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Grange stirs up apple butter
The Lawrence County Fair starts Monday and runs through Saturday.
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The small building on Harlansburg Road was late-July, no-air-conditioning hot, and it smelled like Sunday dinner.
Inside, Lawrence County Pomona Grange members were eating their lunches in shifts. Their tables, replete with homemade casseroles and desserts, looked as if they’d been set by one very busy country grandmother.
The county grange’s director of activities, Nancy McMillin, was about to sit down to her lunch. But she pushed it aside, eager to show off where the really interesting activity was — out of the main room, through the tiny kitchen where grange members were busy working elbow to elbow, and out the back door to the small backyard.
There, more grangers gathered around camp-style fires, keeping a respectful distance from three copper cauldrons that would often let fly scalding gobs of a thick, brown substance.
They stirred from 5 feet away with long sticks that had ends resembling boat oars.
That scary brown substance those kettles were spitting out so angrily would settle down, cool and sweet, into homemade apple butter.
Made with sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and 10 gallons of applesauce from each of the six individual granges that make up the county Pomona, it will be for sale in Mason jars at the Lawrence County Fair this week.
If you like apple butter but have only ever had store-bought, you might want to stop by the grange building and get some of theirs. It’s $6 a quart and $4 a pint.
The money, said McMillin, goes to support causes that include the Lawrence County United Way, the City Rescue Mission in New Castle, the Salvation Army, the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind, the American Cancer Society, Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, the Crisis Center of Lawrence County and the American Red Cross.
That’s what the Grange does, said McMillin: Originally formed in 1867 to help farmers, it has now evolved into a group that also supports the community.
Using the fair as a setting for its fundraiser is a natural fit, too, said McMillin. That’s because 55 years ago, the county grange was one of the fair’s founding forces.
The fair begins Monday and continues through Saturday. Monday is Grange Day, with activities from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Community Building. The county Pomona, which has about 250 members, will also recognize its outstanding youths there at 7 p.m.
There are plenty of other activities throughout the week as well, whether you’re into watching the livestock judging, listening to music, or riding the rides.
New this year, said Laura Dougherty, the fair’s public relations chairwoman, are a stock tractor and 4X4 truck pulls Monday evening at the grandstand. Also new are stock car football — “they push a huge ball around with their cars,” she explained — and a figure-eight demolition derby.
(“Cars go around in a figure eight and hit each other until there’s only one left.”)
They’re also at the grandstand — car football Tuesday evening, the figure-eight derby Wednesday evening.
If you’re into motorcycles, you won’t want to miss Bike Nite. It starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday. If classic cars are your thing, come at 5 p.m. Wednesday for the car cruise.
This year’s musical headliner is Flynnville Train, “high-energy country rock,” said Dougherty. They perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the grandstand. Opening for them at 5:30 p.m. is Lakewood Road.
A lot of old favorites will be back this year too, Dougherty said, including dance groups Castle Paws and Taws and Karen Elder & the Traveling Shoes.
Of course, the usual assortment of goodies will compete for best of the fair — blueberry orange bread is the special bread this year, said Dougherty, with everyone following the same recipe.
A Hershey contest will have contestants loading up their confections with Hershey chocolate.
Who’s got the best apple pie? We’ll find out.
As for apple butter, well ...
Grangers will even be on hand outside their building beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to show you how they make it. Then, you can be the judge.