North Adams Holiday Music Tour on Chase Hill

By Kim McMannPrint Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Holiday Music Tour on Sunday, Dec.10 includes a celebration of Hanukkah at The Floating Tower on Chase Hill. 

The entire event is free. 

Located at 1 Chase Hill, the property is a five-minute walk from downtown North Adams via Houghton Street

From 12 -1 PM, Chanan Ben Simone will lead the musical celebration.  He is a composer and vocalist of Jewish Moroccan descent known in the mainstream pop music world as Ben Simone.  This performance is made possible by the free artists' residencies offered to refugees and immigrants on site.

Floating Tower on Chase Hill features a giant, communal, oven called the "oyven," which will be used to prepare refreshments.   Potato latkes and other Hanukkah fare will be served during the event.   Mátti Kovler, artistic director for Floating Tower based in Brooklyn and, with his husband David Smythe, owner of Floating Tower on Chase Hill, recommends visitors come hungry as refreshments will be plentiful.

Since the summer of 2022, Floating Tower on Chase Hill has invited refugee and immigrant artists to residencies from a few days to a few weeks.  Residencies are entirely free of charge to the artists and by invitation only.  The residency program is partially funded through the rental of accommodations open to the public on the property.

The property is located in one of the oldest neighborhoods in North Adams and has a long and storied history.  The mansion was built in 1870 for George Chase, superintendent of the Sampson Shoe Factory, the man who fired striking factory workers and brought in Chinese immigrants to replace them under a three-year contract.  This is considered the birth of bringing in scab labor in response to striking workers.  Later it was owned by other business leaders from companies such as Sprague Electric. 

The immigrants, who in another time may have been workers in those factories, are now invited to create music and art while on retreat at the property.

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Clarksburg Select Board Accepts School Roof Bid, Debates Next Steps

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The Select Board last week accepted a bid by D.J. Wooliver & Sons to do the flat roof on the elementary school. 
 
Wooliver was the lowest bid at about $400,000 but cautioned that the cost may rise depending on the conditions once the work started. The work will depend on town meeting approving a borrowing for the project and a possible debt exclusion.
 
But how much borrow and whether the work will be worth it has been a conundrum for town and school officials. The condition of the school has been a major topic at meetings of the board and the School Committee over the past few months. 
 
Town officials are considering putting the question to the voters — try to piecemeal renovations or begin a new study on renovating or building a new school. 
 
In the meantime, the leaking roof has prompted an array of buckets throughout the school. 
 
"Until they actually get in there and start ripping everything up, we won't really know the extent of all the damage per se so it's really kind of hard to make a decision," board member Colton Andrew said at last week's meeting, broadcast on Northern Berkshire Community Television.
 
Board member Daniel Haskins wondered if it would be better to patch until a town made a decision on a school project or do a portion of the roof. But Chair Robert Norcross disagreed. 
 
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