The Great Barrington Rotary Club had another success Sunday at its annual Bike & Fly, held at the Walter J. Koladza Airport. This event is billed as a Bike & Fly, and those features still anchor the day. Some 58 people took the opportunity, at $40 per person, to take a 20-minute flight over Great Barrington. And about 100 bikers started at 9:00 a.m. on rides that covered from 30 to 80 miles.
But the bulk of the activity seemed to be happening right on the grounds of the airport, with lots of things for kids and adults to do: the Boy Scouts set up a climbing wall, the Great Barrington and Egremont Fire Departments gave demonstrations on how to put out fires, students from the Mt. Everett Regional High School robotics team showed off the robots they’d built, Berkshire Bike & Board gave free trials of eBikes, the Great Barrington Kennel Club set up an obstacle course that tested dogs’ sense of smell, there were face-painting and pony rides, and kids could amuse themselves at the kids’ playground and the bouncy house. There was an impressive collection of classic cars to admire. There were live music and food. And most original of all was the Cow Plop drawing (more about this later.)
This is one of three big events presented each year by the Great Barrington Rotary Club, the other two being Truck Day and the Golf Tournament. The money raised at these three events allowed Rotary to award $60,500 in scholarship money to local students this past year.
Inside the hangar at the Walter. J. Koladza Airport. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowMembers of the award-winning robotics team from Mt. Everett Regional High School demonstrate an underwater robot built by seniors at the school. This robot retrieves wiffle balls underwater in an obstacle course. Here at the Bike & Fly are (left to right) 9th grader Carter Lotz; Chris Thompson, Technology Director for Southern Berkshire Regional School District and advisor to the robotics program; and 10th graders Mikel Nourse and Nadia Makuc. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowLive music performed in the tent by a duo from Canaan, Conn., named Two Guys in Suits and Ties, including Kevin O’Connor, left, and Sean Claydon, right. They are joined by Emily Aranow, second from left, and Cora Grandy, second from right. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowErik Bruun from SoCo Creamery provided ice cream for the event. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowSteffan Root from Berkshire Bike & Board helps Lynn Zuckerman of Stockbridge test drive an eBike. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowHava Kampe partakes of a pony ride. Hava, who lives in Los Angeles, is visiting her grandparents Phil and Maria Kempe of Monterey before starting a session at Camp Half Moon. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowSally Underwood-Miller, President of the Great Barrington Kennel Club, accompanied by a canine friend, invited visiting dogs to find their way through an obstacle course that relied on their sense of smell. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowA great collection of antique and vintage cars. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowTom Miller of Canaan, Conn., with his Abercrombie Runabout. This car was built in 1966 and offered in the Abercrombie & Fitch 1966 Christmas catalogue as a gift “for the man who has everything.” The price in 1966 was $4200. Photo: Marcie L. SetlowAnd now for more about the Cow Plop Drawing. Rotary member Louann Harvey, assisted by her husband and son Ed and Sonny Harvey, have marked out a field with 100 equally sized squares. 100 raffle tickets are sold, one for each square, for $20 apiece. The cow (pregnant, it turns out) is provided by Will Conklin of Sky View Farm. And how does the drawing work? If the cow plops a deposit onto your ticket’s square, you win $1,000! (No, you don’t win the plop.)This year’s lucky winner was Mary Ann Norris, former Rotary Club President. Photo: Marcie L. Setlow
From indie rock to emerging electronic artists, the series will celebrate both regional talent and international artistry, right in the heart of Downtown Pittsfield.
