Stockbridge — When NBC television network producers gave Barbara J. Zanetti, executive director of the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce, a “heads up” shortly before Thanksgiving that one of its stalwart productions would like to broadcast from The Red Lion Inn on Friday, December 6, a team of local champions went into action.
As a result, the town will be featured as part of the Today Show’s “The Merriest Main Streets in America” series, said Margit Hotchkiss, chief marketing officer of the Norman Rockwell Museum and a member at large of the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. “They’re presenting towns across America that have a particularly special holiday scene, and we loved that they said they wanted to kick it off with probably the most iconic holiday scene [which] is Main Street Stockbridge,” she said of the show. “We’re thrilled that they’ve chosen the town, and I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Stockbridge was selected for the segment to capture its annual celebration happening the first weekend in December: Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas, a recreation of Norman Rockwell’s iconic namesake painting depicting the town’s magical holiday vibe. Hosted by the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce, the event showcases the town’s enthusiasm for the winter holidays as evidenced by wreaths and lights adorning the streets, live music, markets, and vintage automobiles lining the streets, signature items that pay homage to Rockwell’s artwork. He began painting the classic scene in 1956 but did not complete it until 1967.
Click here for a list of the celebration’s events.
The production will be via a live remote, with NBC affiliate station NBC10 Boston simulcasting that footage into the national program beginning at 8:25 a.m., Hotchkiss said. That segment will last for two-and-a-half minutes.
Zanetti and Hotchkiss are assembling examples of Stockbridge’s festive community including Berkshire Theatre Group’s costumed cast from “A Christmas Carol,” children, and carolers. The public is invited to join in and gather around the vintage car parked at the front of The Red Lion Inn no later than 7:30 a.m. for a brief preview of the segment.
The goal is to capture Main Street with the crowd outside, said Hotchkiss who, along with Berkshire Theatre Group CEO and Artistic Director Kate Maguire, will be interviewed as to the holiday culture of Stockbridge. “Hopefully, [the segment] just reminds our local community of what wonderful offerings we really have here in the Berkshires and certainly in Stockbridge,” she said.
For Shira Wilkofsky, marketing performance manager at Main Street Hospitality Group/The Red Lion Inn, the local Today Show production serves to “bring more awareness to our little town of Stockbridge” with its “quintessential New England charm.” Rockwell’s painting that inspired the celebration immortalized The Red Lion Inn, a historic hotel dating back to the 1770s, she said. “I think it’s really special to have more people get a sense of how the community celebrates and kicks off our season,” Wilkofsky said. She noted that people have been coming to the area for years as part of their families’ holiday traditions.
“Hopefully, people will see that [show] and then want to make a visit, come join us and see what it’s like to spend [time here] for the holidays,” Wilkofsky said of the inn’s busy month of festive programs including gingerbread-house decorating, wreath-building classes, live choral music performances, and a December 20 holiday poetry reading session.
For those wanting to take part in the production, now is not the time to be shy. “NBC told us, ‘Bring out your most festive folks,’ whether that’s an elf hat or jingle bells, whatever it is, bring lots of festiveness,” Hotchkiss said. “So, that’s the instruction.”
The segment creation begins the night before, on Thursday, December 5, with footage slated to be filmed of the town and its nightlights.
For Hotchkiss, the number of people involved in the production is “an unknown.” “This is the first time we’ve ever been contacted to do this segment live,” she said. “So, we’re inviting our communities to come on out—whoever is willing to be out on a very chilly, early morning—and hang out for an hour to appear on national television.”
Although Main Street won’t be closed, the roadway will be partially blocked on Friday morning, with an area designated for people to assemble. Police detail is expected to support the event, and parking won’t be allowed along the Main Street strip by the hotel.
The festivities’ Saturday, December 7, start initially posed an issue for Hotchkiss and Zanetti. “It seemed as though NBC thought that the event was taking place on December 6, but, of course, it’s not so we had to bring some of the festivities to the time that they needed for the Friday morning segment,” Hotchkiss said. “So, it started to be very quickly about logistics.”
Along with the flurry of activity prompted by NBC’s contact, a burst of excitement was also sparked. “It’s great to be recognized for something that’s a homegrown event, the volunteers and Chamber members who worked on it for 35 years,” Hotchkiss said.
The production comes on the heels of a West Stockbridge tree serving as the centerpiece of New York City’s Rockefeller Center holiday celebration. “We’re certainly not hidden,” Hotchkiss said of the region. “But we still seem to maintain the beauty and the quaintness of small-town New England.”
