Great Barrington — Have you ever wondered how Great Barrington came to be the central hub of South County? Do you know what kind of industries used to power the local economy? Do you have opinions about how Great Barrington should develop in the next fifty years?
BerkShares Inc. will host a walking tour and discussion of downtown Great Barrington on May 2 at 10 a.m. This “Walk the Talk” event will be held in conjunction with an international festival of “Jane’s Walks,” self-organized tours that explore and celebrate walk-able neighborhoods around the world. The Great Barrington tour will focus on the unique economic, historical and cultural aspects of this hub of the southern Berkshires, while also facilitating conversation about opportunities for future sustainable economic development.
Jane’s Walks are named after the late Jane Jacobs, an economist and community organizer active throughout the second half of the 20th century, famous for her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Jacobs was an advocate for strong local and regional economies, and identified “import replacement” as one of the key drivers of successful economic development.
Participants in “Walk the Talk” will imagine opportunities for community building and economic resiliency of the Berkshires’ own regional economy. The tour and discussion, which will be co-led by a number of community members, will help walkers consider Berkshire County’s rich history of innovation, industry and commerce as a foundation for the development of a sustainable and equitable future.
Walkers will gather at Great Barrington Town Hall at 10 a.m. The walking route will conclude at the Prairie Whale by 12 p.m. Some featured sites on the walk will include Railroad Street, the 100 Bridge Street development, and the Housatonic River Walk. Along the way, participants will have opportunities to patronize some of the more than 400 local businesses that accept BerkShares, the local currency for the Berkshire region.
Walkers may join the tour for the entire route or only parts of it. Participants should wear good walking shoes and bring some dollars or BerkShares to spend along the way.
RSVP requested but not required. Email info@berkshares.org or call 413-528-1737. To learn more about BerkShares, click here.
For more information about the international festival of Jane’s Walks please visit www.janeswalk.org
— Alice Maggio
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Dance for Justice with Wanda Houston and Band
Housatonic — Join the Berkshire Center for Justice, Inc. for an evening fundraiser and silent auction at the Universalist Unitarian Church at 1089 Main St., Saturday May 2 which will include a dinner catered by the Marketplace from 6-8 p.m., and a dance with 60s, 70s and 80s hits by Wanda Houston and Band from 8-10 p.m. Tickets are $45. To reserve, call 413-854-1955 or write flcberkshire@gmail.com.
The Berkshire Center for Justice serves the community’s needs by holding weekly free legal clinics, direct legal services on a sliding scale basis, and educates clients how to self advocate where appropriate in the legal system. The Center also offers community education programs, conducts interviews, and speaks publicly about the ways law and social issues interface.
BCJ has 24 attorneys, two accountants, and two mediators, all of whom offer reduced fee and sliding scale professional services that have provided counsel to more than 1,000 clients and their families, in a wide variety of legal and social issues, from helping single mothers avoid eviction to getting entrepreneurs the legal and zoning support they need to develop their new businesses.
For more information, go to flcberkshire.wordpress.com.
— H.B.
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Sonia Pilcer to read from ‘The Last Hotel,’ at Congregation Ahavath Sholom
Great Barrington — Congregation Ahavath Sholom will host a book talk and reading Sunday, May 3, by Sonia Pilcer whose recently published novel, “The Last Hotel: A Novel in Suites,” is being serialized Fridays on The Berkshire Edge.
The program will take place at 5 p.m. in the congregation’s schul at 15 North St., next to Bike & Board and across from the Fire Station.
A second generation Holocaust survivor, Pilcer was born in a Displaced Persons camp in Landsberg, Germany, and raised in New York City. She is an award-winning author, screenwriter, writing guru, and dramatist. She will read from her newest work, “The Last Hotel” which she describes as “a novel in suites.”
The story is based on a residential hotel her father managed on the Upper West Side from 1968-1992.
In “The Last Hotel” you’ll get to know (and love) 14 memorable characters … many of a certain age…mingling their fantasies and lives in this very haimish residential hotel.
A wine and cheese reception will follow the reading and discussion. There is a suggested donation of $10.
— D.S.
