image description
The fundraiser at Pleasant Valley on Saturday will benefit education programs for all three Berkshire sanctuaries operated by Mass Audubon.
image description
Looking down the 'All Persons Trail,' a 30-40 minutes universally accessible trail around Pike's Pond.
image description
Wood piled for Saturday's bonfire.
image description
A primitive shelter.
image description
Getting the barn ready for the contra dance with Spare Parts and caller Paul Rosenberg.

Dance, Auction Benefits Berkshire Sanctuaries Education Program

By Judith LernerSpecial to iBerkshires
Print Story | Email Story
Above, Pleasant Valley's educational facility; left, a chicken mole taco from Baja Charlie's, which is catering Saturday's fundraiser.

Event runs from from 6 to 9:30. Tickets are $75; VIP tickets $175. Information: 413-637-0320.

LENOX, Mass. — Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary will be serving up food and music among its scenic woodlands on Saturday to help raise funds for educational programs.

"It's going to be a fundraiser and a fun-raiser," Becky Cushing joked about the first major event of her initial year as director of the three Berkshire Wildlife Sanctuaries of Massachusetts Audubon, based at Pleasant Valley, the 1,000-plus acre wooded nature preserve hidden in the Lenox hills since the 1930s.

Pleasant Valley and Mass Audubon, with the support of sponsors, are hosting "An Evening in the Woods Summer Party and Barn Dance" starting at 6 p.m. with food, drink and a silent auction. The barn dance and bonfire start at 8.

Chuck Hebler and his Baja Charlie's, a Cali cuisine restaurant in Lee, will supply the food.

"Food and conservation go hand in hand," Cushing said. "It just makes sense to do an event like this here in the Berkshires. And Baja Charlie's does such delicious food."

Hebler, who moved to the Berkshires from California 20 years ago to raise his family after catering for rock and other music stars, said his taco menu includes chorizo, a Hispanic garlic and paprika spiced pork sausage made from locally sourced pork by Red Apple Butchers in Dalton; an Asian duck confit taco flavored with garlic and Hoisin sauce; a chicken mole taco with a mole/sauce from Oaxaca; and a Oaxacan lamb taco.

"We make the sauce for the lamb taco with adobo chilis from Oaxaca to keep it as indigenous as possible," he said.

Hebler said he will "bring the parts and our chafing dishes and assemble our tacos at the sanctuary," using fresh, pure ingredients so diners also feel good after eating them.

"We're gonna have the fanciest tacos anyone ever heard of," Cushing said.

"SoCo [ice cream from Great Barrington] is gonna come down. The man who is coming to scoop it was a camper here," she said. "They're bringing their best flavors. I love their mango sorbet. I made a special request for that."

Kelly's Package Store in Dalton will supply beer and wine.

Cushing also noted that "there will be music the whole time."

Supplied by Spare Parts, a Lanesborough-based band created by flutist Liz Stell and pianist Bill Matthiesen. George Wilson will join them on the fiddle. Among other genres, Spare Parts plays historic Celtic and Southern fiddle tunes and contra dance music.

Cushing explained that contra dancing is more fun than square dancing because you get to dance with more people. She said people do not have to know how to do it. Experienced contra dance caller Paul Rosenberg of Homespun Occasions is an encouraging and successful teacher.


Rosenberg said he "gets his greatest satisfaction from enabling people who have never danced — especially the dance phobic — to not only get up and dance, but also to have a great time doing it and come back for more."

Among the many auction items of dinners at local restaurants and art created by Berkshire-based artists, a few one-of-a-kind opportunities stand out.

Rene Laubach, the previous director for nearly 30 years, will be leaving the area soon. Someone can win a bird walk with Laubach as guide and companion.

"People can bid on a camp out at Pleasant Valley," Cushing said. "That's priceless because you can't do that in any other circumstances."

Money raised by through party will be used to fund the sanctuaries' educational programs.

In addition to year-round classes and summer camp and guide material at Pleasant Valley itself, Berkshire Sanctuaries goes into schools all over Berkshire County.

"Recently, a lot of our work has been in Pittsfield," Cushing said. "There's a big need for science education.

"We're bringing hands-on learning into the schools. And we're also bringing classes out to the sanctuary and out in canoes in the [Housatonic] river. For some of the children, it's the one and only time they've been in a boat.

"We actually bring to canoes to the schools. The children get into them. Of course, they learn about safety. Some of the children are a little hesitant when they first see them. But, by the time they are ready to go out on the river, they are comfortable with the canoes."

Mass Audubon's mission is "protecting the nature of Massachusetts for people and for wildlife." The group aims to act as leaders and catalysts in conservation and to stimulate "individual and institutional action through conservation, education, and advocacy."

As a private institution, the non-profit organization does not receive government funding for teaching. The children's canoe lessons on the Housatonic highlight the importance of public support. Otters become real as they peep from and scamper out of their holes in the riverbank. Invasive plant species become real as the boat is entangled with weeds. The river is a real place as one floats in it.

Floating in a canoe with a sanctuary guide on a warming Sunday summer morning is a transformative experience.

"This year, we weren't able to do our canoe trips because we didn't have the funding," Cushing said. "I'm going to do everything possible to remedy that."

Helping fund that program, she said, "is a chance for someone to make a big difference in the lives of hundreds of kids.

"What better way to end the school year than to go out in a canoe?"


Tags: audubon,   education initiative,   fundraiser,   wildlife,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Lenox Girls Basketball Earns State Sportsmanship Award

Community submission
LOWELL, Mass. — For the first time in the team's history, the Lenox Memorial High School Girls Basketball team has won the MIAA Team Sportsmanship Award.
 
In 2024, the title was awarded to only two of 300 teams in Massachusetts.
 
The school team received the award during the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Basketball State Championships held at the Tsongas Center in Lowell on March 17.
 
"This is a big win for the entire Lenox community," Lenox Principal Jeremiah Ames said. "The Sportsmanship Award recognizes not only sportsmanship on the court, but service to the community and leadership at the school, and the members of our girls basketball team have done precisely that."
 
The team competes in Division 5 of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and earned the No. 3 seed in the recently completed state tournament.
 
"The girls have worked really hard both on and off the court for this award, and I am tremendously pleased that MIAA have recognized those efforts," Lenox Athletic Director Maggie Rivers said. "Let their achievement be a message to girls in Lenox, if you have a passion for the game, step up: because anything is possible."
View Full Story

More Lenox Stories