This Sunday, the Pawlet Public Library shows "Rooted: Cultivating Community in the Vermont Grange," a 2018 documentary film produced by the Vermont Folklife Center and Historic New England in partnership with the Middle Branch Grange and Riverside Grange, both in Vermont. Following the film, a panel of local farmers will bring the story home, touching upon the history of Pawlet's former Grange organization and the impact that changes in agriculture have had on the local community.

The hour-long film documents the national farmers' organization and explores how it has worked to strengthen and preserve rural communities since 1867. In personal interviews and at social gatherings, Grange members reminisce about growing up in the Grange and share their hopes and concerns for the future of an organization adapting to a different concept of community in the 21st century.

Recently retired Pawlet farmers and former Grange members Tim Bryant, Jim Hathaway and John Malcolm will talk about their own farming experiences, the economic forces that changed farming over the last two decades and led to the collapse of dairy farming, and how these changes have impacted the social fiber of the Pawlet and West Pawlet communities.

"This is an opportunity for community members to gather, to learn about farming in our area, and to understand its historic impact on the community," says library director Mary Lou Willits. "There will be time for discussion, and we encourage attendees to ask questions."

To view additional public programs offered through December and the roster of 2019 children's programs, visit the library's website at www.pawletpubliclibrary.wordpress.com, or stop by the library to pick up a printed brochure. The library is located at 141 School Street in Pawlet.