Adams' First 'Thunderfest' A Massive Success
 Thunderfest featured live music, local food vendors and children's games. See more photos here. |
The first Thunderfest, a winter festival to coincide with the historic race, drew hundreds of people to the Discover the Berkshire Visitors Center on Saturday to listen to music, eat from local venders or just sit by a fire.
The weather was good and residents were eager to shake the winter blues.
"We are thrilled, the weather, the turnout, the enthusiasm," David Bissaillon, of the Pro Adams group that organized the festival, said. "This is uniquely Adams."
The event also featured a chili and chowder contests to help promote local restaurants. Bounti-Fare Restaurant won the chowder contest and Pizza Jim's the chili contest.
Organizers and town officials were already talking about how the festival can get even bigger, including closing Hoosac Street to Winter Street. This first year they were surprised with the number of people; food ran out about halfway through the five-hour event and lines for beer were backed up. Organizers hope to fix that next year.
"Clearly, we want to expand the venue for food," co-Chairman Dan Hogan said. "We're going to try to find different ways to promote the town."
The ski race was called off after being postponed once because of the lack of snow. Organizers believe that if the race had happened, there would have been at least 1,000 more people - many from out of town. Next year, they are thinking of more games for children and horse-drawn carriage rides, as well as bringing in more food. A mini Mount Greylock snow castle is also eyed for children. They considered some of those ideas for this year's event but were not able to put it together, Hogan said.
While the Thunderbolt Ski Runners did not get up on the mountain, many were ecstatic to see the turnout at the festival, including one of the founding members, Hogan said.
"This is a tribute to them," Bissaillon said.
Tags: festival, Thunderbolt, Thunderfest,
