Alchemy Initiative’s Handmade Holiday Festival to celebrate 10 years
Dalton — Alchemy Initiative’s Handmade Holiday Festival will celebrate its 10th year by filling the first floor of the Stationery Factory with nearly 70 artisans, farmers and food producers Saturday, Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 2, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
From pottery and jewelry and gourmet food items to body care products and handmade wreaths and clothes, the Handmade Holiday Festival is a testing ground for new artisans and a way to support local entrepreneurs. Live music, locally roasted coffee and prepared food will keep shoppers feeling festive and fueled. A special craft-making zone for children and teens will run throughout the weekend. On Sunday, several vendors will offer workshops, demos and readings: author Dan Sadlowski will read his children’s book “Finding Brooklyn” at 10 a.m.; Shire Fire Candles will offer make-your-own smelly jelly air fresheners at 10:30 a.m.; Olsen Farm will demonstrate origami crane-making at 11:30 a.m.; and McFarland’s Handwork will hold a workshop in making felted beads at 1 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information and a vendor/activity list, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact Alchemy Initiative at (413) 344-0816 or jess@alchemyinitiative.org.
–E.E.
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Club Helsinki Hudson to welcome the Wiyos
Hudson, N.Y. — Club Helsinki Hudson will present the Wiyos Friday, Nov. 30, at 9 p.m.
The Wiyos’ jaunty acoustic swing comes from a time before commercial formatting separated blues from country, ragtime from gospel and swing from hillbilly.
Michael Farkas, Teddy Weber, and “Sauerkraut” Seth Travins named their band after a 19th-century New York Irish street gang. They boast an original blend of music inspired by the early American musical idioms of the 1920s and ’30s, including old-time blues, Appalachian country, rural folk, ragtime, gospel and swing. Since 2010, the trio has released three albums and taken their spirited live show on numerous U.S. tours as well as five UK tours. Their music has been featured in television, movies and commercials in the U.S. and abroad. They have also been featured in three educational Carnegie Neighborhood programs at Carnegie Hall. The Wiyos’ interactive educational workshops have taken them from elementary schools to colleges throughout the U.S. and UK.
Tickets are $18. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact Club Helsinki Hudson at (518) 828-4800.
–E.E.
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Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School to hold annual Yuletide Fair
Ghent, N.Y. — Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School will hold its annual Yuletide Fair and gingerbread house auction Saturday, Dec. 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The school’s assembly hall will be transformed into a winter wonderland with dozens of original gingerbread creations on display. Artisan vendors will fill the school’s classrooms with beautiful handcrafted items. The fair will also include activities for children such as candle dipping and stained glass making, a community craft room for handcrafted items, a Hand-to-Hand Room for gently worn wool clothing and wooden toys, tasty treats in the Cozy Café, a silent auction and more.
The Magical Puppet Tree will perform the classic Grimm’s fairy tale “The Elves and the Shoemaker” presented in silk marionette theater with music by HVWS Grade Two class teacher Scott Esty. Performances will take place at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. in the Morningstar Kindergarten Theater. Admission is $4.
Children and adults are invited to enter this year’s gingerbread contest, a perennial favorite of the fair. Friends, families, and neighbors will have an opportunity to bid on their favorite entries at the gingerbread auction and take home an original work of gingerbread art to support the school.
The Yuletide Fair is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School at (518) 672-7092.
–E.E.
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Cantilena Chamber Choir to present ‘Christmas at Trinity’
Lenox — The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present “Christmas at Trinity” Sunday, Dec. 2, at 3 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church. The concert will include Russian sacred music for Christmas by Tchaikovsky; traditional carols; and some new settings of old favorites by Ola Gjeilo and Stephen Paulus for chorus, harp and oboe. Harpist Teresa Mango and oboist Joanne Nelson will be the featured artists on the program. Guests include the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School choir under the direction of Jonathan Cade.
The Cantilena Chamber Choir, now in its 15th season, is the recipient of a Peers grant award from the Mass Cultural Council, the only Berkshire choir so honored. It is also a two-time winner of Choral Arts New England’s Alfred Nash Patterson Award for unique programming. Choir founder and director Andrea Goodman also serves as the music director for the annual summer Saratoga Choral Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for students and seniors, and free for children 12 and under. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact Cantilena Chamber choir at (518) 791-0185 or satbchoir@yahoo.com.
–E.E.
