
Writers on the River - Creative
Writing Workshop with
Catherine Rourke
Monday, March 12th, 9-11 am
Please pick up your artwork and bring
something new to help keep the art at
FRAA fresh to our visitors.
Whimsical Hand Building
Ceramics w/ Alissa Clark
Wednesdays, 3-5 pm & Thursdays, 6-8 pm
Open Lab Ceramics on Saturdays
Drop in, work at own pace. Sat 12-5 pm
All ceramics classes held at Alissa’s
Studio. 180 Laurel Street.
Oil Painting with Michael Wood
Saturday, April 7th, 1:30-4:30 pm
Learn the art of felting making a coin
purse. Bring a shank button; other
material provided. Pre-registration req’d at
FRAA. Questions: 541-521-3513
Big Wave Poetry 1st Tuesday
Open Mic
Come to FRAA on Thursday, March 8th,
12 noon - 2 pm and we will help you with
your submittal.
On hiatus but will be back in April.
fmwood@msn.com for more information.
Beginning Felting with Ginny
Kliever - Take 2 Due to Popular
Demand
Sat., March 24, 10 am - 12 noon
Memoir Writing: From Real Life to Real
Story. Turn life experiences and family
memories into captivating stories.
All writing levels and genres, Contact:
CJReditor@gmail.com , 541-708-2120
Painting with John Leasure
Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm
Contact: jnleasure@hotmail.com or
541-991-2754 for details and fees.
For more information about classes, visit fraaoregon.org. To register for
these classes, please call or visit FRAA at our art center on Maple Street.
undetermined, with the state fire
marshal on scene as part of the
active and ongoing investigation
into this fire.
“We have not released the
property to the owner at this
time and we are probably going
to remain on scene and keep the
site under control for the next
couple of days to monitor while
the incident is being investigat-
ed,” Langborg said Friday
morning.
The structure was gutted by
the fire, while parts of the exte-
rior walls remain standing.
Langborg warns passers-by that
the scene is unsafe at this time
and no one should be approach-
ing the site.
“We will have the location
cordoned off and ask everyone
to stay away from the area due
to the potential danger still
posed by the fire - and the fact
that the scene is still under
investigation,” said Langborg.
He also mentioned the State
Fire Marshal has requested the
assistance of the Oregon State
Police’s fire investigation team
in the effort to determine the
cause of the blaze.
Any person with information
related to the fire is asked to
contact SVFR at 541-997-3212.
the area.
“The national Grange pushed
a lot for that kind of stuff, and
they’re still fighting,” Pugh said.
“They’re fighting now to get
broadband in the rural areas and
pushing legislation for that.”
Members of local Granges dis-
cuss issues within the communi-
ty that need to be addressed and
draft resolutions to be sent to the
state Grange, which then lobbies
for changes to state and national
governmental agencies.
But Ada Grange was also a
community hub, allowing for
multiple activities like theater
productions and fundraising. A
memoir of Ada Grange by Ethel
(Edie) Rieken described what it
was like in the early days of Ada
Grange.
“Various fundraising events
that lured people from miles
around took place at the Grange
Hall,” she wrote. “For a time, the
women gathered for quilting bees
to make quilts that were raffled
off at the various events.”
One of the most enjoyable
times for Rieken were the
dances.
“I learned to dance the waltz,
polka, schottische, Paul Jones
and even square dances,” Rieken
wrote. “At midnight everyone
stopped for cake, pie and coffee,
then dancing resumed. In earlier
years, those dances sometimes
continued until 4 o’clock in the
morning. My brothers came
home and dragged themselves to
the barn in a sleepless daze to
milk the cows.”
One of the most well-attended
events were the pie socials,
where women brought pies to be
auctioned off.
“The man who paid the most
for a pie ate it with the lady who
baked it,” Rieken wrote. “For
young single girls, that some-
times meant disappointment and
not getting to eat with the person
she’d hoped would buy her pie.”
Times have changed since the
early days. The majority of Ada
Grange members are not farmers,
nor do they live out in the Ada
area, according to Pugh. But the
Grange has found relevance in
the Siuslaw region as a whole.
“We’re focusing not only con-
necting with our own members
and other Granges in our area and
throughout the state, but connect-
ing with our communities,” she
said. “That’s what the Grange
wants to do. Connect with the
communities and find out what
the needs are, or projects that
they can be involved in.
Community service is a big part
of our organization.”
One of Ada Grange’s largest
projects is collecting and donat-
ing supplies to Siuslaw Outreach
Services (SOS), including food
and non-food items.
“Right now, we’re focusing on
laundry soap,” Pugh said. “Stuff
that people are in need of that
they can’t buy with food stamps,
like soap and toothpaste. We do a
quarterly collection and donate to
SOS. Plus, we get a lot of stuff
donated to the Grange. Most of
that we re-donate to SOS or other
places.”
Before SOS, Ada Grange
helped sponsor a foster family
when the father of the family
became ill. The mother, who had
to quit her job to take care of her
husband, needed financial sup-
port to help raise the children and
take care of expenses.
“We supported them for two
years until the dad passed away,”
Pugh said. “The mom got back
on her feet and the kids were
doing really good.”
Family is a driving force for
the Grange.
“I think families are losing
their connection with all the tech-
nology and people being so
busy,” Pugh said. “The Grange is
a place where you can take your
whole family and be involved.”
One way that the Grange sup-
ports families in the organization
is by letting individuals join
young. While the Junior Grange
program at Ada ended in the
1980s (it still goes on nationally),
children are regularly encour-
aged to join the local organiza-
tion. In fact, full membership
begins at 14 years old.
“You can join at that age and
you can hold an office,” Pugh
said. “You can even be president.
You have the same rights as a 60-
year-old.”
Having younger members take
part in the Grange has multiple
advantages. First and foremost, it
allows children to learn about
civic engagement, government,
independence and leadership,
Pugh said. But it also allows
younger generations to feel more
involved in the Grange, creating
lifelong members.
“My mom’s a member, both
my daughters are members, and
also my grandkids,” Pugh said. “I
have two brothers who also still
belong to Ada Grange. It’s been a
big part of my life, and my
daughter’s life, and now my
grandkids’ lives.”
Getting younger members
involved is vital to the continua-
tion of the organization.
“We only have 38 members
now,” Pugh said. “At our largest
we had 170, but for a time there
was an insurance program
through the Grange and a lot of
members signed up just to get the
insurance. The numbers have
dwindled down.”
Keeping membership steady is
not a problem specific to the
Grange, as other fraternal organi-
zations such as the Elks or the
Oddfellows are struggling to
keep membership.
“Unfortunately, the member-
ship is getting so old, the focus is
on getting younger families in, so
you have them coming up and
taking over responsibilities,”
Pugh said. “But it’s hard. We’re
lucky to have very active mem-
bers, but we have some older
members that won’t be around
forever. The kids are our future,
so we try and focus on them a
lot.”
It’s that focus on children, and
the community as a whole, that
Ada Grange #570 continues to
foster. It also purchases school
supplies to donate to local
schools.
“We have a scholarship pro-
gram that’s actually in memory
of my stepdad,” Pugh said.
“After he passed away, my mom
established it, and that’s been
going on since 1993. This past
year, we gave out three $500
scholarships to local schools.
And home school students can
apply too.”
The Grange works closely
with veterans and has a Relay
for Life team. It’s also known
for its food fundraisers, such as
an annual breakfast fundraiser
and appearances at the Florence
Wings and Wheels, where mem-
bers have served hamburgers
since the event’s inception.
“Our hamburgers are ‘almost’
famous,” Pugh said.
The gala will be held from 1
to 3 p.m. today at the Ada
Grange Hall, located at 82457 S.
Canary Road in Westlake.
Grange
member
Joy
McCourt, whose grandfather
was a founding member of the
Ada chapter, will give a local
history of the grange, followed
by poems of the grange by
Darlene Jorgenson.
Cake and ice cream will be
served, and there will be a small
speech by Florence Mayor Joe
Henry.
Pugh believes community
work makes Ada Grange just as
relevant now as it used to be.
“I think the Grange still plays
a vital role in communities,” she
said. “It’s doing something right
to be around for 150 years. It has
changed a lot. It had to change
with the times. If I didn’t have
the Grange, I don’t know what
I’d do. It’s a second family.”
JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
The March 1 blaze at the former La Bu La Restaurant left
only a shell of the building which has housed multiple
businesses over time.
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