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Cassilis Farm in New Marlborough, being renovated by Construct into affordable housing, will be the site of a designer showcase fundraiser in June.

Construct to Host Designer Showcase

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NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — Construct Inc., a nonprofit provider of affordable housing and supportive services to residents in 15 towns across the Southern Berkshires, will hold its first Designer Showcase event/exhibition.
 
Slated for the entire month of June 2024, the Designer Showcase will highlight the work of more than a dozen local and regional designers, as well as landscape architects and visual artists. Each exhibitor has been assigned a space at Cassilis Farm, a 27-acre, Gilded Age estate that Construct, along with the New Marlborough Housing Development Committee, purchased at auction with the intention of renovating and converting it into 11 much-needed affordable housing apartments.
 
"We have the opportunity to take advantage of Construct having acquired this magnificent estate," said board Secretary Hinda Bodinger, who is also co-chair for the Designer Showcase Committee. "Utilizing such a beautiful space allows us to highlight the talent of the designers, and to share our mission in a unique way with the greater community."
 
"As we've reached out to interior designers, landscape designers and others with our appeal to help us with the Showcase, the overwhelming response has been 'YES!,'" said co-Chair and board member Laura Jordahl. "Because they, like many businesses, have been directly affected by the shortage of affordable housing. All of us know that working to make Cassilis into a place that 11 families will call home will help to strengthen our community ties."
 
The Designer Showcase, themed "Nature in the Berkshires," will be a timed, ticketed walkthrough and will be open to visitors through five weekends in June. Additional events surrounding the fundraiser include a New Marlborough community day as well as a special opening night tour and reception at Cassilis Farm.
 
Berkshire Magazine is the official media sponsor of the Construct Designer Showcase.
 
Information about the Designer Showcase will be updated here, as well as via Construct's social media handles. Tickets may be purchased online

Tags: affordable housing,   showcase,   

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Great Barrington Unveils 9/11 Memorial Featuring World Trade Center Steel

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — A piece of history will now stand in front of the Great Barrington Fire Department, serving as a lasting reminder of the courage, sacrifice, and heroism of those who rushed in, stepped forward, and answered the call on Sept. 11, 2001.
 
Hundreds of community members gathered outside the Fire Department for the unveiling of a 9/11 memorial featuring a steel I-beam salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
 
The monument marks the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, and its effect reached far and wide beyond New York, said Deputy Fire Chief James Mead.
 
"There are moments in our lives that become markers of time. Moments when we remember not only what happened, but where we were, who was beside us, and how the world somehow felt different afterwards," Town Manager Liz Hartsgrove said. 
 
"For those of us who experienced September 11, 2001 — it is one of those moments for us to share."
 
The acquisition of the beam was a multi-year effort initiated by the late Andy Moro, former commander of American Legion Post 298 in Housatonic, and was carried on by the Legion's second vice commander, John Morris. 
 
Morris said he was able to obtain the warped steel I-beam through connections he made during his time as a New York City firefighter.
 
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