Parks and Open Space Manager Jim McGrath updated the Parks Commission on Tuesday about the installation.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The disc golf course at Kirvin Park has been installed.
The nine-hole course is now established and the metal and chain baskets have been set up. In the next week or so a sign with a course map will be installed.
"With the sign, there will be a small trifold brochure box with a pull-out brochure which explains the rules of disc golf. It has a map on it," Parks and Open Space Manager James McGrath told the Parks Commission on Tuesday.
The course will be the first free one in the city and only the second course created. Bousquet Ski Resort has a course currently operating in the county and one is being planned for Windsor Lake in North Adams. Outside of that, an 18-hole course in Wilbraham is likely the closest.
Kirvin Park's course was first conceived in 2013 and received approval from both the Parks Commission and the Conservation Commission. McGrath worked with consultants from Explore Disc Golf to identify and create the site.
The course at Kirvin is laid out in areas of the park which aren't routinely mowed or maintained, so it is unlikely the course will disrupt much at the park and McGrath has previously said the operation will "co-exist" with other activities there.
"I think for a minimal amount of effort and maintenance, we can make this a wonderful destination within the park," McGrath said.
The sport evolved from recreational Frisbee throwing, to a golf game, and, in 1975, the first disc golf course was built. Now, there are thousands of courses all over the world. The sport has exploded with popularity in the last decade or so and from 2000 until 2008 the number of courses nationally doubled.
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ServiceNet Warming Center Hosted 126 People This Winter
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
ServiceNet manages the warming shelter next to the church.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — ServiceNet's warming center has provided more than heat to unhoused individuals over the last four months and will run to the end of April.
It opened on Dec. 1 in the First United Methodist Church's dining area, next to ServiceNet's 40-bed shelter The Pearl. The agency has seen 126 individuals utilize the warming center and provided some case management to regulars.
While this winter was a success, they are already considering next winter.
"I've been on this committee many years now. There's probably only a few months out of the year that I don't talk about winter, so I'm always trying to plan for next winter," Erin Forbush, ServiceNet's director of shelter and housing, told the Homelessness Advisory Committee on Wednesday.
"We are in this winter and I'm already thinking what's going to happen next winter because I want to be really clear, winter shelter is never a given. We don't have this built into the state budget. It's not built into our budget, so there is always trying to figure out where we get money, and then where do we go with winter shelter."
She pointed out that warming centers are "very different" from shelters, which have a bed. The warming center is set up like a dining room, open from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., and folks are welcome to stay for breakfast.
"We are asking people to come in, get warm, be out of the elements," Forbush explained.
ServiceNet's warming center has provided more than heat to unhoused individuals over the last four months and will run to the end of April.
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