The Berkshires received more than $600,000 for improvements and planning of recreational trails. The funds are part of some $12 million in awards announced recently for 65 projects across the state.
Representatives from three different community initiatives are collaborating to better connect to the community and improve the effects of urban revitalization.
The 2.4-mile leg of that larger project was completed earlier this year by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, which turned over ownership of the trail from Syndicate Road to the Spruces Park to the Town of Williamstown.
Board member Jane Patton, who manages the club, brought a funding request to the body and argued that the pyrotechnic display is an opportunity to build community that should be supported by taxpayer dollars.
After months of consternation over the cost of overruns to a multi-modal path through town, the town manager Monday announced that Williamstown's share of the cost has effectively been cut in half.
The town is on the hook for that $1.3 million, which exceeds the 10 percent contingency that MassDOT built into the budget for a multimodal trail bid at around $5.3 million.