Due to coronovirus concerns, this event will be held on the patio outside the building. Go inside to grab a cup of your favorite beverage and join us outside, or sit inside if that is comfortable for you. You may also simply join us outside without going inside at all. 3/13/2020 - See my most recent message announcement below.
Start Pi Day by a grabbing a cup of your favorite beverage and chatting with other cachers outside the old Old Chambers Prairie Grange which has been renovated into a Starbucks. Three years ago the historic meeting hall in Tumwater, otherwise known as Chambers Prairie Grange No. 191 was purchased with the intent to save the abandoned and deteriorating building.
Starbucks took an interest in the site, leased the property, and announced plans for a new store on that corner, wanting to save as much of the character of the old grange as possible. Their feelings are that they want people to "sit and stay."
It now has a few modern touches, such as a new roof and some new doors and windows. But much of the more than 100-year-old building remains intact, including window frames and panes, flooring, a chimney, siding, an interior door and wall fans operated with a tug of a rope.
The former grange hall stage, which was made of Douglas Fir, was broken down and incorporated into an open beam area of the ceiling that gives the space a rustic touch, but also allows light to filter in from skylights. A patio also was added for outdoor seating. Perhaps the most important touch: The Chambers Prairie Grange sign, which once hung on the exterior of the building, has now found a home inside.
In a nod to the history of the grange — fraternal organizations that have roots in farming and agriculture — historic farm equipment was placed on the property as part of the landscaping. The building was built for the grange in 1909 and remained a grange hall until about 2002.
Why Pi Day?
- Pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, or approximately 3.14.
- Pi Day occurs March 14, because the date is written as 3/14 in the United States. If you're a serious math geek, celebrate the day exactly at 1:59 a.m. or p.m. so you can reach the first six numbers of pi, 3.14159.
- interestingly, March 14 is also mathematician Albert Einstein's birthday.
- physicist Larry Shaw started Pi Day in 1988 at San Francisco's Exploratorium to celebrate the famous number and mathematics in general.
- in 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution to recognize Pi Day.
Let's celebrate the start of Pi Day 2020 at the grange.