NORTH ADAMS, Mass. —  The 65th annual Fall Foliage Parade is still a go for Sunday, Oct. 3. 

 

And, suitably, this year's grand marshals are the entire Emergency Operations Center team that was activated when the pandemic hit Berkshire County back in March 2020. The center was headquartered at Harriman and West Airport and coordinated communications and dispersal of materials and equipment through the state.

 

The Northern Berkshire Regional Planning Committee also coordinated the vaccination clinic at St. Elizabeth's in conjunction with Northern Berkshire EMS. The clinic administered more than 25,000 doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines during its six months of operations. 

 

"The REPC Operations Center's hardworking team came together immediately in March of 2020 to work on public service announcements, policies, recommendations, and state and federal communications. Along with this, they served as an important centralized PPE depot and they became the one spot for eight Northern Berkshire communities and two colleges to turn to throughout the pandemic," wrote the parade committee in making the announcement, adding on Facebook, "We can't thank you and all our frontline first responders enough for working so hard throughout such a challenging global crisis." 

 

The theme of this year's parade also ties in with the pandemic to celebrate some of the things that kept us going during the long quarantine: "Games, Movies & Takeout."

 

Organizing the parade is a long-term effort and this year's is being put together in a very abbreviated time period. It still needs volunteers and sponsors to come together. Found out more and how to volunteer here. https://tinyl.io/4dHY