Fern Prairie hosts bistate grange boosters

Fern Prairie — How do you keep Granges alive? That was the topic of a bistate conference, the Grange Growth Summit, held at the Fern Prairie Grange on March 16-18. About 20 participants from all over Washington and Oregon visited granges in Clark County and discussed how to help them thrive. Janice Anderson of the Fern Prairie Grange said Grange prosperity is all about programming. “We really need to find out what our communities need and incorporate that,” Anderson said. That includes everything from holding benefit breakfasts to candidate debates, she said. The Fern Prairie Grange has struggled with frequent flooding in its building basement. Member Tom Gibson recently fixed the problem by hard wiring the grange’s sump pump. Learn more at http://fpgrange.org.