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Date: 8/11/2021
GRANBY – The American Legion Post 266 in Granby is restoring services it had to curtail last year.
Located at 74 Pleasant St., Post 266 organizes fundraisers in the community and scholarships for the Granby High School. They have a Granby service officer to direct veterans into the right agency to help them – whether it be the VA, financial help, mental help and more.
Post 266 also leads the Memorial Day ceremony where they host a 25-minute service at the center of town, followed by a parade where they go to each of the cemeteries in Granby that have veterans buried there.
The American Legion was founded in 1919 in France at the end of World War I. It was charted by Congress as a patriotic veterans’ organization devoted to mutual helpfulness.
Mark Lockwood, the commander of American Legion Post 266 said, “We have three different parts of our membership. We have the American Legion members which is 136. Then we have Sons of the American Legion which is around 20 and we also have the American Legion Auxiliary which those numbers are around 30.” He continued, “The rules in the last couple of years have changed. Before you had to have served in the Armed Forces during a specific time frame. Now, they have changed the rules, so if you were honorably discharged or still in service you can become an American Legion member.”
Before the pandemic, Lockwood said the post was running well – however at the time, they were closed for 15 months for renovations. During their shut down, the post did renovations to the lounge by putting a new painted bar top and a cushioned floor behind the bar for the staff. Because they did not have a restaurant license to serve food, they were able to receive one through the town of Granby, and eventually, were able to open for limited hours.
At time of press, their lounge was open from 12 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Tuesdays through Sundays. Eventually, they hope to be open on Mondays, but are having a hard time getting staff to work on that day considering most of the active members have full-time jobs. For now, Lockwood said they are looking to hire staff for Mondays. Once that happens, then the post will be back to opening seven days a week.
“We’re getting back on track to where we used to be,” said Lockwood. “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting close. Being closed was a struggle to be able to pay our bills. All the vendors, the electric light company and all the things that it takes to run a business.”
This year, Post 266 will have their Labor Day 50/50 Raffle to raise money to redo the floors in their lounge.
For more information on the Granby American Legion Post 266, call 467-9545.