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Campers Filling Field for Annual FreshGrass Festival

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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Campers setting up at FreshGround at Noel Field Athletic Complex. The FreshGrass festival at Mass MoCA runs through Sunday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Campers descended upon the city to claim a spot for the FreshGrass bluegrass Festival at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art this weekend.

Although many of the concertgoers utilize established parking areas throughout the city, the more explorative music fans are setting camp at Noel Field.

Disanti Field has been split up into 175 campsites known as FreshGround, a take off on the successful SolidGround used during Solid Sound. Campers arrived throughout the day Friday to set up their camps and meet with other bluegrass enthusiasts. The parking lot behind Joe Wolfe Field has been split up into 25 recreational vehicle and camper spots.

Camp attendees said they expect FreshGround location will be close to full by the end of the day.

These concertgoers will be shuttled over to Mass MoCA in buses when the concerts begin.

Volunteers from ROPES program, operated mostly by local police, will supervise the campground. Sixty percent of the proceeds will go to the summer youth program.



Overflow parking can also be found behind the Big Y and in the district courthouse parking lot.

The three-day music festival hosts more than 40 acts and includes names such as Emmylou Harris, Railroad Earth, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, and Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn.

Major performers will take the main stages, but there will be pop-up concerts in the museum's galleries and courtyards.

This year FreshGrass will expand on its music competitions. Bands that enter can win $15,000 in prizes that include studio time in Nashville. There will be multiple contests for different kinds of performances judged by industry professionals.

The festival ends Sunday.


Tags: campground,   music festival,   

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Clarksburg Sees Race for Select Board Seat

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — The town will see a three-way race for a seat on the Select Board in May. 
 
Colton Andrews, Seth Alexander and Bryana Malloy returned papers by Wednesday's deadline to run for the three-year term vacated by Jeffrey Levanos. 
 
Andrews ran unsuccessfully for School Committee and is former chairman of the North Adams Housing Authority, on which he was a union representative. He is also president of the Pioneer Valley Building Trades Council.
 
Malloy and Alexander are both newcomers to campaigning. Malloy is manager of industrial relations for the Berkshire Workforce Board and Alexander is a resident of Gates Avenue. 
 
Alexander also returned papers for several other offices, including School Committee, moderator, library trustee and the five-year seat on the Planning Board. He took out papers for War Memorial trustee and tree warden but did not return them and withdrew a run for Board of Health. 
 
He will face off in the three-year School Committee seat against incumbent Cynthia Brule, who is running for her third term, and fellow newcomer Bonnie Cunningham for library trustee. 
 
Incumbent Ronald Boucher took out papers for a one-year term as moderator but did not return them. He was appointed by affirmation in 2021 when no won ran and accepted the post again last year as a write-in.
 
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