We had wonderful weather at the end of last week, after recent punishing heat and humidity and heavy downpours, for the many events going on up and down the River Valley. It’s country music season in East Dixfield; Bethel’s Mollyockett Days on Saturday came hard on the heels of the annual Strawberry Festival at Dixfield’s Church on the Hill.

Also last Saturday, the Rumford Center Village Improvement Society’s big Food and Treasure Sale attracted many buyers and a good deal of money. (The proceeds support a post-secondary scholarship. This year’s went to Jake Pinkham. Funds are also expended on maintenance and repairs to the historic Meeting House.)

In Mexico, the Green Church has succeeded in putting together the wherewithal for a new boiler. The Mexico Historical Society hosts school groups and builds its collection, while the Rumford Historical Society volunteers welcome visitors and assists with their research.

Clubs and fraternal organizations, many founded a century ago or more — the Grange, for heaven’s sake — continue their meetings and activities.

Let’s hear it for longevity! Of the many reasons to rejoice in seniors’ longer, more active lives, reviewing the host of activities in our area, one stands out: Almost all the River Valley volunteer-run organizations and events are managed by older adults. Committed senior citizen volunteers run hobby, church, social and recreation affairs, but also many of our civic institutions. All but one of the Rumford Library’s trustees, for example, are probably older than the director’s grandmother.

How long can these organizations — and there are many more than those herein — go on without new, younger blood? The Library’s Friends group, said its president Joe Sirois, has not addressed the need to engage more young people. But “…at our next meeting, we’ll have that issue on the agenda.”

Reminding us that the Eagles is a social club, John Patrick reports many members in the 38-to-58 age range. But, he said, the officers and board have “been there forever.” Likewise the Rumford Area Association for the Performing Arts. Audiences are diverse in age, but Dee Holman said, “… a number of us have been members for 40 years.” Chisholm Ski Club: ditto.

Esther Cooper and her husband comes from Sumner to church in Mexico. She confesses that, at her age — you’d never believe it if you knew! — she doesn’t have a lot in common with the young. But, she pointed out, “… the Girl Scouts meet at our church, and young people volunteer in the Green Church food pantry and … sometimes we see them in church.”

Having more going on in a church than Sunday services may be a promising means to engage the young. When Mountain Valley Middle School kids, teachers and some parents visited Rumford Center’s meeting house and church in June, “it was just wonderful,” Winnie Barker recalled. “Probably a lot of them had no idea where Rumford Center is” until their visit.

Jane Peterson has taken on the presidency of the Rumford Historical Society, and, as Mary Greaney noted, Jane is full of ideas and her agenda is action packed. Membership in the Society has dwindled — “maybe 50 members now” — but attracting more, younger members, while a challenge, is not impossible. The Society will diversify its programs, utilize the Internet, and take its members on the road for historical and cultural explorations.

The Society’s first meeting of the fall will be a potluck dinner at the Rumford Point Congregational Church. That event will surely please loyal church member Paul Ramsey. Paul says belonging to a church — and other community groups — “… improves our feelings for our fellow” human beings.

Linda Farr Macgregor is a freelance writer; contact her: ;[email protected]