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BerkshireFlirt is all about helping people find other people to connect with.

BerkshireFlirt Bringing Singles Mingle to Williamstown

By Rebecca DravisiBerkshires Staff
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Local single people meet each other during a BerkshireFlirt event in March at Taggert House in Lenox. BerkshireFlirt's next event is May 8 in Williamstown.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — French artist Henri Matisse once said "creativity takes courage." In the case of a new Berkshire County endeavor, some courageous and creative minds have come together to solve a pressing problem.

The problem? The lack of safe, fun, convenient places for single people to find potential partners. The solution? BerkshireFlirt, which seeks to connect Berkshire singles through events and social networking.

The creative minds behind BerkshireFlirt are, not surprisingly, creative people. Noel Henebury and Stephanie Mendoza both work at Barrington Stage Company. Julia Dixon is managing director of Berkshire Creative. And Jenn Gomez works for College Internship Program. 

The friends conceived the idea back in January when they were having drinks one Sunday at Thistle & Mirth and lamenting that they had no plans for Valentine's Day. When co-owner Sarah Callaway suggested they hang out at the bar during a previously scheduled event featuring erotic readings from "Fifty Shades of Grey," their creative minds instantly saw a bigger solution: inviting a bunch of other singles to the event.

They came up with the name "BerkshireFlirt," designed a graphic, started a Facebook page and bought the website domain, all over the course of just a few days, and within just a couple of weeks the inaugural event was sold out.

"It was like instantaneous interest," Dixon said.

The Valentine's Day event itself was a huge success, offering a comfortable environment for people to meet one another on a night where they might otherwise have felt alone.

"Everyone was willing to mingle," Mendoza said. "It was this giant room of people willing to meet and talk."

After the popularity of that event (which resulted in at least one couple going on a date afterward) the friends scheduled another event in March at Taggert House in Lenox (which also resulted in a couple post-event dates). And for the next event, BerkshireFlirt is heading north: Game Night at the '6 House Pub in Williamstown will be held Friday, May 8, from 7 to 9 p.m. There is a $10 cover charge, which includes hors d'oeuvres, self-guided ice breakers starting at 7 p.m. and games like Clue, Sorry and cornhole starting at 8 p.m. All the details are on the BerkshireFlirt's Facebook page and tickets are also available online.

The formula that has worked for BerkshireFlirt for its event so far has been to ensure an equal number of tickets are sold to men and women. Beyond that, there are no other requirements; the first event in Pittsfield saw a "diverse" age range, Dixon said. They don't assign seats or do any kind of "speed dating" type activities, but they do help start conversations by announcing questions that guests can answer with one another.

"These are all very open-ended questions," Mendoza said. "It becomes this really nice opportunity to find connections."


And those kinds of connections are important in an area like the Berkshires where it can be hard for people to find each other.

"The geography is so spread out and the population is so small that people don't have the opportunity to meet other single people," Dixon said.

Dixon said she herself had looked at online dating sites in the past but found so many of the people were from metropolitan areas quite a distance away from the Berkshires.

"Why do I have to look to Boston?" she recalled saying to herself in frustration. "I'm sure there are people in Berkshire County."

The friends realized there are indeed people in Berkshire County looking for companionship, but many of them didn't know how to start and where to go.

"You really have to be brave in the Berkshires," Henebury said. "You have to make an effort."

And to help BerkshireFlirt decide how to best help with that effort, they have created an online survey for people to share their thoughts and opinions on.

"We can have the opportunity to tailor some events," Dixon said. "It gives us more information as we're planning."

The trio plans to use their creative knowledge in that planning, perhaps scheduling date-night options at interesting shows in the theater community this summer, for example. The ladies are happy to use their energy and talents to help people find happiness, or at least have a good time for one night.

"If we can help somebody enjoy Valentine's Day, just feel good for a while, then damn. What else is there?" Henebury said.


Tags: dating,   networking,   singles,   

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Williamstown Affordable Housing Trust Hears Objections to Summer Street Proposal

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Neighbors concerned about a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week raised the specter of a lawsuit against the town and/or Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity.
 
"If I'm not mistaken, I think this is kind of a new thing for Williamstown, an affordable housing subdivision of this size that's plunked down in the middle, or the midst of houses in a mature neighborhood," Summer Street resident Christopher Bolton told the Affordable Housing Trust board, reading from a prepared statement, last Wednesday. "I think all of us, the Trust, Habitat, the community, have a vested interest in giving this project the best chance of success that it can have. We all remember subdivisions that have been blocked by neighbors who have become frustrated with the developers and resorted to adversarial legal processes.
 
"But most of us in the neighborhood would welcome this at the right scale if the Trust and Northern Berkshire Habitat would communicate with us and compromise with us and try to address some of our concerns."
 
Bolton and other residents of the neighborhood were invited to speak to the board of the trust, which in 2015 purchased the Summer Street lot along with a parcel at the corner of Cole Avenue and Maple Street with the intent of developing new affordable housing on the vacant lots.
 
Currently, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, which built two homes at the Cole/Maple property, is developing plans to build up to five single-family homes on the 1.75-acre Summer Street lot. Earlier this month, many of the same would-be neighbors raised objections to the scale of the proposed subdivision and its impact on the neighborhood in front of the Planning Board.
 
The Affordable Housing Trust board heard many of the same arguments at its meeting. It also heard from some voices not heard at the Planning Board session.
 
And the trustees agreed that the developer needs to engage in a three-way conversation with the abutters and the trust, which still owns the land, to develop a plan that is more acceptable to all parties.
 
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