Billboard art from Callahan Outdoor Advertising, which has donated four billboards to advertise the trophy tour here.
UPDATE: Sunday's schedule for the Red Sox World Series Trophy tour has been changed because of the blizzard, according to state Rep. Smitty Pignatelli. The new schedule is:
The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The Pittsfield Boys' and Girls' Club, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Lenox Community Center, 5:30 p.m.
The Locker Room restaurant on Main Street in Lee, 7 p.m.
For more information, call (413) 637-0631.
Forget the New England Patriots, however gallant they may be in their quest for another Super Bowl. On Sunday and Monday, the Red Sox Nation will be out in force in Berkshire County.
Thanks to the efforts of the baseball team, a former Pittsfield resident who works with a non-profit sports foundation at Northeastern University, a couple of state legislators and a host of local fans, the 2004 World Series trophy will be making an extended tour in South County, Pittsfield and North County.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the response this tour has generated,†state Rep. William “Smitty†Pignatelli, D-Lenox, said Tuesday. “Grown men are telling me they get goose bumps just thinking this trophy is coming here!â€
And that’s not GooseGossage bumps, for you Yankee fans out there _ among them Pignatelli. The Red Sox ended the 86-year “Curse of the Bamino†(Babe Ruth), beating the hated Yanks on the way to the World Series crown in October. The trophy has been on a whirlwind tour throughout the state and beyond ever since.
“I have a couple of Yankee fans who aren’t even speaking to me at this point,†said Pignatelli, who has been a prime mover in getting the Berkshire tour organized. “They’re saying no way — we’ve won 26 of them (World Series titles) and you never brought the trophy here.â€
Perhaps in part because the Yankees don’t have Allyce Najimy, chief operating officer at the Sport in Society center at Northeastern, on their side. According to Pignatelli, Najimy, a Pittsfield native and 1982 graduate of Taconic High School, went to bat for the county, and got the tour organized first for Pittsfield then for Lee, Lenox, Stockbridge, Adams, Clarksburg, Williamstown and North Adams.
Najimy, contacted at her office Tuesday, fessed up. A “ferocious†Sox fan, she grew up going to Fenway Park with her father, the late Norman Najimy, a long-time Pittsfield school teacher and principal, her sister, Merrie, her brother, Albert, and her mother, Jackie. Najimy has worked closely with the team promoting youth events and non-violence in sports. She said she contacted Charles Steinberg, Red Sox senior vice president for public affairs, who got the whole Berkshire tour rolling.
“I said, ‘Charles, I want to bring the trophy out here because people love baseball here.’ I told him I think we won the World Series because 2004 was the year it was found that baseball was first played in Pittsfield, not in New York,†she said.
Steinberg put her in touch with tour organizer Colin Burch, who, she said, responded, “All right, we’ll do it.†The original plan was to hold the event at Wahconah Park, where several notable Major League players have performed, but everyone thought (and rightly so) that it would be too cold.
Along the way, Pignatelli, state Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, North Adams Mayor John Barrett III, Adams Selectman Edward Driscoll, Clarksburg Council on Aging President Lily Kuzia, and Williamstown House of Local History President Richard Dodd helped make the pitches that resulted in the final stops. For anyone who has been paying more attention to football, the schedule is as follows:
Sunday, Jan. 23, 9 to 10:30 a.m., The Locker Room sports bar, 232 Main St., Lee; 11 to 12:30, Lenox Community Center; 1:30 to 3:30, Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge; 3:45 to 6, Boys and Girls Club, Pittsfield.
Monday, Jan. 24, 9 to 10:30 a.m., Plunkett Elementary School, Adams; 11 to 12:30, Clarksburg Senior Center; 1 to 2:30, Towne Field House, Williams College; 3 to 6, St. Anthony's Parish, North Adams.
Children will be welcome at all locations, and people are encouraged to bring their cameras to get their photos taken with the trophy. Special displays will be on hand, and clips of the Red Sox series wins will be shown at some locations.
“Everyone will have a chance to get their picture taken — whether you’re a 5-year-old kid or an 85-or-90-year-old fan who went to Fenway as a kid,†Pignatelli promised. “We’re going to see a lot of excitement around here that we won’t see again in along time.â€
Callahan Outdoor Advertising has donated four billboards to publicize the event, one off the Massachusetts Turnpike in Lee, two in downtown Pittsfield, and one in North Adams on Route 8 next to the Bounti-Fare Restaurant.
Don Lucy, co-owner of The Locker Room with David Eisenberg, said the tour will start with a limousine pulling up in front of the bar and the trophy carried in by two sixth-grade children. The Berkshire County Sheriff’s Department will provide an escort for the entire tour.
“We’re real excited. We’re both big Red Sox fans, and this is a Red Sox bar,†Lucy said. “Even some of the Yankee fans are going to come down and take a peek at it.â€
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North Adams Selected for $2.5M Pilot 'Creative District' Program
Staff reports
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A $2.5 million grant for a "creative district" pilot is being seen as a way to leverage past studies and business and arts leaders' input to strengthen the revitalization of the downtown.
The three-year grant is from the Barr Foundation, a Boston-based philanthropic organization that aids communities in unlocking potential for creativity, growth and equity. The foundation partners with the Mass Development and has supported its Transformative Development Initiative program.
"We are just so excited about the opportunity to be part of the creative initiative," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey on Thursday. "Not being designated a gateway community, we thought that was going to hinder us, but Mass Development really came and circled around us.
"We've assembled a great team, and I'm very excited about the work that is going to be done."
This is a new economic development program, and will be used by North Adams to leverage arts and culture as drivers of equitable growth while supporting small businesses and creative entrepreneurs, and positioning the Northern Berkshires for future public and private investment.
"I think this is really going to launch our economic development model — develop it, plan it, and also, again, reach out to the business community, the art community, the municipal community, the residents, and get us all working together to grow North Adams," Macksey said.
One of the first things for the city will be to hire a creative district fellow to work alongside local partners and coordinate program implementation, strengthen collaboration across the district, and advance catalytic projects.
Cassidy Flynn scattered five hits in a complete-game effort in the circle as Lenox upset top-seeded Hoosac Valley, 3-2, in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament. click for more
Brayden Durant struck out seven and walked one in a complete-game effort on the mound Saturday to pitch the Drury baseball team to a 6-0 win over Keefe Tech in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament at Joe Wolfe Field. click for more
