Williamstown to Celebrate MapleFest

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.— MapleFest, the town's annual maple syrup celebration, is set to take place this Saturday, March 13, in Hopkins Memorial Forest.

Visitors will get the chance to see the entire process maple syrup-making process, from maple tree tapping to a working sugarhouse with an old kettle boiler, to syrup tasting and pancake eating. The free event will take place, rain or shine, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Vans will be available from Chapin Hall.

Maple syrup celebrations have been a part of the country’s calendar for generations. The "maple moon" month, as this time of year is called, brings people together to cook maple syrup.

Visitors also are welcome to visit the sugarhouse anytime during the sugaring season, which is from early March to mid-April.

Hopkins Memorial Forest is located at the intersection of Northwest Hill Road and Bulkley Street. The reserve, managed by the Williams College Center for Environmental Studies, spans more than 2,500 acres in Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. The land was donated to the college by the family of Colonel Amos Lawrence Hopkins in the 1930s. Since then, the college has actively maintained the forest, which it uses for teaching and research.
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Vice Chair Vote Highlights Fissure on Williamstown Select Board

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A seemingly mundane decision about deciding on a board officer devolved into a critique of one member's service at Monday's Select Board meeting.
 
The recent departure of Andrew Hogeland left vacant the position of vice chair on the five-person board. On Monday, the board spent a second meeting discussing whether and how to fill that seat for the remainder of its 2024-25 term.
 
Ultimately, the board voted, 3-1-1, to install Stephanie Boyd in that position, a decision that came after a lengthy conversation and a 2-2-1 vote against assigning the role to a different member of the panel.
 
Chair Jane Patton nominated Jeffrey Johnson for vice chair after explaining her reasons not to support Boyd, who had expressed interest in serving.
 
Patton said members in leadership roles need to demonstrate they are "part of the team" and gave reasons why Boyd does not fit that bill.
 
Patton pointed to Boyd's statement at a June 5 meeting that she did not want to serve on the Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee, instead choosing to focus on work in which she already is heavily engaged on the Carbon Dioxide Lowering (COOL) Committee.
 
"We've talked, Jeff [Johnson] and I, about how critical we think it is for a Select Board member to participate in other town committees," Patton said on Monday. "I know you participate with the COOL Committee, but, especially DIRE, you weren't interested in that."
 
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