Leedy Grange News
By Virginia Bruce, Leedy Grange Master
 Leedy Grange is pleased to announce that we will receive our second grant from the Cultural Coalition of Washington County! This time the grant will allow us to display our collection of historic Cedar Mill photos in a manner befitting its importance to the community.
The photos mostly come from images collected by Nancy Olson and Linda Dodds during their research for the Cedar Mill History book, first published in 1978, with a revised edition in 1986. The images were donated to the Washington County Historical Society in 1980 for safe-keeping. Nancy Olson kept a collection of matted prints that she used when she visited elementary schools to talk about local history. I first saw them displayed at the library several years ago.
Later, Nancy agreed to lend the set of prints to the Grange so we could display them—first at the Shortcake Social in June 2008. We used them several times, putting everything up for the events, and then taking them down again for safekeeping. It was a lot of work!
Nancy’s son Nick Olson, owner of PVS, an in-store graphics company, volunteered to scan all the photos so that we could make prints and keep them up all the time. Over the last couple of years, the interior of the hall has become, among other things, a permanent history museum for the community.
The photos have just been taped to the walls for the most part. We tried to frame a few of them, but it’s a big job for a small volunteer organization.
The WCCC grant of $990 will help us get the photos printed on high-quality photo paper and placed in custom frames. Olson has offered to help with the effort as a contribution to the community and a memorial to his mother, who passed away last fall.
If you’ve enjoyed the display and would be interested in helping, we’ll probably be announcing a BIG framing party once the parts have been assembled. Then they will all need to be hung on the walls. A community effort will result in a wonderful memorial to our pioneer and early commercial history in this unique place called Cedar Mill. And when it’s all complete, we’ll have a big celebration!
Native garden
 In front of the mural, which was created in part with funds from our first WCCC grant in 2011, we have planted mostly native vegetation. A drip watering system was put in to keep it going last summer, and almost everything survived the winter (and some over-enthusiastic weeding—sometimes it’s difficult to tell a weed from a precious native!). Clean Water Services, the Cedar Mill Garden Club, and volunteers helped with the purchase and planting of the garden.
It’s a constant battle to keep the weeds down in this busy spot. If one or more folks in the area would be interested in helping with that, we’ll be happy to show you what stays and what goes, and could even provide tools and gloves. Hand-weeding only, though, chemical spraying would defeat the purpose! Just email me and let me know if you’d like to help: info@cedarmillnews.com.
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