DeMartino Named Pittsfield 4th of July Parade Grand Marshal

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Parade Committee announced Tuesday that Mario DeMartino will be the Grand Marshal for July 4th Parade.

DeMartino was chosen because of his high level of volunteerism.

DeMartino is the chairman of the Pittsfield Ethnic Fair and organizes the bucket brigade for the Fourth of July Parade. He is a member of: Order Sons of Italy Lodge 564; Italian American Club of Pittsfield; UNICO of Pittsfield; CIAO of the Berkshires; Faccioli Club of Pittsfield;  and the Wahconah Country Club.

He started his career in the Berkshires in 1964 after graduating from Ithaca College the year before. He was the director of physical therapy at Berkshire Rehabilitation Center and later director of physical and occupational therapy. He then was the director of physical therapy at Berkshire Physical Therapy before opening his own DeMartino Physical Therapy, which he ran until his retirement.

During those years, DeMartino was a consultant for various nursing homes. He was chairman of the Western Massachusetts Health Planning Council of the Berkshires from 1976-1980 and also chairman of Berkshire County Association of Allied Health Professionals.

DeMartino has served on the City of Pittsfield Commission on Disabilities and was a former board member of Pittsfield General Hospital, Pontoosuc Lake Advisory Committee, and the Pittsfield YMCA. He currently serves on the Board at Berkshire Healthcare and Hospice Care of the Berkshires.

He is married to Sandra DeMartino and is the father or five children and nine grandchildren.

He was awarded the YMCA G. Fred Lincks Award in 2007 and the Berkshire Health Systems Francis X. Doyle Award in 2013.

The Parade Committee also announced that the late Joanne Hayes will be an  honorary grand marshal.

The Parade Committee chose to honor Hayes because of her years of service as a parade organizer. She served as the secretary of the Pittsfield Parade Committee for more than a decade.

Hayes also volunteered much of her time with the Sacred Heart Parish Council and organized their Holiday Gift Bizarre. She was employed by Berkshire Health Systems until October of 2013.

BCC Sees $1M in Federal Funds for Trades Academy

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:15PM / Thursday, April 09, 2026

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal secured $995,000 to begin design and construction of the academy. The congressman had earlier attended the Norman Rockwell Museum business breakfast, which celebrated Laurie Norton Moffatt's 49 years leading the institution.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College was awarded nearly $1 million in federal funds to support a Trades Academy. 

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal visited the college to highlight the $995,000 he secured through congressionally directed spending. Executive Director of Workforce and Community Education Linda Clairmont said BCC can be a destination for adults who want to learn a skilled trade. 

"I want to join up with the amazing work that Taconic and McCann (vocational high schools) are doing to prepare people for these really specific skills, helping people become confident professionals with a direct path to high-wage, high-demand jobs," she explained. 

"And we're also addressing the labor shortage that exists in this county, around the state, and around the country, in the skilled trades." 

The federal funding will support a feasibility study of an existing vacant building on campus, as well as the evaluation and abatement of any hazardous materials at the location, because it was once a power plant. 

BCC will dip its toe into the skilled trades with its first HVAC training program, for which it received $1.2 million from the state in support. The $995,000 in federal funds will go toward creating the academy in a building located on the main campus, and the HVAC heat pump training program will be funded by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. 

The $1 million in federal monies will get the college to construction documents, maybe fund some construction, and help identify the necessary equipment and other learning space needs for a skilled trade, Clairmont reported. 

The funding is part of more than $14 million in congressionally directed spending secured by the congressman to support economic development, workforce training, and community infrastructure across the Berkshires.

Neal said there are about 6.5 million jobs in the United States that go unanswered every day.