Bean Suppers at the Mariaville Grange Hall
The first summer we started coming to Mariaville, Maine—five years ago now!—we saw this sign at the local grange hall, or community center.
BEAN SUPPER 5:30
Bean suppers at the grange hall, Mariaville, Maine.
The grange hall, or community center, on Mariaville Road.
What the heck, we wondered, was a bean supper? Could anyone go? Was it a potluck? Did they serve anything other than beans?
We asked our neighbors, the many kind people who’d started stopping by out of curiosity about what two people from Texas were doing with the village’s old schoolhouse, “What’s the bean supper at the grange hall like?” No one could say because none of them had been.
Imagine it—you live somewhere for your whole life, and never take advantage of the resources outside your front door. But that’s what we all do, isn’t? Forget to explore, to see with fresh eyes, the place we call home.
The internet didn’t tell us anything, either. Mariaville, Maine is a small community. Its population skews older and congregates on Facebook, which neither Brandon nor I use. If there were or are posts about the bean supper(s) on Facebook, we couldn’t/can’t see them.
Flyer for a recent bean supper on display at the Otis General Store.
Finally, a man up the road whose wife “works” the bean suppers clued us in…
Meals are prepared by volunteers and include hot dogs, macaroni goulash, rolls, coleslaw, and pickles in addition to two types of beans (“big” beans, or pintos, and “small” beans, or navy beans).
The dishes are served family-style in bowls that get passed around from person to person.
There’s water, lemonade, and coffee to drink, no alcohol.
Everyone saves room for dessert—thick slices of a dozen types of pie.
Entry to the event is donation-based—cash only—and 50/50 raffle tickets go 6 for $5.
Dinner is held at picnic tables in the basement of the grange hall. It’s usually crowded and often too warm.
Okay, then! Thus armed with this information, away we went to meet more Mainers.
At that first bean supper, we met one of Mariaville’s selectmen, a military veteran named Craig. Also Ed and Sherry, who are skilled at foraging (especially mushrooms) as well as canning. There were people at our table who’d lived in Mariaville their whole lives and people who lived on “the island” (Mount Desert Island) year-round except in the summers when they rented their houses to “people from away” (tourists)—an arrangement that paid their mortgage in full. With so many people packed in down there, it got loud (and hot) and wasn’t always super easy to converse. But we enjoyed ourselves like we enjoyed the food… especially those key lime, bumbleberry, and tollhouse pies!
World-famous “big” beans (pintos) at the Mariaville, ME bean supper.
Bring cash for 50/50 raffle tickets!
Since then, we’ve made it to every bean supper we’ve been in town for, and have no plans to stop attending. It’s fun to see the same (and some new) faces year after year.
Bottom line: If you found this page because you, too, were looking for more information about the Mariaville grange hall bean supper, you should go! It’s a low-key way to make new friends and enjoy a night off from cooking. Afterward, come see us at the Lincoln School, just up Mariaville Road!
