WEST FARMINGTON —The peeling clapboards are clapping in appreciation. A total of $40,000 has been received since the call went out to the community on May 1 for money to paint the exterior and the interior ceiling of the 130 year old historic building on Bridge Street home to the Grange since 1938.

While the call went out for $6,000 to “get started,” a total of $40,000, came in says Bonnie Clark, president of the Farmington Grange #12. More than enough to not only buy the paint but to pay painters to scrape the old paint off the two-towered building before they prime and paint it.

That’s the good news, says Clark, but the painter who bid on the work before the pandemic, says he won’t be able to begin work until next year. Meanwhile we may do some scraping ourselves, says Clark.

According the Grange Treasurer Gerald Libby $10,000 came from the Franklin County Bjorn Foundation and $20,000 came from monies given to the Franklin County Commissioners from the American Rescue Plan (ARP). And $10,000 came from individual donations not only from Farmington residents but from across the county. While $600 came from a fund raising event recently held by the Grange.

Stay tuned, says Clark. Meanwhile the clapboards are clapping in appreciation and the members of the Grange are deeply grateful for the generosity of the donors far and wide.

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