SUMNER —The day was perfect and community spirit bloomed as 50 volunteers arrived to reroof the town office over the weekend. 

Led by job boss Jim Durfee, the volunteers removed old shingles and installed a gray metal roof.

It was 20 years ago that volunteer workers built the office.

 “People just seemed to know what needed to be done and got to work,” said Town Clerk Susan Runes, who was also on the roof working.  Bob Runes worked with the ground crew.

While most of the volunteers were on the roof or getting materials up to them, the yard was full of other volunteers weeding the gardens around the town office.

Members of the Ladies Auxiliary were home cooking so when noontime came, all the volunteers sat down to tables laden with food.

Everyone in town had something productive to do.

“This is what community spirit is all about, people working together for a common cause,” resident and weed puller Ingrid Erickson said.

That common cause Saturday? The town had $8,000 for roofing material but no money to pay for a contractor to put the roof on.

The effort, completed in a day and a half, saved the town the cost of labor, volunteers said.

The spirit of the community was manifested in the fact that one volunteer was there even though his father had died that morning. He told Susan Runes it was good just to get his mind off his loss.