Weekend Outlook: Good Eats, Art Treats

Staff reportsiBerkshires
Print Story | Email Story
Come and Get It!

Save your appetite so you'll have plenty of room to sample the movable feast that will appear on North Adams' Main Street on Sunday.

That's right. The Northern Berkshire Food Festival returns for the seventh year with fare ranging from old favorites to fine wines. There'll also be entertainment, drawings, a food demonstration and a visit with the SteepleCats.

The festivities start at noon; thousands are expected to attend but you won't need reservations for this dining experience. Food tickets are 50 cents each and will be sold from two kiosks located at the entrances of the festival tents.

More Than a Museum

Before or after your Main Street meal, head over to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown to see the brand-new Stone Hill Center.

The first phase of the museum's multimillion expansion was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando; the wood and glass 32,000-square-foot building houses galleries, a meeting and studio art classroom, an outdoor cafe, and the Williamstown Art Conservation Center.

The free open house for the new center will be from 11 to 5 on Sunday. The festivities kick off at noon with guided tours beginning at 12:30. A lecture on the new exhibit "Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly," begins at 3 p.m.

Refreshments will be for sale on the grounds and the new trails will be open around Stone Hill.

Creating the Green Way

Head to IO Gallery in North Adams on Saturday night to see art created before your eyes. The opening reception of the gallery's second seasonal exhibit will feature five to six artists expressing their perceptions of pollution and the environment on the spot from 6 to 9.

Some 15 artists in all will be illustrate the same theme with works throughout the gallery. IO Gallery is located at 71 Main St.

Family Fun - No Butts About It
 
A free family carnival will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at Western Gateway Heritage State Park in North Adams. The QuitLinks program of the Reach Community Health Foundation sponsors the carnival with support from Child Care of the Berkshires and the Mayor's Office of Tourism.

There will be free sno-cones and cotton candy and healthy snacks and drinks as well. Trevor the Games Man and Bowie the Clown will entertain the crowd, which will have a chance to dunk some local celebrities. WUPE will be broadcasting live and the Heritage Park Tot Train will provide rides for kids.

Drawing the Tree of Life

Northern Berkshire Creative Arts and the North Adams Museum of History and Science will collaborate for NBCA's free Family Art Day, "Stepping into History," Saturday from 1 to 3 at Heritage State Park.
 
Activities will include tours of the museum, and arts and crafts related to the history of North Adams, "draw your family tree," decorative footwear and historical cards and collages.
 
This fun event is free and open to the public but registration is required by calling 413-663-8338 and leave name, phone number, number of people attending, as well as the ages of the children. For more information about NBCA, see www.nbcreativearts.org.

Mailer Show Opens

The Ferrin Gallery at 437 North St. in Pittsfield is hosting an opening reception for Maggie Mailer's solo show, "The Volcano Sitters," which follows her return to a storefront studio on Fenn Street last month. Mailer will also give a free artist talk on her work and her process on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Stop by the gallery opening on Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m.

'Cats in Action

Not only will the North Adams SteepleCats take on the North Shore Navigators at Joe Wolfe Field on Saturday, they'll be pitching in the stacks at the North Adams Public Library to encourage kids to read.

Starting at 11 a.m., Children can register for the library's Summer Reading Adventure, meet a 'Cat, hear baseball stories, have a snack and enjoy a craft. Gates open at 6 for the game; there'll be a baseball book raffle, and library-themed contests between innings.  

For more information call 413-662-3133 or visit naplibrary.com, steeplecats.com.

Berry, Berry Good

Second Congregational Church of Williamstown holds its Strawberry Festival on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Hancock Road. The festival will have strawberry shortcake, lunch, bake sale, tag sale, jewelry table, Chinese auction, plants, children's games and face painting. For more information call 413-458-4450.

Great Barrington Holds Block Party

A Summer Solstice Block Party will take place at Memorial Field on Bridge Street, Great Barrington, at 10 a.m. Musical entertainment will be provided by David Grover, Sandy Lord, Evan Randall, Heather Fisch, Elana Belle and The Lix. There will also be food and craft vendors, a bouncy castle, and other fun games and activities.

Later in the afternoon at 4, there will be a skate competition at Skate Park along with deejays, a kayak launching into the Housatonic River, snow cones, a water balloon fight, and more. From 7:30 to 11:30, rock out at Searles Middle School gymnasium with local bands. For more information call 413-528-2475.

Bargain Hunters' Bounty
 
Berkshire South Regional Community Center is hosting a giant tag and bake sale on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. rain or shine. Drop off items from 7 to 9 a.m. that morning.

No clothing, stuffed toys or mattresses, computer monitors, broken or non-functioning electronics or toys, large exercise equipment, air conditioners, or items with toxic materials such as paints or propane tanks. Contact Jenise at 413-528-2810, Ext. 15, for more information.

Kick Off Summer on Summer Street

The merchants in the Summer Street area in Adams are hosting a festival on Sunday from 6 to 9. The Damnit Band will be providing music, food will be sold and there will be a house-key giveaway from WUPE radio.

Let Them Dance

A local community dance group for youth, Focus Is Our Children, will be featured at the 11 annual Community Recital at First United Methodist Church of Pittsfield at 55 Fenn St. at 3 p.m. on Sunday.

The benefit is $10 for adults and $5 for children and seniors. The dance group is open to all area children and is free.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Lanesborough Town Meeting to Vote Budget, Bylaws & Vehicle Purchases

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Tuesday's annual town meeting includes a $14 million operating budget, new short-term rentals, accessory dwelling units and sign bylaws, and free cash article appropriations.

Voters will gather at Lanesborough Elementary School on June 9 at 6 p.m. to decide on 20 warrant articles.

The fiscal 2027 budget is up a little over 10 percent. Some of the main increases are the Mount Greylock Regional School District and McCann Technical School: the McCann assessment is up more than 30 percent based on factors including enrollment and the school renovation project, and Mount Greylock's is up 11 percent.

Article 11 is for the town to vote to approve from free cash the sum of $16,298.48 for the McCann Technical School roof and window replacement project so as not to impact the budget. Article 3 is  appropriate $7,586,284 for Mount Greylock Regional School assessment.

Another notable increase was in life and health insurance, showing an increase of about 26 percent.

Ambulance Director Jen Weber is planning 24-hour coverage, which means more staff and a hike in her budget. One of the articles asks the town to appropriate $234,100 to operate the Ambulance Enterprise Fund for salaries and expenses.

Many town departments are looking for new vehicles. The Fire Department is looking to replace its outdated 1996 fire engine. There are two articles related to the truck at a total of $813,366. Article 12 would transfer $225,000 from free cash into the Fire Truck Stabilization Fund; Article 13 would transfer $605,000 from the fund and authorize the borrowing of $208,366.08.

The total includes a $100,000 contingency cost to cover any additional costs if a 2026 model-year chassis cannot be secured before new emissions standards go into effect in 2027.

The board at its last meeting moved the $225,000 transfer to come before the borrowing article, changing the stabilization number. If the $225,000 is not voted on, then they will amend the next article's number on the floor, subtracting the $225,000. This shows the borrowing number significantly lower.

Article 17 asks for the transfer of $80,000 from free cash to replace a police cruiser.

Police Chief Rob Derksen's aim is to replace one vehicle every other year, meaning the oldest vehicle gets replaced about every 10 years. 

He stressed that if delayed this year, the town may have to double up in a future year to get back on schedule, and that paying later usually costs more. The article will ask for $80,000 from free cash, the vehicles used to be funded by the BHRD.

Lastly, the Highway Department is looking to replace a 2014 International dump truck that will be a total of $330,000 and will take two to three years to receive.

Money will be used from last year's approval of $250,000 from free cash for the replacement of a 2012 highway front-end loader that was underspent $49,261. Town meeting is being asked to approve  a transfer of $53,274.85 from free cash and the use of $227,464 from funds from the Sale of Town Real Estate to fund the balance.

Other free cash proposals include $1,200 to purchase software to support tracking and ongoing maintenance schedules of town-owned vehicles; $42,000 for the replacement of the Highway Department's storage shed roof, $200,000 to reduce the tax levy.

View Full Story

More Stories