The Twisp Valley Grange is getting a new kitchen as part of ongoing efforts to update the historic community gathering place and keep it usable and appealing for decades to come.
Though the existing kitchen has served for many years, its quirks have started to outweigh its practicality. “Right now, if you empty two sinks at the same time, it overflows,” grange secretary Mary Jane Perry told me. The remodel will also make the kitchen bigger and further improve energy efficiency and indoor air quality. Anyone wanting to help out is encouraged to volunteer.
Mary Jane spent her career in oceanographic research before moving to the valley in 2016, and she sees the building through that lens. “After a ship is about 30 years old, it goes through a midlife refit,” she said.
Over the past few years, grants and an anonymous donor have paid for insulation, heat pumps, and air filtration, making the hall comfortable year-round and a refuge on smoky summer days.
The National Grange was founded almost 160 years ago as a social organization focused on agriculture. “It was a way to give farmers a political voice, particularly because they were getting gouged by the railroad,” Mary Jane said. Among other things, granges pushed states to pass laws regulating shipping rates. Unusually for that era, women joined as full voting members.
The Twisp Grange was established in 1911 and is the last of 13 that once existed in the Methow Valley. Before Highway 20, it was a social center. Current grange president Dwight Filer is pleased to see dances happening more often again, as they were once frequent and popular.
“The last square dance we had, we had this place rocking,” he said. “People bring their babies and young kids, and then there’s people in their 80s and everything in between.”
The new kitchen appliances, including a bakery-depth convection oven, induction burners, and a large refrigerator, were bought with money left over from an earlier grant project that came in $25,000 under budget, which was made possible by volunteer labor.
“I was in the building trades for 35 years, and I was never involved with a job that came in under budget and on time until this,” said Dwight.
With state funding secured through Rep. Andrew Engell, the remodel will take out a wall and add a new island, sinks, on-demand water heater, a dishwasher, and a vent hood. The update will complete a modern commercial kitchen, ready to serve community dinners, give small businesses a place to test food ideas, and help feed people in an emergency. “When you share meals, you’re really sharing life,” Mary Jane said.
The kitchen remodel will be in progress likely through December, and helpers are needed. “We would especially love it if there were some retired builders or carpenters,” Dwight said. He’d also like to see some younger faces. “We would love to have more involvement of people under 60.”
To volunteer or get more information, email Dwight at djayfiler@outlook.com.
