Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center hosts a Thanksgiving centerpiece workshop
Great Barrington— On Saturday, November 23rd at 10 a.m., Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center will host a Thanksgiving centerpiece workshop.
Ward’s Nursery staff will guide you in making a harvest table centerpiece with a collection of natural, dry, and fresh plant material. Every participant puts one together to take home and enjoy.
The workshop is on Saturday, November 23rd at 10 a.m. at Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center, located at 600 Main Street in Great Barrington. Participants need to supply their own pruners and gloves. Pre-registration and more information can be found online.
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Candlelight tour at the Bidwell House Museum
Monterey— On Thursday, November 14th at 4 p.m., tour the Bidwell House Museum by candlelight.
There is something magical about visiting the Bidwell House Museum on an early fall evening, when the rooms are filled with flickering candlelight and twilight is visible through the abundant south facing windows.
Led by local antiques expert Sam Herrup, this tour will take a look at some of the furniture and decorative arts in the Museum’s collection, particularly the porcelain and redware pottery. At the conclusion of the tour, you will be invited to an intimate wine and cheese reception, where you can mix and mingle, and ask questions of your tour guide. The tour and reception will last approximately 75 minutes.
The tour is on Thursday, November 14th at 4 p.m. at Bidwell House Museum, located at 100 Art School Road in Monterey. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Wood craftsman John Roccanova’s ‘Crafts for a Cause’ sale
Millerton, N.Y.— From November 9th to December 1st, wood craftsman John Roccanova will present his ‘Crafts for a Cause’ sale.
A retired shop teacher “Mr. Rocc”, as his former students called him, spends over a thousand hours a year designing and making salad bowls, platters, cutting boards, candle holders, toys, and other items with fine woods, including walnut, mahogany, cherry, maple and ash, coated with food-safe and child-safe finishes. He sells them and gives the money to a 501 (c) (3) registered charity that he and his wife Jean, founded called Grow Against Poverty.
All proceeds from the sale go to funding education projects in Kenya such as “Pedal Power for Kenyan Education” and “Prevent Period Poverty.”
“Pedal Power for Kenyan Education” has provided a total of 515 heavy-duty Buffalo Bicycles along with helmets, safety vests, and tool kits to twelve high schools, to be used by students who live more than five miles from school and are from families who often earn less than a dollar a day. Attendance, promptness, academic achievement and high school graduation rates have gone up among participating students. Female students feel safer as they are no longer stopped by motorcycle taxi drivers offering rides for sex.
Period poverty is defined as a lack of access to menstrual health products, education, hygiene facilities, waste management, or any combination of these. Girls living in poverty are likely to lack these basic needs, be negatively impacted in school, and have little hope of rising up from poverty. “Prevent Period Poverty” is building bathrooms and providing education and menstrual health products at all-girls high schools. This new program is already helping increase attendance and learning.
The sale is on Saturday and Sundays November 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 30th, and December 1st, as well as Friday, November 29th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the historic Irondale Schoolhouse, located at 16 Main Street in Millerton, N.Y. For more information about the sale, email growagainstpoverty@gmail.com. More information about the Kenyan projects can be found online.
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Pittsfield Farmers Market indoor season begins
Pittsfield— November through April, on the second Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Pittsfield Farmers Market indoor market season returns.
Each week shoppers will find fresh, local and seasonal fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, baked goods, flowers, and artisan goods.
The market begins on Saturday, November 9th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Zion Lutheran Church, located at 74 First Street in Pittsfield. The Pittsfield Farmers Market is a program of Roots Rising. More information can be found online.
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35th Annual ‘Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas’ seeks volunteers
Stockbridge— The 35th Annual “Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas” will be celebrated December 6th through the 8th, organized by the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce. The weekend will be filled with festive events including historic property tours, holiday concerts, and Norman Rockwell’s Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas re-creation.
The Historic property tour is an exciting part of this weekend. It is scheduled for Saturday, December 7th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Two volunteers are needed per shift. The shifts are 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.. The volunteers will be given information by the property owners and will assist them in showing the homes to the interested visitors. You will not be giving “tours” per se, but will be greeters, extra security, etc. Volunteers are also needed at the “Ticket/Button Station” on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers will verify tickets and distribute buttons.
If you are interested in volunteering, call 413-298-5200 or email info@stockbridgechamber.org. Volunteers are offered a complimentary ticket to view the other homes either before or after your shift. More information can be found online.
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2nd Street and Community Legal Aid to host ‘How to Seal or Expunge Criminal Record,’ a free clinic
Pittsfield— On Thursday, November 14th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., 2nd Street, together with Community Legal Aid, will hold a free clinic on how to seal or expunge a criminal record.
Community Legal Aid attorney Annie Maurer will lead the clinic, which will cover legal rights with respect to housing and employment for those with a criminal record, as well as sealing and expungement of such records. Maurer will explain the four types of sealing/expungement: sealing by mail, sealing by court, age-based expungements, and reason-based expungements.
The clinic is particularly designed for those who have either never been found guilty of a charge or who have fulfilled the requirements of a guilty plea or verdict. Such persons often have difficulty finding or keeping housing or employment due to their Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI), which landlords and employers commonly use for background checks. Legal experts will be on hand to help decode CORI and determine if eligible charges may be sealed or expunged.
The clinic is on Thursday, November 14th from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the 2nd Street offices, located at 264 Second Street in Pittsfield. Private consultations will be available. Community Legal Aid (CLA) provides free civil legal services to low-income and elderly residents Western Massachusetts. More information about CLA can be found online.
