Free Fun Friday at Berkshire Museum
Pittsfield — Berkshire Museum will be open to the public free of charge on Friday, Aug. 26, as part of the Newton, Mass.-based Highland Street Foundation’s Free Fun Fridays program. This year, 80 museums and cultural venues in the Commonwealth are participating in the eighth annual program. Visitors will be able to explore the entire Museum, including exhibitions on fine art, natural science and history as well as an aquarium, Spark!Lab, and the interactive Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation. No tickets or reservations are necessary for Free Fun Friday. For more information, call the Museum at (413) 443-7171.
–E.E.
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Blue Rider Stables to present Fun Day
North Egremont — Blue Rider Stables will present its 22nd annual Fun Day from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 27, at French Park, 21 Prospect Lake Rd. The event will feature pony and hay rides, children’s games, a silent auction and entertainment.
New this year, the Storycrafters will offer a program of traditional stories featuring their own blend of music and storytelling at 10:30 a.m. At noon, Mummenschanz theater troupe veteran Roger the Jester will recreate the wandering lifestyle of a medieval fool. At 2:30 p.m., the Berkshire Ukulele Band will perform a set of favorite tunes spanning the decades. In addition to day-long pony and donkey rides, Blue Rider’s vaulting students will perform demonstrations at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. A silent auction will run from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. and include donations of items and gift certificates from Berkshire businesses and organizations.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (413) 528-5299.
–E.E.
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OLLI to present open house, climate change talk
Pittsfield — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College (OLLI) will host a free fall open house in the lobby of the Koussevitsky Arts Center at Berkshire Community College (BCC) from 1:30 – 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24, featuring refreshments, a chance to meet some of OLLI’s fall instructors, and fall catalogs and flyers followed by the illustrated talk “Confronting Climate Change” by Williams College professor Ralph Bradburd.
OLLI instructors who will be featured at the open house include Arrowhead’s communications director Peter Bergman, Berkshire Eagle Editor-in-Chief Kevin Moran, Phil Halpern, retired BCC professor Cecilia Macheski, Williams College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts professor Philip McKnight, Bill Cameron, Vivian Dorsel, and Steve Rubin.
Immediately following the open house at 3 p.m., Williams College professor Ralph Bradburd will give an illustrated talk about confronting climate change. Professor Bradburd will discuss the failure to adequately address the problem, what policies the nation should pursue in response to the threats, and what individuals can do. Dr. Bradburd is the David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy and chair of environmental studies program at Williams College. He has served as a consultant for the World Bank, USAID, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the nonprofit Robin Hood Foundation. He has also served as a visiting research scholar at the Federal Trade Commission.
Tickets to the lecture are $10 for OLLI members, $15 for the general public, and free for BCC students and youth ages 17 and under. For more information, contact OLLI at (413) 236-2190 or olli@berkshirecc.edu.
–E.E.
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Norfolk Library to hold annual book sale
Norfolk, Connecticut — The Norfolk Library will hold its 40th annual book sale from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, and Sunday, Aug. 28, on the Norfolk town green, 9 Greenwoods Road East. The sale will include more than 10,000 volumes in categories such as art, children’s books, history, biography, social sciences and more as well as thousands of novels, most of which are hardcover and recently published. The library’s reading room will house leather-bound sets, signed first editions and unusual items. Proceeds will benefit the Norfolk Library Associates and support the Library’s many free programs and activities. For more information, call the Library at (860) 540-5075. Free books will be available on Sunday, Aug. 28, after 2 p.m.
–E.E.
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St. Lawrence String Quartet at Tannery Pond
New Lebanon, New York — On Saturday, Aug. 27, Tannery Pond Concerts will present the St. Lawrence String Quartet at Darrow School. The St. Lawrence String Quartet will highlight their passion for Haydn with the Quartet in G minor, Op. 20, No. 3 and the Quartet in C major, Op. 20, No. 2. Also known for their dedication to contemporary composers, the Quartet will perform two works composed for them: “Second Quartet” by American composer John Adams and “Qohelet” by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. Tickets are $30 and $39. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call (888) 820-1696.
–E.E.
