Community Celebration Set for Lincoln’s 200th Birthday

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — An "After-School Birthday Party" to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln is planned for Feb. 12, from 3:30 to 5:30 at the Berkshire South Regional Community Center.

This is a public event with no charge and is sponsored by the center, Chesterwood, Norman Rockwell Museum and state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli, D-Lenox. The program will include a high school essay contest sponsored by Pignatelli, art projects for children, readings and presentations about President Lincoln, and a monumental birthday cake.

 It must be at least 200 words and be submitted by Friday, Jan. 30, to Pignatelli's district office at 6 Walker St. in Lenox. Prizes will be awarded.

Elementary students are invited to bring birthday cards, artwork celebrating his presidency or other Lincoln-related classroom projects. These items will be displayed at the event and can be delivered to the front desk at the Berkshire South at 15 Crissey Road beginning Feb. 9 or brought to the event.

Chesterwood's Lincoln Bicentennial programming for May 1 to Oct. 31 will be announced at the event. Chesterwood is the country home, studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), sculptor of seated Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial (1922) in Washington, D.C., and "The Minute Man" (1875) in Concord. The museum is located off Route 183 in the Glendale section of Stockbridge, near the Rockwell Museum. 

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April 5 Protests Planned in Berkshire Region

Staff Reports
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire County residents will be joining thousands across the country on Saturday in protests against the policies of the Trump administration. 
 
A thousand rallies alone are posted on Mobilize.us, an organizing platform.
 
More locally, Hands Off! rallies will be held from noon to 2 at the Adams Town Common11 to 1 at Great Barrington Town Hall; at noon in front of First Congregational Church in Williamstown; at 1 p.m. at Park Square in Pittsfield; at 11 at Stockbridge Town Hall; from noon to 1 at the four corners in downtown Bennington, Vt. 
 
The events will be rain or shine and rally-goers are asked bring only signs, no signs on sticks.
 
Protests are also planned in Greenfield, Springfield, Albany, N.Y., Boston and Washington, D.C.
 
The mobilization is a reaction to dramatic cuts in the federal workforce, loss of grant funding, elimination of entire federal departments, perceived threats to Social Security, and actions by the "Department of Government Efficiency," spearheaded by multibillionaire Elon Musk.
 
"These rallies throughout Berkshire County are our message to the world that we do not consent to the destruction of our government and our economy for the benefit of Trump and his billionaire allies," said Sherwood Guernsey, a former state legislator and organizer of the Williamstown event. "Alongside Americans across the country, we are rallying both to demand Trump and Musk stop the chaos and to build an opposition movement to halt the looting of our country."
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