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Members and well-wishers of the New Market Grange gathered at the Libertytown Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday to celebrate the organization's 90th anniversary.

Paul Leatherman, the grange's chaplain, gave the invocation, saying that for 90 years, God had blessed the organization's efforts in the community.

"To us, 90 years seems like a long time, but it is less than a blink of an eye [to God]," Leatherman said.

Over the years, New Market Grange has donated dictionaries to third-graders at Deer Crossing, Liberty, New Market and Oakdale elementary schools, provided college scholarships to its members and extra classroom space for Frederick County Public Schools, held blood drives, and helped with other community events. The grange's mission is to advocate for rural values and help those in need.

Scott Burall, the grange's president, offered a special acknowledgement to those members who had been with the grange for more than half of its history. These Golden Sheave members — those who had been grangers for more than 50 years — had taught all of their juniors a good deal about what the organization means, he said.

"You have watered us with your knowledge, nurtured us with your wisdom and cultivated us with your experience," Burall said.

Two of those distinguished members are close relatives of Burall's; his father, Leroy, and his uncle, Bill.

Bill Burall said he has been a member of New Market Grange for 69 years, since he joined at age 15.

He said that the rituals and aims of the organization made a great impression on him as a youngster.

"I just like the way that they operated," he said. "It stuck with me."

Bill and Leroy Burall were both masters of the New Market Grange in the past, a rank that corresponds to president in the current organization.

"It's been a good journey," Bill Burall said.

About 130 members and guests from granges around Frederick County attended the dinner, said Richard Stonebreaker, who coordinates social activities for the grange. His mother, Lori Anderson, was in charge of sending out invitations, and the response to many of these came in after the Jan. 6 deadline.

Stonebreaker said he was still happy that so many could make it to the celebration. "It's great," he said. "I was a little worried [about attendance] at first."

Some of the younger members, like Kenny Miles, 16, a junior at Linganore High School, look to the grange as an organization that allows them to help out in their community, and to occasionally skip football practice for the greater good.

Kenny, a defensive lineman and offensive lineman on Linganore High School's varsity football team, had to miss practice to help out at the grange's food booth at the Frederick County fair in September. He has been a member of the grange for three years.

Christy Miles, Kenny's mother, said she joined the grange recently while looking for a way to give back to her community. She said because the grange offers programs and scholarships to young people, she deemed it a worthy cause.

"It's a big help," she said. "It lifts up the community."

E-mail Christian Brown at chbrown@gazette.net