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Panoramas of North Adams and its Sister City, Tremosine, are permanent additions to the lobby at City Hall.

Sister City Panoramas Installed at North Adams City Hall

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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Mayor Thomas Bernard poses with the Eclipse Mill's Michael Bedford, left, and Alex Baker by the photographs donated to the city by the mill.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Two panoramic images of the mountains of Sister Cities North Adams and Tremosine, Italy, are now on permanent display at City Hall. 
 
Taken by photographer Kelly Lee nearly 20 years ago, the landscapes have been on display for years at the Eclipse Mill where Lee had had a loft. 
 
The City Council accepted the gift from the Eclipse Mill Lofts Condominium Trust in late September and the aluminum-framed images were hung in the lobby near the Sister Cites sign before Thanksgiving. 
 
Eclipse Mill resident Michael Bedford, who facilitated the donation, said there were two reasons for the donation. 
 
"One is these belong to the city not to the Eclipse Mill. We bought them from Kelly Lee and they've been in the mill for I don't know how many years," he said. "And we wanted to celebrate the mill's history within North Adams and the old industrial park to tell a little bit of that."
 
Shifting the images to City Hall will allow more people — particularly city residents — to enjoy them, he said, while opening up space at the mill for the exhibit focusing on the mill's history. 
 
"We got the idea that as you come into the Eclipse Mill, it'll be nice to have an exhibition of historical photos of the mill itself, and the people that worked there," said Alex Baker, a photographer and vice chairman of the condominium association. He has been using the Lewis Hine collection and working with the North Adams Historical Society and others to gather interesting photos for the exhibit. "And where these two pictures used to hang is exactly where we wanted to put it."
 
Lee had exhibited a number of his photographs and paintings with in the mill. The panoramas were purchased by trust in 2011. 
 
The North Adams image is of Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and St. Elizabeth's Church with the mountains in the background apparently taken from Veterans Memorial Bridge. It's 5-feet wide and 16 inches high. 
 
The Tremosine sul Garda image is 4-feet wide and 16 inches high and was taken in 2005 during one of the tours to the Lake Garda region in Northern Italy started by Edward Morandi and the late Dr. John Moresi. North Adams and Tremosine became Sister City partners that year. 
 
Many of North Adams' residents have family who came from that region. One of the first immigrants from Tremosine was a Rosasco; he was followed by Bonas, Cellanas, Cozzaglios, Desrosiers, Donatis, Faustinis, Franzonis, Ghidottis, Marchettis, Morandis, Moresis, Pedercinis, Remillards, Spragues, and Veraschis — just a snapshot of a lengthy list of names that can be found in the city and around the Berkshires.
 
"It's not just the connection between the Eclipse Mill as part of the city but also the connection to history and the Sister City relationship," said Mayor Thomas Bernard. "You can understand why people who came to this area, it looked and felt a little bit like home and why it feels like going home for the people who have some sort of historic connection to Tremosine." 
 
While both mountainous, the North Adams image is of gently rolling hills with one of the mills where many of those immigrants worked and the "Italian church," the former St. Anthony's, in the foreground.
 
Tremosine's mountains are sharper and higher and snow-capped, its building's roofs tiled in red but its fields roll down its steep sides. 
 
The donation is a permanent gift and estimated at $500.
 
"We're very happy with the way things have worked out, it's great that we have a home for these here because they really belong to all of North Adams, not to the Eclipse," said Baker. "And now when people come into the mill, they really enjoy walking down the ramp that goes into the first floor of the mill and seeing the photographs [of the mill] and looking at them."

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Snow, Sleet & High Winds for Presidents Day Weekend

Another weekend, another storm for the Berkshires. 
 
The National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., is forecasting 3 to 7 inches of mixed precipitation beginning Saturday afternoon. Ice accumulations may be between one-tenth and three-tenths of an inch.
 
A winter weather advisory is in effect from 1 p.m. on Saturday to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Snow will continue through this evening before transitioning to a wintry mix overnight into Sunday afternoon. Some areas may change over to plain rain before precipitation tapers off.
 
This expected to followed by high winds Sunday night with gusts reaching up to 60 mph. Strong winds combined with any ice on trees could result in additional power outages. A high wind watch is in effect from 7 p.m. Sunday through Monday evening. 
 
Roads, and especially bridges and overpasses, will likely become slick and hazardous from snow, sleet and ice accumulations. Plan on slippery road conditions. Power outages and tree damage are possible due to the ice, snow and winds.
 
North Adams, Pittsfield and other communities have declared snow emergencies which means no parking on the street. In Pittsfield, parking is allowed only on the odd side of the street on Saturday beginning at 7 a.m. and the even side, also beginning at 7 a.m., on Monday. Downtown residents are being encouraged to the McKay Street parking garage free of charge during the emergency. 
 
Travelers should allow for extra travel time and check forecasts for their routes and destinations and, if possible, consider using public transportation in place of a personal vehicle. MassDOT crews have been pretreating roadways in advance of the storm and will be deploying snow removal staff and equipment as necessary across the commonwealth. Download the?Mass511?mobile app or visit?www.mass511.com?to view live cameras, travel times, real-time traffic conditions.
 
National Grid is preparing for icing, snow, hazardous winds and cold temperatures. Wind gusts have the potential to damage trees and knock down power lines, causing power outages in impacted locations. Icing can lead to sagging powerlines and tree limbs. The timing of the changeover to snow and freezing rain will influence snow and ice amounts, with higher snow totals across Western Massachusetts. 
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