Pittsfield Parks Commission OKs Summer, Fall Events

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Parks Commission on Tuesday night OK'd a number of summer and fall events on city recreation properties.

After a lightning strike started a fire in the steeple at Price Memorial AME Zion Church last month, the panel voted to allow the congregation to use the Westside Riverway Park for worship services on Sundays until Sept. 10 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Park, Open Space and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath explained that the church almost immediately reached out to the city asking to use the space and he worked with the chairman to get approvals in place.

"I think this is really appropriate for us," he said. "The park is in the neighborhood, this really meets a need and on a Sunday morning, the park is not used. We have the space and I think this is an act of generosity."

Berkshire Running Camp was approved for a run at Springside Park on Aug. 17 and from 8:15 to 11:15 a.m.  The one-week camp operates out of Camp Taconic in Hinsdale and runs in different locations throughout the county.

A "Fiesta Latina Zumba Masterclass" was approved for The Common on Aug. 2 from 9 to 10:30 a.m.  Mill Town Foundation program manager Andrew Wrba said this is a free dance initiative through the foundation called the Wandering Dance Society.

"If we get 75 people that would be a great turnout for us," Wrba said.

The Berkshire Summer Waterfront Festival through Berkshire Active and Berkshire Community Rowing was approved for Burbank Park on Aug. 19 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. subject to an alcohol permit for Hot Plate Brewery and a walk-through with the Parks Department.

Representative Samuel Pascual said this is the second year of the festival and that the groups wanted to expand it beyond just rowing to also involve kayaking and swimming.

The vent will have food vendors, a donated beer garden, and demonstrations.

• "Revel in Recovery" celebration by the Living in Recovery at the Common on Sept. 14 from 3 to 7 p.m.

• National Night Out celebration by the Pittsfield Police Department at the Common on Aug. 1 from 4 to 8 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."