Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Director Rebecca Brien is credited with the vibrancy seen downtown, including 23 new businesses in the past year. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — This past year has been a "whirlwind of activity" for Downtown Pittsfield Inc., according Director Rebecca Brien.

DPI held its annual meeting at the Berkshire Museum on Thursday, touting the 17 businesses welcomed to the downtown in 2023 and six so far this year.

In preparing for the event, Brien referred to her first project with the 230-member organization for inspiration: the strategic plan.

"We envision downtown as a place that welcomes people, businesses, and events to join a diverse, vibrant, and bustling district. Our goal is to strengthen and promote our members through advocacy, collaboration, and celebration," she said.

"It was then that I realized that in this past year, with support from our partners, our board, our members, and our community, that the DPI team has been every day doing just those things"

She highlighted the recent myriad successful DPI events such as the Let It Shine! celebration of public art, the It's Alive! Halloween block party, the 10x10 Restaurant Week, and Downtown Celebrates Spring Week.

"The Heart of the Berkshire's marketing is working this year. The Love Pittsfield Downtown and Beyond guidebooks have increased to 10,000 copies being printed because we ran out and they are getting distributed throughout the county," Brien added.

"Our website is the hub for all news downtown and followers on our Facebook, Instagram, and the expanding DPI app grow every day. At this point, our weekly newsletter is so full that it may qualify as a small novel."