Pittsfield Parks Commissions OKs New, Returning Events

The 'missing soldier table' as a memorial to POW/MIA at last year's Park of Honor. This year, it will be used at the ceremony for Vietnam veterans in September.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Parks Commission approved a dozen park event requests on Tuesday, ushering in a year of diverse happenings.

Among the approvals is a seemingly new event in the fall: the Mayflower Portuguese Water Dog Trial that will be held on Sept. 16 and 17 at Burbank Park from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"We're trying to keep the water dog instinct alive in our breed," said Patrice Lattrell, vice president of the Mayflower Portuguese Water Dog Club.

"They were bred to work on the fishing boat in Portugal so they were, they are, a working dog and these trials test the skills that the dogs would be required to do on working boats."

The trial will have between 30 and 40 dogs and they will be in a fenced-off area throughout the trials when they are not crated.

Lattrell said there are only two of these events held in the Northeast, with the others in Connecticut and in Maine.

The event is expected to attract enthusiasts of the breed from all over New England and as far as Georgia and South Carolina.

Local veterans will present a new, Prisoner of War (POW) or Missing in Action (MIA) remembrance service. This was one of five veterans' events approved.

It will be held by Charles Persip American Legion Post 68 at the South Street Memorial park on Sept. 15 at 10 a.m.

Henry Morris attended a fellow Vietnam veteran's funeral in Albuquerque, N.M., last year and was inspired to hold this ceremony.

"I did not realize what a big ceremony this is," he said. "Albuquerque's veteran park, it's about an eighth of a mile going into the park, they had POW/MIA flags posted all the way into the park. I kept thinking this is really nice. It looks really nice and I was told this is Sept. 15, well it's the third Friday, it was the 16th this year."

He explained that the American Legion has a missing soldier table accompanied by a reading that details a plate that nobody eats from, a glass that nobody drinks from, and several other significant items. This will be done during the service.

• The Eagles Band concerts in the park at The Common on June 20, July 11, and July 18 and at Springside Park on Aug. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m.
   
• The Striking Out Cancer in the Berkshires fundraiser at Clapp Park on June 24 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
   
• The Vietnam Veterans Day ceremony at Park Square on March 25 from 10 to 11 a.m.
   
• The Afghanistan/Iraq 9/11 memorial service at the South Street Memorial Park on Sept. 11 from 10 to 11 a.m.
   
• Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day at the South Street Memorial Park on Dec. 7 from 10 to 11 a.m.
   
• The Veterans Day parade and ceremony at the South Street Memorial park on Nov. 11 from 10 to noon.
   
• Springside Park annual cleanups by the Friends of Springside Park and the Springside Park Conservancy on April 22 and Sept. 23 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
   
• The Pittsfield Farmers Market by Roots Rising at The Common on Saturdays from May 13 to Oct. 14 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Lenox Class of 2024 'a Really Good Bunch of Kids'

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
08:43PM / Sunday, June 09, 2024

Valedictorian Genevieve Collins tells her classmates that they have had a bountiful harvest in what they had experienced at Lenox Memorial. See more photos here. 

LENOX, Mass. — The Lenox Memorial High School class of 2024 will be remembered as "a really good bunch of kids."

 

Superintendent William Collins said they earned the label early on — it's followed them from kindergarten through high school. 

 

"There was something special about the chemistry and history of individuals comprising the class of 2024," he told the family and friends in the Shed at Tanglewood for graduation ceremonies. I need not remind you that this is a class that began high school during the pandemic, a fate undeserved by anyone. It is a testament to their resiliency. They not only returned to in-person instruction but they made up the lost time. They've done a lot."

 

Collins called the 61 graduates on the Tanglewood stage "doers, achievers and accomplishers, highly intelligent and exceedingly kind."

 

He noted that the pursuit of happiness was held as equal to life and liberty in the Declaration of Independence. And rarely is the shortest line between two points the fastest road to happiness. A study on common factors of happiness, he said, found that rather than material wealth, "having a happy, connected friends for a wide social network, we are more likely to bring about enduring happiness."

 

"Circuitous routes are the best routes, serendipity by its very nature lives where we don't expect a pleasant surprises lie waiting unseen and unforeseen around the next bend on paths that we've never expected or intended to do," he said. 

 

Don't be afraid to ask for help, Collins said, make friends, or a friend. Know that Lenox Memorial is a better place because of the class, he said, "we know that you will carry a piece of us with you whether you stay in Lenox or travel halfway around the globe."