Town of Great Barrington announces 5th Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Festival lineup
GREAT BARRINGTON — The Town of Great Barrington W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Committee announces the 5th Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Legacy Festival in honor of the 154th birthday of native son Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois during the month of February.
This year, the Festival will follow the theme “The Sacred Journeying of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois: Native Son and Global Intellectual.” Town-sponsored events and those hosted by community partners will incorporate musical and theatrical performances, a panel discussion, and a keynote address, among other highlights. Guests will include leaders from some of the preeminent institutions that were home to Du Bois’s journeying.
Community partner Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center joins the Town of Great Barrington to present this year’s Legacy Festival remotely for participants to view over the course of three evenings, February 21–23, at 5:30 p.m.
On Monday, Feb. 21 at 5:30 p.m., the Festival will open with remarks from town representatives and Legacy Committee members, as well as community leaders Dr. Kendra Fields of the Clinton Church Restoration, Dennis Powell of the Berkshire NAACP, and Gwendolyn VanSant of BRIDGE. The Festival keynote address will be given by Dr. George T. French Jr., president of Clark Atlanta University, an intellectual and spiritual home to Du Bois early in his career, which nourished his groundbreaking advancement of the field of sociology.
On Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m., the focus will be on community and youth voices. Performances by Wanda Houston and Dr. Mary Nell Morgan will be highlighted alongside singing and reflections by Legacy Committee member Leah Reed. Delano Burrowes, a New York-based artist with Berkshire roots, will speak to local history, and youth from area schools and universities will share their thoughts about Du Bois’ impact and legacy.
On Wednesday, Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m., Town Manager Mark Pruhenski and selectboard member Leigh Davis will join Du Bois descendants to open the evening’s observance of W.E.B. Du Bois Day on his birthday. The annual Du Bois Legacy Award will be presented by the Committee.
Finally, a panel curated by Committee member Dr. Emily Williams will invite panelists Dr. Barbara H. Combs (Clark Atlanta University), Dr. Melvin Rahming (Morehouse College), and Dr. Alix Pierre (Spelman College) to participate in a lively dialogue about Du Bois’ spiritual journeying. The public is invited to join the live webinar of the panel discussion Friday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m.
In addition to town-sponsored events, the Festival calendar includes events hosted by community partners. On Friday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 19, BRIDGE will hold the Yolande “Du Bois” Williams Irvin Memorial to celebrate the life of Du Bois’ only grandchild, who passed in November 2021. The Town of Great Barrington welcomes Du Bois descendants and honored guests for this special weekend.
On Friday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., the public is invited to attend a staged reading of the play “Knock Me A Kiss,” co-produced by BRIDGE and Shakespeare & Co. and directed by Regge Life. This play, written by Charles Smith, offers a more intimate snapshot of the Du Bois family during the time of the Harlem Renaissance, through a fictionalized account of the marriage of Dubois’ daughter Yolande to the celebrated poet Countee Cullen. The play will be followed by a talk-back conversation. The event is free, but registration is required and donations are accepted.
First Congregational Church in Great Barrington will host the memorial service for Yolande Du Bois Williams Irvin Saturday, Feb. 19, at 11 a.m., led by guest clergy Bishop Dr. James Dixon and including an array of notable officiants and speakers. Following the service and a short tour at the Du Bois Center, guests will gather for the unveiling of the memorial gravestone at the family burial site at Mahaiwe Cemetery.
On Sunday, Feb. 20 at 2 p.m., community partner Jacob’s Pillow will host a West African dance and drumming workshop with guest artist Iddrisu Saaka at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield. The event is free and in-person, in adherence with COVID-19 safety policies, and open to all ages and levels of experience. Participants will learn traditional dances, songs, and stories from the West African country of Ghana, its cultural background, and the role of traditional arts in modern Ghana, Dr. Du Bois’s final spiritual home and resting place. Learn the Kpanlogo dance and the Bawa harvest dance and try your hand at Ghanaian percussion instruments.
—A.K.
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Free Eagles Stage Band and Trombone Ensemble concert to be held February 13
PITTSFIELD — The Eagles Stage Band and Trombone Ensemble will perform a free concert at the First United Methodist Church, 55 Fenn St. in Pittsfield, on Sunday, Feb. 13 at 3 p.m. Donations are welcome and a portion of the proceeds will benefit local fuel assistance. For the health and safety of all, masks will be required.
Additionally, the Eagles Concert Band will perform Sunday, May 1 at 3 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church, 55 Fenn St. in Pittsfield. The Eagles Band is the longest continuous performing ensemble in the Berkshires.
—A.K.
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Berkshire Botanical Garden’s 25th annual Winter Lecture welcomes Edwina von Gal
STOCKBRIDGE — Noted American landscape designer Edwina von Gal, best known for her emphasis on natural, sustainable garden designs, will be this year’s presenter at Berkshire Botanical Garden’s 25th annual Winter Lecture, held online Saturday, Feb. 19 from 10–11:30 a.m. Proceeds from ticket sales support the Garden’s educational efforts.
Edwina von Gal is the principal landscape designer for Edwina von Gal + Co and is the founder and president of the Perfect Earth Project. Her presentation, “The Eye of the Beholder: Is it Messy, or an Acquired Taste?,” addresses how to design gardens sustainably with nature, including the reasons why we need to change the way we garden and the difference it can make.
“During the arc of my landscape design career, much has changed to affect the way I design gardens,” said von Gal. “In the wake of sad losses to earth’s biodiversity, I have gained so much from learning how to make gardens that offset this damage, gardens without pesticides that are full of native plants which provide food, shelter, and water for the rest of life on earth. A whole world of wonder is waiting for anyone who wants to do the same.”
Edwina von Gal received the Institute of Classical Architecture and Art’s Arthur Ross Award in 2012 and is the 2017 recipient of Guild Hall’s Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for the Visual Arts. In 2018 she received the NY School of Interior Design’s Green Design Award and The Isamu Noguchi Award, as well as the Conservator Award from Quogue Wildlife Refuge in 2020.
—A.K.
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The Big Chill returns to Hancock Shaker Village February 20
PITTSFIELD — Hancock Shaker Village will welcome visitors Sunday, Feb. 20 from 11 a.m.–4 p.m. for The Big Chill, a day of old-fashioned winter fun. Activities will include maple tree tapping, ice-harvesting talks, ice sculpting, visits with farm animals in the Round Stone Barn, blacksmithing and woodworking demos, snowman making, live music, and more.
Country music band Wild Bill and the Flying Sparks will take the stage in the Believers’ Room for two afternoon sets. Bring your snowshoes and hike the Village Farm & Forest Trail and South Family Trail. Ice harvests, once an essential part of winter in rural communities, will be explored by ice-harvesting expert Dennis Picard using historic tools and techniques. Watch as two accomplished ice carvers, Peter Vacchina and Bob Markey, create pieces of art while chipping away at 300-pound blocks of ice. Andy and Trish from Windsor Hill Sugar House will demonstrate maple tapping on the Village’s large specimen tree near the Sisters Dairy and Weave Shop, with their syrup and other products available for purchase in Shaker Mercantile.
Planned activities include:
- Maple tapping demonstrations – 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
- Live music – 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
- Guided walking tours of Village – on the hour from 12–3 p.m.
- Ice talks – 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.
- Ice sculpting demonstrations
- Story Walk, “The Mitten” by Jan Brett, in the Round Stone Barn
- Scavenger hunt throughout the Village
- Snowshoeing/hiking on the Farm and Forest Trail
- Blacksmithing and woodworking demonstrations
- Build a snowperson, make a snow angel, do a snow craft, play snow games (hula hoop snowman toss) throughout the property
- Farm animals in and out of the barn
- Warm up by the bonfire and enjoy lunch or a beverage from Bimi’s Café. The bar will be open for wine, Big Elm beer, and mulled cider.
The Big Chill is part of Pittsfield’s 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival. All activities are included in admission; $15 per person, free to members and children 12 and younger.
—A.K.
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Price Chopper/Market 32 to participate in free federal N-95 mask distribution program
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Price Chopper/Market 32 stores will be participating in the federal government’s free N-95 mask distribution program. The program, a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 vaccination program, will provide free N-95 masks to help continue to combat the spread of COVID-19.
Based on Price Chopper/Market 32’s 131-store delivery schedule, the masks will be available at manned tables set up either in the center store or the pharmacy of all stores beginning today or Wednesday. As per federal guidelines, each customer will receive up to three N-95 masks.
The non-surgical N95 masks, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say “offer the highest level of protection” against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, are coming from the Strategic National Stockpile, the country’s cache of medical-equipment supplies.
—A.K.
