Hoosac River Lights III Offers Mermaid View

The Hoosac River Lights had its third annual showing on Saturday, Sept. 11. The fest had been planned a few weeks earlier, but a little concert called Solid Sound forced a schedule change.

Organizer Ralph Brill said some 2,000 people had entered the Mass MoCA parking lot behind Big Y to catch a glimpse of Mermaid Beatrice, a computer-generated reflection on the waters of the Hoosic River and the walls of its concrete flood chute.

Beatrice was expected to "jump off" the Holden Street bridge but a lack of water (unlike last year's deluge that rained out a chunk of the festival) prevented her dive despite a fill up from the Fire Department.

Still, Brill was pleased with the turnout. There were only about a dozen people wandering about  shortly before 9 looking at the audio and light installations of Lexan created by Marjorie Minkin, a part-time resident of the Eclipse Mill,  with her son, Michael Gordon, and Jamie Robertson. Another group was clustered at the fencing by the river to watch the Dell-projected work of Inhye Lee of Korea and Rikayo Horimizu of Japan.

Brill said a wedding group was expected to attend later in the evening along with the Marafanyi Drummers. People continued to arrive at times during the night.

The resulting Hoosac Lights may not have lived up to the fabulousness of the first, but we hope the festival continues to grow. It's celebration of the river with interesting and off-beat art is a fine addition to the city's new cultural atmosphere. Now, if the weather would just cooperate more ...