Monday, November 4, 2024

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Bits & Bytes: Open Days garden tours; fine woodwork show; Harvey Granat at Berkshire South; Pittsfield Repair Cafe

The fine woodwork show will feature designs by professional woodworkers from throughout the Berkshires; Columbia County, New York; and surrounding areas.

Garden Conservancy to present garden tours

Garrison, N.Y. — The Garden Conservancy has announced that it will hold its Open Days program Saturday, July 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., during which time the public may tour five private and public gardens in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts; Sharon, Connecticut; and Millerton, Millbrook and Stanfordville, New York.

The open gardens are the Hyland-Wente Garden, which consists of a modern barn-like structure located on rolling farmland overlooking Indian Mountain and Indian Lake; the garden of Ellen and Eric Petersen, which features native perennials, informal groundcovers, garden sculpture, pokeweeds trained into standards, and a meadow of prairie drop seed; the Steele Garden, a self-maintained garden of seven connected circles with both formal and informal side gardens of favorite plants; the garden of Lee Link, with three stone walls that climb up a hillside to meet a greenhouse containing a wide spectrum of succulents and tropical plants; and Innisfree Garden, the work of landscape architect Lester Collins with contributions by artist and teacher Walter Beck, and gardener and heiress Marion Burt Beck.

Admission is $7 for adults per private garden and free for children ages 12 and under. The event will take place rain or shine, and no reservations are required to visit the gardens. For more information and detailed descriptions of the gardens, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Garden Conservancy at (888) 842-2442.

–E.E.

*     *     *

Visitors peruse a recent Berkshire Woodworkers Guild show at Berkshire Botanical Garden. Photo courtesy Berkshire Woodworkers Guild

Berkshire Woodworkers Guild to present fine woodwork show

Stockbridge — The Berkshire Woodworkers Guild will present a fine woodwork show Saturday, July 21, and Sunday, July 22, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Berkshire Botanical Garden.

The show will feature designs by professional woodworkers from throughout the Berkshires; Columbia County, New York; and surrounding areas. Throughout the weekend there will be demonstrations of various woodworking techniques including sharpening, French polish techniques, creating edge beads with shop-made hand tools, riving, woodturning, and a sawmill demonstration highlighting the utility and beauty of native wood. A silent auction will benefit the Berkshire Woodworkers Guild Scholarship Fund, which supports young adults who seek to make woodworking, architecture and related fields their professional goal. Sky View Farm will be onsite with farm-raised pork sausages.

Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for Berkshire Botanical Garden members. For more information, contact Berkshire Botanical Garden at (413) 298-3926 or info@berkshirebotanical.org.

–E.E.

*     *     *

Harvey Granat to perform four-part Broadway song series

Harvey Granat

Great Barrington — Entertainer and music historian Harvey Granat will perform a four-part series at Berkshire South Regional Community Center for four consecutive Thursdays beginning July 19 at 7 p.m.

Billed as an homage to the golden age of Broadway, each performance will pay tribute to a specific composer or lyricist who contributed to Broadway’s most fertile period. Each program will feature live performances of songs along with Granat’s stories about the songs, the shows and films from which they came. Musical direction for the performances is by Rob Kelly. July 19 will celebrate Rodgers and Hammerstein, July 26 is devoted to Stephen Sondheim, Aug. 2 will feature the work of Frank Loesser, and Aug. 9 will honor Jerry Herman.

Granat, who divides his time between New York City and Hillsdale, New York, has appeared at many leading supper clubs including multiple engagements at Feinstein’s at the Regency, the Metropolitan Room and Birdland. Other venues include his popular series at the 92nd Street Y, over 200 shows at Canyon Ranch Lenox, concerts at Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, the Norton Museum of Art and many others.

The cost per performance is $16 for Berkshire South members and $20 for guests. For more information or to purchase tickets, call Berkshire South at (413) 528-2810 x10.

–E.E.

*     *     *

Repair Cafe to address small-item repair

Volunteer Richard Clother does some dental repair on a Jerry Mahoney ventriloquist’s dummy at a recent Pittsfield Repair Cafe. Photo: Rosemary Starace

Pittsfield — ThePittsfield Repair Cafe will convene Saturday, July 21, from 12:30 to 4 p.m. in the basement of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. Now in its sixth season, the repair cafe offers free repairs of common household items to individuals in the Berkshire area, and meets every third Saturday of the month from April through October.

Repair cafes are free, people-connecting events at which volunteers and guests have fun extending the lives of things that would otherwise be thrown away. Skilled local volunteers commonly work on clothing and goods that need mending: lamps, vacuums, and other small appliances in need of various repairs; wood furniture and ceramics that need gluing; and knives and garden tools that need sharpening. There is generally an industrial sewing machine on hand for upholstery and heavy goods. A nurse offering free blood pressure screenings is often present. Several volunteers can set up and repair string and woodwind instruments and electronic amplifiers. Guests are asked to bring one or two items per month and keep in mind that repairs need to be able to be completed within an afternoon. The repair cafe will also offers free refreshments; a “free table” allowing people to bring and take all kinds of household goods in good repair; and live music by Jared Polens on hammered dulcimer and Ken Vuolo on piano.

All are welcome.

–E.E.

spot_img

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.

Continue reading

THEN & NOW: The Congregational Church in Great Barrington

All are invited to a special open house at the manse today, Saturday, November 2, from 1 to 3 p.m. This is a rare opportunity to tour the interior of the impressive home.

BITS & BYTES: MCLA presents Anaïs Duplan; Ilan Stavans at Yiddish Book Center; Berkshire Bach Society presents Peter Sparling; Taconic Music at Inn at...

Anaïs Duplan, a trans* poet and artist, will present on the connections between land ownership and documentary poetics.

BITS & BYTES: ‘The Memo’ at Berkshire School; Eryca Nolan at The Foundry; Maritime art at Berkshire Museum; Jeffrey Gibson at MASS Moca; Guild...

Berkshire School’s Theater Department presents “The Memo,” an absurdist comedy written by Václav Havel, translation by Paul Wilson.

The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.