NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Over $1,000 was raised at the first NAMAzing Dog-A-Thon to benefit the Eagle Street Initiative.
A small group formed at the pocket park on Eagle Street on Friday evening to watch six worthy competitors dressed in their Sunday best ingest as many Jack's Hot Dogs as they could in in very long 20 minutes.
After going over the universal signal for choking and strategically placing a barf bucket near the table, competitors Benjamin Lamb, Geeg Wiles, Mike Walker, Annie Rodgers, Nathan Rodgers and Piper Jacobs, 8, loaded their plates.
What started out as a sprint soon became an endurance contest as Nathan and Annie Rodgers tapped out early while Lamb, Wylde and Walker fought it out to the bitter end.
Although Jacobs was named the winner, earning a Jack's T-shirt and coupon, Lamb inhaled 10 dogs and was able to down half of a dog to cheers from the small crowd before time ran out, raising $330 on his own.
The Dog-A Thon is only part of fundraising efforts to raise $25,000 for a MassDevelopment matching grant to revitalize Eagle Street. Lamb, City Council president, has been spearheading the effort by the NAMAzing Initiative through the crowdfunding website Patronicity and with the nonprofit Partnership for North Adams as the financial agent.
The fundraising has reached more than $13,000 with another 21 days left. The funds could be used to create pop-up "parklets" for more social space, gateways to mark each entrance of the historic street, branded trash and recycling receptacles and highly visible signage for each business.
Lamb thanked Jack's Hot Dogs for its donation as well as all those who attended the event.
"Thank you all so much for coming out and thank you for your support both being here and cheering us on and watching us destroy ourselves and contributing to the Eagle Street Initiative," Lamb said after regaining his composure.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
North Adams' Route 2 Study Looks at 'Repair, Replace and Remove'
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Attendees make comments and use stickers to indicate their thoughts on the priorities for each design.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Nearly 70 residents attended a presentation on Saturday morning on how to stitch back together the asphalt desert created by the Central Artery project.
Of the three options proposed — repair, replace or restore — the favored option was to eliminating the massive overpass, redirect traffic up West Main and recreate a semblance of 1960s North Adams.
"How do we right size North Adams, perhaps recapture a sense of what was lost here with urban renewal, and use that as a guide as we begin to look forward?" said Chris Reed, director of Stoss Landscape Urbanism, the project's designer.
"What do we want to see? Active street life and place-making. This makes for good community, a mixed-use downtown with housing, with people living here ... And a district grounded in arts and culture."
The concepts for dealing with the crumbling bridge and the roads and parking lots around it were built from input from community sessions last year.
The city partnered with Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art for the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program and was the only city in Massachusetts selected. The project received $750,000 in grant funding to explore ways to reconnect what Reed described as disconnected "islands of activity" created by the infrastructure projects.
"When urban renewal was first introduced, it dramatically reshaped North Adams, displacing entire neighborhoods, disrupting street networks and fracturing the sense of community that once connected us," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey. "This grant gives us the chance to begin to heal that disruption."
Nearly 70 residents attended a presentation on Saturday morning on how to stitch back together the asphalt desert created by the Central Artery project. click for more
This month, students highlighted the company Sheds-N-Stuff in Cheshire, showcasing its array of merchandise and services, including selling, delivering, and assembling its products.
click for more