Grangers earn awards at Grange Expo

At the California State Grange Expo in Bakersfield, six members of Rainbow Valley Grange and Junior Grange earned Best of Show ribbons in a variety of contests. In the Adult section the winners were: Nancy Moramarco in flower arrangements, Tracy Lathrop in sewing and Sandy Fontana in photography; in the Youth section: Sarah Fontana in photography and Madison Donoghue in baking; and in the Junior section: Shavonne Donoghue in potted plants.

The Expo was held at the state Grange convention in October. Twelve Rainbow Valley members (nine adults and three youth) and eight junior members entered a total of 191 items (and won about 100 ribbons) in the Expo contests, which also included creative writing, Christmas ornaments, knitting, gourd painting and basket weaving, among many other contests. Members of Rainbow Valley Junior Grange earned 42 of those ribbons, which made them the winners of the Sweepstakes Award for Junior Granges (points being given for each first, second and third place finish).

Grange Youth Fair team members earned several Silver Belt Buckle awards for their project books. The Youth winners were Sarah Fontana, first in Home Arts, and Missy Dunckel, first in Large Animals, first in Breed and first in All-Around. Junior Grange winners were SeaJay Bates, first in Equestrian, and Jenna Lathrop, first in Breed. SeaJay also won a plaque for Best Project Book.

Besides encouraging animal husbandry and home arts, the Grange also promotes community service, which includes The Dictionary Project this year. Funds raised with a bake sale at the Rainbow Days picnic in May were used to buy dictionaries for the third grade class at Vallecitos School. The dictionaries were presented at the end of September to the group of excited students who were just starting to learn how to use them.