Grange Brew Live music and great food draw crowds in East Sangerville

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Night descends on the hills of southern Piscataquis County like a black velvet curtain, shrouding the countryside in darkness. There are no streetlights to speak of – nothing, really, to punctuate the inky sky save for a smattering of stars and the occasional lamp in a farmhouse window.

On the way to East Sangerville, a column of stately maples gives way to open fields, and a glow appears on the horizon, beckoning you to discover its source. The road winds for miles through darkened woods and farmland, until a line of parked cars signals that you’ve arrived. As you walk toward the austere Grange hall, warm light and muffled conversation spill out of the building into the cool evening.

Inside, the smell of strong coffee and spiced cider mingles with laughter in the air, as old friends reminisce and new friends are made. Soon, Mac McHale and the Old Time Radio Gang will take the stage upstairs, but for now, visitors to the Grange’s first coffeehouse of the season are happy to catch up over decadent desserts and steamy drinks.

“We were initially drawn in by the music, but found ourselves enveloped by the community that hovers around this place,” Erin Callaway of Dover-Foxcroft said as she sat at a long, wooden table with her husband, Steve Grammont, and their friend Andrea Thurlow. “The atmosphere was so incredibly inviting, especially in the middle of the winter. It’s just this warm, welcoming place.”

The couple, both of whom are in their 30s, moved to the area from Boston six years ago. Their quest for good, live music led them to the Grange one freezing winter night, and the intimate setting kept them coming back.

“We’ve seen performances all over the place,” Callaway said. “The music we’ve heard here is as good as music we’ve heard anywhere.”

The coffeehouse may be the only game in town, but even if it weren’t, it would still attract a crowd. In the 10 years since the concert series started, acts such as Ellis Paul, Dave Mallett and Devonsquare have drawn fans from Massachusetts and beyond to East Sangerville. And it’s become a mainstay among the locals, too.

“We’re Grange members because we showed up to too many coffeehouses,” said Grammont, who isn’t the first person in Piscataquis County to be roped in by the Grangers. “It’s trickery, handed down from generation to generation.”

The “trickery” began in the early 1970s, when aging members of the East Sangerville Grange decided it was time to get some new blood in the fraternal organization. Membership was down, the building was falling apart, and the old-timers realized they couldn’t do it all themselves, nor did they want to.

“The old Grangers had been running the Grange for years and years and got sick of putting on chicken pie dinners,” said Sid Stutzman of Sangerville, who inadvertently joined the Grange in the ’70s.

They did have one more supper in them, though, and they rustled up all of the young natives and back-to-the-landers they could find.

“They came around and invited us to their meeting and a chicken pie supper,” said Alan Bray, a Granger and artist from Sangerville. “We came – a chicken pie supper? How could you lose? Well, they elected us to all of the offices, really before we knew what was happening, and they never came back. They basically washed their hands of it.”

It was the beginning of a new era. At first, they tried to hold true to the original ideals – the national Grange was founded in 1867 to provide economic, social and political opportunities to farmers, as well as enhance their clout with the railroad – but it didn’t work.

“We said, ‘There’s no farmers, there’s no railroad, so what are we doing?'” said Stutzman, one of the few remaining farmers in the region. “We thought we’d change ours to a more public, community-service thing.”

Their first order of business was to develop a following and raise some money to fix the leaky roof and sagging building, so they held a supper. It wasn’t exactly a success.

“Our first chicken pie supper was a big flop because we put peas and vegetables in the pies,” Stutzman said, laughing. “The old folks were up in arms.”

“They got dubbed the ‘hippie Grange’ after that,” Sid’s wife, Rainie, added.

“We’ve done our best to live up to it ever since,” Sid said.

The hippies and homesteaders may not have been known for their chicken pies, but they sure could cook. They started to hold gourmet dinners to raise funds for the Grange restoration and scholarship fund, and those went over well. But after a while, they became too much work.

Stutzman, a musician who has played throughout the state with the Doughty Hill Band, proposed a coffeehouse fund-raiser. It would be smoke- and alcohol-free, so people of all ages could come, and to satisfy the cooks in the Grange, they would serve gourmet desserts instead of full-scale meals.

“Most of the things done in the Grange are just an excuse to eat,” Grammont joked.

In the 10 years that have passed since the first, three-act season, the coffeehouse has grown to include seven shows. The concerts, held on the first Saturday of the month from November to May, are sold out more often than not, and performers like playing there so much, they often demand to come back.

“One of the things the entertainers will tell you is most of them spend time playing in bars and they come here and have an audience that’s listening,” said Len Nilson of Sangerville, who has missed only a handful of coffeehouses in the past decade.

As he spoke, Bray came over with two unsolicited cups of hazelnut decaf for Len and his wife, Sharrel.

“We don’t have to tell them anymore,” Sharrel said, sipping her coffee.

When they’re not at the Grange, the Nilsons often spend Saturday nights at home listening to Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” or Fiona Ritchie’s “Thistle and Shamrock” on National Public Radio. But they appreciate the chance to meet up with friends – during the November coffeehouse, they sat next to a couple that Sharrel knew in high school.

“It’s sort of a neighborhood type of thing,” she said. “You see the same people. You know who you’re going to see.”

For Callaway and Grammont, what began at the coffeehouse has become a way of life. At the Grange, they found good music. But they also found people who share their interests in the arts and the community.

“It’s a tremendous group of people,” Callaway said, “a lot of fun, a lot of laughs, a lot of creativity. It’s really a heartwarming place to be.”

Kristen Andresen is a Style Desk writer. She can be reached at kandresen@bangordailynews.net.

Coffeehouse Information

The East Sangerville Grange is located on East Sangerville Road in East Sangerville. The coffeehouse takes place the first Saturday of each month, through May. Concerts start at 7 p.m., but the door opens at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $8 for students, $6 for children under 12 and are available at Mr. Paperback in Dover-Foxcroft and Hudson Avenue Florist in Guilford. For availability, call Mr. Paperback at 564-3646. For general information, call 564-2722.

. Dec. 6, Turkey Hollow

. Jan. 10, Doughty Hill and Martin Swinger

. Feb. 7, Woodsong and John and Jason Curran

. March 6, Gallant Brothers Band

. April 3, Michael Cooney

. May 1, Dave Mallett (all tickets $15)