Hopkins Forest Fall Festival Set for Sept. 26

Print Story | Email Story
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The annual Hopkins Forest Fall Festival will take place Sunday, Sept. 26 from 1 to 4 p.m. in Hopkins Memorial Forest. The entrance to the forest is at the junction of Northwest Hill Road and Bulkley Street. The event is free and appropriate for all ages. All local residents, students, and visitors are invited.

The festival celebrates the changing of the seasons and the bounty of our wooded environments. Featured activities will include traditional wood working demonstrations, music, apple butter and cider production, refreshments, a canopy walkway, and children's activities. A barnwright from Berkshire Barns, Inc., will demonstrate the craft of shaving pegs for use in traditional barn construction. Also featured will be hands-on activities, including shake-splitting and a cross-cut saw competition.

Williams College actively manages Hopkins Forest's 2,600 acres, which were donated to Williams College in the 1930s by the family of Colonel Amos Lawrence Hopkins. The forest contains an array of hiking and cross-country ski trails, and includes a visitor center, an herb garden, and a maple sugaring operation. In addition, the college uses it for various teaching and research endeavors.

Those unable to attend the festival are invited to visit Hopkins Forest another time. It is open daily during daylight hours. For more information on the forest and related activities, contact the forest manager at 413-597-4353.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

School Budget, Environment, Recreation Highlight Williamstown Town Meeting

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — This month's annual town meeting returns to a familiar venue.
 
What goes on in that building the rest of the year could be a major topic of discussion at the Tuesday, May 19, gathering.
 
After two years (2020 and '21) on Williams College's football field and four years ('22 through '25) at Mount Greylock Regional School, the town's legislative body will be back at Williamstown Elementary School for a 7 p.m. meeting to decide on municipal spending and other town business.
 
The largest segment of the municipal budget goes to the public schools, and the spending plan for PreK-12 education likely will see a floor amendment intended to add an additional $120,000 to fund a math interventionist at Williamstown Elementary School.
 
The elected seven-member School Committee that governs the Mount Greylock Regional School District has proposed a $30.9 million operating budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The local share of that budget is meted out in assessments to the member towns of Lanesborough and Williamstown, which each vote whether to approve its assessment at town meeting.
 
Williamstown's share of the operating and capital expenditures for the regional school district is $16.8 million under the budget approved by the School Committee, an increase of a little more than $2 million, or 13.65 percent, from the budget for the current fiscal/school year.
 
A group of WES parents concerned about the mathematics instruction at the Grade prekindergarten-6 school plans to bring an amendment to town meeting to add the additional $120,000 — about 0.7 percent of the proposed assessment — to fund the interventionist position.
 
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories