Members of the Harraseeket Grange, energized by the addition of a new metal roof, are ready to roll out their first public baked bean supper of the season on Saturday, April 25.

The supper, served from 5-6 p.m., at the Grange Hall on Elm Street, will, as always, feature three kinds of home baked beans – yellow eye, pea and red kidney. The Grange ladies also will offer up all the other things that go with a traditional baked bean supper, including homemade brown bread and pies, for $8. Children under 10 can eat for $4, and children under 3 are free.

Grange Master Nancy Clark said that, while the Harraseeket Grange is coping with a smaller membership, the roof, installed by Justin Jalbert of Falmouth, is a shot in the arm.

“We’re very excited,” Clark said. “The old roof would have caved in this winter. Justin really did well by us. He knew we didn’t have much money.”

What money the Grange did have for the roof came thanks to the generosity of the old Dirigo Grange in Brunswick, which gave up its charter, sold the hall and divided the money between the Topsham and Harraseeket granges.

Harraseeket Grange members also have cleaned up around the outside of the barn-red building, built in 1874 as a horse stable. They took down three diseased blue spruce trees that were planted 70 years ago by Charlie Carter, who was a mail carrier in those days. Harraseeket Grange No. 9 was established in 1874, and was the ninth branch of the organization in the state.

Right now, the Grange is all about the monthly bean suppers, from May through October.

“Tamantha Wilson is the head cook and bottle washer,” said Clark, who is closing in on 40 years with the Grange. “Her father, Fred, and I were classmates, and I brought her into the Grange. Tamantha’s cousin, who is 19, joined the Grange when she was 14. We have 37 members, but most are not active. We get 10 to 14 at meetings.”

Clark said that several of those “regulars” make the pies. The homemade brown bread is made from a recipe provided by Barbara Griffin, a member of North Scarborough Grange.

Attendance at the bean suppers is holding steady, Clark said.

“We have a group of loyalists from the Freeport Elders, and people who are attracted by the ads we put out,” Clark said.

Gary Croudis, a member of the Freeport Elders Association, said that members appreciate that the Grange has kept its price to $8, and they like to support the people who are working so hard to put those suppers on.

“They do a good job of cooking a meal,” Croudis said. “They keep coffee on the table and keep the hot dogs going and they do a good job.”

Croudis said that Freeport Elders will draw a couple of tables together at the Grange, and sit with each other.

“It’s a social thing,” he said. “We might have a dozen of us.”

The Harraseeket Grange is getting by without three venerable members – Jennie Profenno, Rose Minott of Brunswick and Eunice Stone of New Gloucester – who all died last fall.

“Jennie was our matriarch,” Clark said. “She was 96. She was our oldest member and our longest-serving member. She was a beloved lady.”

As for Clark, 77, she is dealing with acute arthritis. Wilson, a certified nursing assistant, has moved in with her.

“She helps take care of me,” Clark said. “We’ve been living together since I broke my elbow last June. It gives me company.”

Nancy Randall Clark, master of the Harraseeket Grange, inside the kitchen where beans, hot dogs, brown bread and other staples of a traditional bean supper are cooked up monthly from April through September. File photo

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