Thursday, June 19, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Bits & Bytes: Food truck rodeo; media art in Lakeville; ‘Lili’s Story;’ I Love My Park Day at Olana; jewelry talk at Ventfort Hall; BTCF spring grants

Volunteers from across the state will celebrate New York’s park system by cleaning up park lands and beaches, planting trees and gardens, restoring trails and wildlife habitats, removing invasive species, and working on construction and site improvement projects.

Third annual Food Truck Rodeo

05.02.15 Food Truck Rodeo
The 2015 Food Truck Rodeo at Shire City Sanctuary.

Pittsfield — Shire City Sanctuary will play host to Pittsfield’s third annual Food Truck Rodeo on Saturday, May 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Vendors will include the Chuck Wagon, Flavors of Lebanon, Desperados, Lucia’s Latin Kitchen, and Aurora’s Gypsy Wagon. Musical entertainment will be provided by Blind Inspiration. Local beer and wine concessions will be sold by Shire City Sanctuary. All ages are welcome and there will be various children’s activities.

Simultaneously, Shire City Sanctuary will also host the first-ever Berkshire climate and sustainability fair, LIVING THE CHANGE, from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m., which is free and open to all. The fair will feature a full day of activities including presentations, community dialogue sessions, youth art and activities, music, and food, as well as vendor and non-profit booths.

Proceeds from Rodeo vendor fees as well as $1 from each beer sold will go to Shire City Sanctuary’s Giving Garden. For more information, call (413) 236-9600.

–E.E.

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Contemporary media art in the Tremaine Gallery

Lakeville, Conn. — The Tremaine Gallery at the Hotchkiss School will present the exhibition “REMIX, RESHOOT, RESEARCH” curated by 99 Hooker with works by Benton C. Bainbridge, Perry Bard, Nancy Drew, 99 Hooker, Feedbuck Galore, Dina Kelberman, Donald O’Finn, Brother Russell Scholl, Mark Street, and Mike Train. The exhibit will run Saturday, May 7, – Sunday, June 5. An artists’ reception will be held Saturday, May 7, from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.

“REMIX, RESHOOT, RESEARCH” surveys 10 contemporary media artists whose work extends the tradition of appropriation in visual art. A variety of media practices and content reveal a continuing exploration between the received and reconstructed image. Whether the spectator is remixing their own image, mixing a path through a documentary, encountering a snapshot of the early Web, adding cellphone footage to a global remake, or glimpsing “the dreams TV might have,” the eclectic exhibition shows a reworking of art in the age of digital reproduction and search engines.

For more information, call (860) 435-4423.

–E.E.

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‘Lili’s Story’ at Claire Teague Senior Center

Lili Harvitt
Lili Harvitt.

Great Barrington – On Friday, May 6, from 10 a.m. – noon, the Claire Teague Senior Center will present violinist Lili Harvitt who will recount her experience as a Jewish child during the Holocaust who was hidden from Nazi death squads by a Dutch family in Amsterdam. Harvitt will also give a violin performance, accompanied by cello, during lunch following her presentation.

For more information or to reserve a space for lunch, call the Senior Center at (413) 528-1881.

–E.E.

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Olana to celebrate I Love My Park Day

Hudson, N.Y. – The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) will join with the Olana Partnership on Saturday, May 7, from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. for I Love My Park Day at Olana.

I Love My Park Day is a statewide event, organized by Parks & Trails New York in partnership with OPRHP and local Friends groups, that celebrates and enhances New York’s parks and historic sites and by bring visibility to the park system and its needs. Volunteers from across the state will celebrate New York’s park system by cleaning up park lands and beaches, planting trees and gardens, restoring trails and wildlife habitats, removing invasive species, and working on construction and site improvement projects.

Preregistration is encouraged but not mandatory. For more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call Olana’s Education Department at (518) 828-1872 x105.

–E.E.

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Jewelry tea & talk at Ventfort Hall

McTeigue McClelland
Walter McTeigue and Tim McClelland.

Lenox — Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum will celebrate Mother’s Day with the appearance of Great Barrington and New York City fine jewelers Walter McTeigue and Tim McClelland of McTeigue & McClelland. They will give background on their business and discuss their process, from initial design concept to the methods they employ for crafting their pieces, in a talk on Saturday, May 7, at 3:30 p.m., to be followed by a Victorian tea.

At age 20, fourth generation jeweler McTeigue began by working for his father, a dealer of precious gems and estate jewelry. He was later hired by Harry Winston as an estate jewelry buyer and advanced to director of purchasing. He eventually left Harry Winston in order to revive his family’s jewelry-making business and co-found McTeigue & McClelland.

McClelland’s fascination for working with metals began in high school and developed further at Boston University. He apprenticed with a European master jeweler from whom he learned old-world methods. Augmented with formal studies in the fine arts and art history, McClelland began working as a freelance jeweler restoring fine antique jewelry, but his true interest lay in creating his own designs, which led to his partnership with McTeigue.

Tickets for the program are $22 in advance and $27 the day of the event. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited. For more information or reservations, contact Ventfort Hall at (413) 637-3206 or info@gildedage.org.

–E.E.

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BTCF awards $1.8 million in spring grants cycle

Sheffield — Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s (BTCF) board of directors has announced the recipients of its first round of grantmaking for 2016. The foundation distributed a total of $319,245 in grants to individuals and nonprofits in the four-county region it serves, and grants totaling nearly $1.5 million from donors with charitable funds at the foundation.

In Berkshire County, the foundation awarded grants from the Alice and Richard Henriquez Memorial Fund/Youth World Awareness Program, Berkshire Environmental Endowment Fund, Lanesborough Initiative for Excellence Fund, and Lee Fund for Educational Excellence.

Education and Enrichment: Grants to regional schools and organizations with educational programs in Berkshire County totaled $4,400. The grants include $2,000 to purchase tablets and laptops for students at Lanesborough Elementary School; $400 to purchase circuits to teach students at Lanesborough Elementary School about electricity; and $2,000 for Flying Cloud Institute’s science clubs for girls.

Arts and Culture: Grants to artists and arts programs in Berkshire County totaled $8,600. The grants include $1,000 to support IS183 Art School of the Berkshires’ “Learning through the Arts” program at Lanesborough Elementary School; $600 for Lee High School to purchase drumming equipment for the band; and $1,500 to support Great Barrington resident and artist Jacob Borden, who will examine the universal concept of “home” through photography in L’Ane Vert, Morocco.

Health and Human Services: Grants to nonprofits and individuals providing social and human services totaled $13,650. The grants include $6,050 to support Berkshire Waldorf High School’s service trip to Cuba where students will work with children and adults with Down syndrome; $1,000 to bring nutrition media company FoodPlay Productions to Lee Elementary School to promote healthy eating and lifestyle choices; and $1,500 to Zenani Santos of Lenox who is organizing and running a sports day camp for children in Costa Rica.

Environment: Grants to environmental organizations and programs in Berkshire County totaled $25,420. The grants include $5,775 for Haiti Plunge youth to build 50 raised gardens for Haitian women; $5,175 for Berkshire Environmental Action Team’s project to protect and restore river and stream connectivity for all species that need to travel to survive; and $1,500 for Nicholas Monteleone of Lenox to provide trail maintenance and restoration at national parks in Costa Rica.

An online list of all regional grants is available.

–E.E.

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The Edge Is Free To Read.

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