The newsboy monument on Maple Avenue in Great Barrington. Photo: Heather Bellow.

Bits & Bytes: Berkshire Botanical Garden Harvest Festival; ‘Earth Dialogue;’ GB Cultural Council applications; ‘The 39 Steps;’ Newsboy monument rededication; Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series

The rededication event will celebrate the recent conservation treatment that restored the physical and historical integrity of Great Barrington's Newsboy Statue and will include a public viewing of the monument and working fountain.

Berkshire Botanical Garden to host harvest festival

Children enjoy the hay maze at the 2015 Berkshire Botanical Garden Harvest Festival.
Children enjoy the hay maze at the 2015 Berkshire Botanical Garden Harvest Festival.

Stockbridge — Berkshire Botanical Garden (BBG) will host its 82nd annual harvest festival on Saturday, Oct. 8, and Sunday, Oct. 9, from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

This year’s festival will feature family activities such as cider-making, face-painting, and wall-climbing; more than 100 regional food and craft vendors; a farmers’ market; a silent auction; a giant tag and bake sale, and a plant and bulb sale. Continuous live entertainment will be provided by David Grover, the Berkshire Ukulele Band, the Lucky Five, the Berkshire Ramblers, Moonshine Holler, Berkshire Summer Strings, Andy Kelly’s Jazz Ambassadors, 8 Foot River, John Davidson, and others. BBG will offer a series of drop-in gardening workshops and activities about making jam, saving seeds, and learning about heirloom vegetables. Attendees will be able to get answers to their gardening questions from the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association and learn more about herbs from the Berkshire Botanical Herb Associates.

Parking is free and tickets are available at the gate. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children under age 12. The event will take place rain or shine. For more information, call (413) 298-3926.

–E.E.

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‘Earth Dialogue’ art show to span two galleries

Peter Bremers, 'Traveling XI,' 2014, Cast glass, 27 x 32 x 4". Photo: Paul Niessen.
Peter Bremers, ‘Traveling XI,’ 2014, Cast glass, 27 x 32 x 4″. Photo: Paul Niessen.

Stockbridge — Schantz Galleries and Sohn Fine Art in Lenox are joining together to present Earth Dialogue, a collaborative exhibition showcasing the works of glass artist Peter Bremers and photographer Seth Resnick. The exhibit will run from Friday, Oct. 7 – Sunday, Oct. 30, at Schantz Galleries and through Sunday, Nov. 6, at Sohn Fine Art. On Saturday, Oct. 8, a public reception will be held at Schantz Galleries from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. and at Sohn Fine Art from 3 – 5 p.m.

Earth Dialogue features more than 20 glass sculptures by Peter Bremers and new and never-before-seen photographs by Seth Resnick covering five continents and more than 20 countries. Exhibiting in both locations, Bremers and Resnick will create a dialogue about the natural world that transcends a particular medium. The artists share a similar aesthetic and vision: both are masters of light and have endeavored to depict the sublimity encountered in nature, from Antarctic icebergs to desert canyons. By inviting the viewer to share in the artists’ experience of nature, Bremers’ and Resnick’s art revitalizes the connection with nature, the ability to wonder at its beauty, and the desire to preserve the world as it is.

For more information, contact Schantz Galleries at (413) 298-3044 or kim@schantzgalleries.com.

–E.E.

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Great Barrington Cultural Council accepting applications

Great Barrington — The Great Barrington Cultural Council is accepting applications for local cultural council funding for the 2017 cycle. The Council will distribute approximately $4,400 in grants. Priority will be given to applications that support local youth and senior programs, new applicants or projects, projects that emphasize cultural diversity, and projects that take place in a local venue and show local community support.

The submission deadline for proposals is Monday, Oct. 17. New this year is the online application process, though paper applications will also be accepted. For more information, contact Rose Tannenbaum at rose@tgo.com or call (413) 528-0328.

–E.E.

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The Ghent Playhouse to present ‘The 39 Steps’

Kevin Kilb, Meaghan Rogers, Christopher Gilbert and Brian Wagner in 'The 39 Steps' at the Ghent Playhouse. Photo: Matt Sikora.
Kevin Kilb, Meaghan Rogers, Christopher Gilbert and Brian Wagner in ‘The 39 Steps’ at the Ghent Playhouse. Photo: Matt Sikora.

Ghent, N.Y. — The Ghent Playhouse will begin its 42nd season with “The 39 Steps,” which will run Friday, Oct. 7 – Sunday, Oct. 23.

Adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow and directed by Deena Pewtherer, the fast-paced melodrama “The 39 Steps” is based on the novel by John Buchan and the movie by Alfred Hitchcock and is packed with nonstop laughs, an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers, old-fashioned romance, and more 150 zany characters played by a cast of four.

Tickets are $20 for the general public, $17 for Playhouse members, and $10 for students with ID. For more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Ghent Playhouse at (518) 392-6264.

–E.E.

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Newsboy monument to be rededicated

Great Barrington — The Great Barrington Historical Commission and the Great Barrington Historical Society will hold a ceremony to rededicate the landmark newsboy statue and fountain on Monday, Oct. 10, from 10 – 11 a.m. at Newsboy Park on Route 23/Maple Avenue.

The event will celebrate the recent conservation treatment that restored the physical and historical integrity of the statue and will include a public viewing of the monument and working fountain; a performance by members of the Berkshire Ukulele Band; introductory remarks by Historical Commission Chairman Paul Ivory; and a description of the statue’s components and its history by local historian, author and Commission member Gary Leveille, as well as the introduction of his just-published history of the monument, “The Mystery and History of the Great Barrington Newsboy Statue.”

In May, Watertown, Massachusetts-based conservation firm Daedalus restored the bronze statue of the newsboy and its carved stone pedestal and base sections. Gilmore Heating and Plumbing replaced the failed fountain pump and cleaned the drain lines, and Bailey Landscaping has completed the first step in the restoration of the landscape.

The event will be cancelled in the event of severely inclement weather.

–E.E.

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Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series to welcome Whitney Battle-Baptiste

Dr. Whitney Battle-Baptiste.
Dr. Whitney Battle-Baptiste.

Housatonic — On Sunday, Oct. 9, at 2 p.m., the Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series will welcome UMass Amherst Professor Whitney Battle-Baptiste who will give a talk entitled “Fear, Anger and Burning Houses: Why Black Lives Matter Now” at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire. Dr. Battle-Baptiste is a historical archaeologist who studies race, class and gender in the African diaspora and also heads W.E.B. DuBois Center at UMass Amherst. Her talk will put into perspective why the Black Lives Matter movement is vital to the country’s desperate struggle for dialogue and effective, meaningful change on race relations. For more information, call (413) 358-3877

–E.E.