Pittsfield Common Completion Set For December

James McGrath fills in the Parks Commission on upcoming events and the status of the Common.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The multiyear, multimillion dollar overhaul of the Common is slated to be completed by Christmas of this year.

Parks, Open Space & Natural Resources Manager James McGrath told the city's Parks Commission on Tuesday that despite the recent passing of one of its principal architects, remaining details of the design are nearly finalized and construction is expected to begin in mid-May.

"This is where the rubber meets the road," said McGrath. "This is the final stretch of the plain, where we're starting to look at colors for the bathroom buildings and for the roofs, and styles for benches and things of that nature.

The project is now at the 75 percent design phase, and expected to be at 100 percent design by next week. The project will then go out to bid in April to allow for work to start the following month.

The final two phases of the project to be undertaken were originally anticipated to be spread out into 2015, but planning was accelerated by the announcement this fall that the Gov. Deval Patrick would allocate the remaining $1.7 million needed for the phases this year. 

"The timing that we've committed to is to have this project completed before Governor Patrick leaves office," McGrath explained.

The final phases will include installation of more lighting, bathroom facilities, a gathering gazebo and a larger performance pavilion, a sprinkler spray ground, and a full-sized 94x50 basketball court. This will conclude an overhaul begun in 2011, totaling $4.6 million in state grants and matching city funds. 

"It's a big job, there'll be a lot of work happening in a short time period and all these expectations will be laid out in the bid application," McGrath assured the commissioners.

In the meantime, the city will hold an official ribbon cutting for the re-vamped Wild Acres conservation area Friday, April 25, as part of its annual Arbor Day event. 

"Wild Acres is completely redone, it looks a lot different than it has in the past," said McGrath.

The configuration of the conservation park has changed dramatically following upgrades at the adjacent Pittsfield Municipal Airport, for which the city took 21 acres to expand the airfield area and replaced it with a comparable acreage of private land taken by eminent domain. The new entrance and parking area are now located to the east side of the pond, off of South Mountain Road.

The Arbor Day gathering and ribbon cutting on April 25 at noon will be followed the next day (Saturday, April 26) with the second annual Youth Fishing Derby beginning at 9:30 a.m. and sponsored by the Pittsfield Conservation and Lyon Aviation.

The Parks Commission also approved permits on Tuesday for more park events throughout the upcoming spring. Berkshire Volleyball activities will resume at Marchisio Park on Tuesdays from 6 to 8:30 p.m. from May 6 to Sept. 30. At Springside Park, the Friends of Springside will hold its 25th annual Earth Day park cleanup day from 9:30 to 4, and the Berkshire Conservation District is holding its annual plant sale on May 10, to coincide with of the Springside Greenhouse Group, all that weekend.

At Park Square, the Chapter 65 Vietnam Veterans will hold a memorial service for local soldiers fallen in that war on March 29 at 10 a.m., and the Elizabeth Freeman Center will again hold a stand out to raise awareness about sexual assault there from 3 to 5 p.m. on April 10.

Toys for Tots Bringing Presents to Thousands of Kids This Year

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:21PM / Friday, December 05, 2025

Volunteers organize toys by age and gender in the House of Corrections storage facility. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Plenty of toys are on their way to children this holiday season thanks to Toys for Tots.

Christopher Keegan has coordinated the local toy drive for the Berkshire Chapter of the Marine Corps Reserve since 2015 and said he has seen the need rise every year, last year helping more than 6,000 kids.

"This is 11 years I've been doing it, and the need has gone up every year. It's gone up every year, and I anticipate it going up even more this year," Keegan said.

On Thursday, the Berkshire County House of Corrections storage facility was overflowing with toys making it the county's very own Santa's workshop. 

Keegan said Berkshire County always shows up with toys or donations. 

"This county is outstanding when it comes to charity. They rally around stuff. They're very giving, they're very generous, and they've been tremendous in this effort, the toys for pride effort, since I've been doing it, our goal is to honor every request, and we've always reached that goal," he said.

Keegan's team is about 20 to 25 volunteers who sort out toys based on age and gender. This week, the crew started collecting from the 230 or so boxes set out around the county on Oct. 1.

"The two age groups that are probably more difficult — there's a newborn to 2s, boys and girls, and 11 to 14, boys and girls. Those are the two challenging ages where we need to focus our attention on a little bit more," he said.

Toys For Tots has about 30 participating schools and agencies that sign up families and individuals who need help putting gifts under the tree. Keegan takes requests right up until the last minute on Christmas.

"We can go out shopping for Christmas. I had sent my daughter out Christmas Eve morning. Hey, we need X amount of toys and stuff, but the requests are still rolling in from individuals, and I don't say no, we'll make it work however we can," he said.

Community members help to raise money or bring in unopened and unused toys. Capeless Elementary student Thomas St. John recently raised $1,000 selling hot chocolate and used the money to buy toys for the drive.

"It's amazing how much it's grown and how broad it is, how many people who were involved," Keegan said.

On Saturday, Live 95.9 personalities Bryan Slater and Marjo Catalano of "Slater and Marjo in the Morning" will host a Toys for Tots challenge at The Hot Dog Ranch and Proprietor's Lodge. Keegan said they have been very supportive of the drive and that they were able to collect more than 3,000 toys for the drive last year.

Volunteer Debbie Melle has been volunteering with Toys for Tots in the county for about five years and said people really showed up to give this year.

"I absolutely love it. It's what we always say. It's organized chaos, but it's rewarding. And what I actually this year, I'm so surprised, because the amount that the community has given us, and you can see that when you see these pictures, that you've taken, this is probably the most toys we've ever gotten," she said. "So I don't know if people just feel like this is a time to give and they're just going above and beyond, but I'm blown away. This year we can barely walk down the aisles for how much, how many toys are here. It's wonderful."