Berkshires Beat: A New Place For a Walk in the Woods
Take a hike: Members of Southwestern Vermont Health Care staff and their families completed work on a new 1.4-mile addition to the regional trail system on Saturday, June 18.
The trail is open to hikers and bikers and traverses SVHC’s Bennington Campus in Bennington, Vt. The entire community is invited to use the trail for outdoor recreation. Access points include Dewey Street in front of the hospital, Stark Street Playground, Monument Avenue Extension, and Frost Drive.
A fair time: Berkshire Youth Fair Books are available for youths 5-18 who want to enter the fair. Youths can print the fair books off the web or call the 4-H office at 413-448-8285 . Some will be automatically put in Tractor Supply stores, libraries and craft stores.
All entries must be created, made, grown or raised by the entrant; it doesn’t matter if they made it for another program, as long as they made it.
The Berkshire County Youth Fair will take place on Saturday, Aug. 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the 4-H Fairgrounds, on Utility Drive (off Holmes Road), Pittsfield. There is no entry fee and no parking fee for this fair. 4-H Youth and volunteers work year round to keep this fair free to the public so that any youth may participate and every family can enjoy a day out together.
A good day: The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Berkshire County held its 11th Annual Minds Matter Walk for Mental Health Awareness on May 19. More than 100 people participated in the event, which raised nearly $7,000 to support individuals and families impacted by mental illness throughout Berkshire County. The event was held during Cultural Pittsfield’s first Third Thursday of the year, and attendees lined the streets in support of the walkers.
“We’re so grateful to the sponsors, participants and volunteers who made our 11th Annual Minds Matter Walk for Mental Health Awareness a success. Due to your combined efforts, we raised nearly $7,000 to support individuals and families impacted my mental illness throughout Berkshire County, and I can’t thank you enough,” NAMI Berkshire County Executive Director Brenda Carpenter said.
Guards on duty: The Pittsfield Department of Community Development Recreation Program has announced that lifeguards will be on duty at the public beach within Burbank Park beginning July 2. They will be on this weekend, July 2-3, the 4th of July and then Wednesdays through Sundays through Aug. 20. Lifeguards will provide beach supervision from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on those days.
In the game: Sign-ups for the teen summer reading program, “Get in the Game: Read,” have begun at the Milne Public Library. Students in grades six through 12 are eligible and can enter raffle drawings each week based on their reading, to win a variety of fun prizes.
The library is also sponsoring three free, hands-on workshops in conjunction with teen summer reading: Make Your Own Video Game, on Wednesday, July 6, from 4-5:30 p.m.; Theater Improvisation, on Saturday, July 9, from 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.; Manga Camp, July 11-15, from 1-2:30 p.m. each day. Sign-up sheets for these programs are at the library, or you can call 413-458-5369 to get registered. Registration is in advance because space is limited.
All of these programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Milne Public Library.
