image description
Employees from Berkshire Bank volunteered their time on Wednesday to assemble the dozen bikes that will be raffled off.

Volunteers Prep For Third Annual Children's Extravaganza

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
Print Story | Email Story

The bank purchased the bicycles from Plaines and donated them to the event.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Children's Holiday Extravaganza returns for the third year on Nov. 26 with a record high number of tickets reserved.
 
The extravaganza was the brainchild of Kathy Amuso, who three years ago reached out to Berkshire Theatre Group CEO Kate Maguire about throwing a free holiday party for the community.
 
Since then, the Colonial Theatre has hosted the family-friendly event each year and more and more people are attending.
 
"It is mirrored after the GE parties that GE and the union would put on. It would be free and there'd be Santa Claus and raffles," Amuso said on Wednesday.
 
The event is put on by a small group of volunteers and is entirely supported by donations. The 750 tickets that were reserved this year were free for attendees and there will be some 40 different raffle prizes, goodie bags for children, and an array of activities. 
 
A dozen bicycles will be raffled as well. Berkshire Bank sponsors the bicycle raffles and purchased them from Plaines. On Wednesday, volunteers from the bank assembled them as part of a team-building exercise.
 
"We will have several raffles from the stage throughout the day. We raffle off these beautiful bikes. Thanks to Berkshire Bank and Plaines, we have 12 bikes and helmets," said Berkshire Theater Group's Director of Education Allison Rachele Bayles.
 
At 11:30, the doors at the Colonial Theatre open at 11:30 on Saturand inside Santa and Mrs. Claus, an elf, and entertainers await. There will be singers and dancing. Mcguire will perform a reading. Actors from A Christmas Carol will be on site. There will be a photo booth, clowns, crafts, and food.
 
"It is for the kids and their families so they can enjoy an afternoon with their children at the theater. We wanted to do something to invite the community into the theater. A lot of the people who come have never been here before," Bayles said.
 
The pair doesn't really ask for anything in return, except maybe some non-perishable food donations that they can give to the St. Joseph's Food Bank. But otherwise, the idea is to just bring the community together for a family-friendly event.
 
"We just wanted it to be a gift to the community," Bayles said.
 
Whether it be the pizza and hot dogs or the bicycles or the entertainment, all of that is donated by various community organizations. Even the raffles are free.
 
"We have a small team and we divide and conquer. We go out to community members we know and sometimes they donate services, food, money, raffle prizes," Amuso said.
 
And the event has been well received. Each year more and more people are attending and shortly after tickets had been released in August, this year's event already has a waiting list.
 
"We kind of go year to year and see how it goes. The first year, I think there were a little bit less than 600 tickets reserved, a little bit more last year, and this year it kind of exploded," Amuso said.

Tags: Christmas story,   Colonial Theatre,   holiday event,   holiday story,   

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

Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories