Lenox Library Hosts Third Annual Beatles Day In Lenox

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The Lenox Library will hold its Third Annual Beatles Day celebration in Lenox on Sunday, June 28th. Featuring local bands playing all Beatles covers, and music scholars giving lectures on aspects of Beatles music, the event has grown from its inception in 2007 and now attracts hundreds of people from all over Berkshire County.

Beatles Day 2009 is in two parts. Part One is a Symposium on the Music of the Beatles held at the Lenox Library on Sunday, June 28th, from 2 to 4 pm. The Symposium will feature three speakers, all experts on the music of the Beatles, who will discuss the music. Every year one of the famous Beatles albums is celebrated. This year the focus will be on the album Let It Be, recorded exactly forty years ago, in 1969. Speakers will include Jeremy Yudkin, organizer of the Lenox Beatles Days; Michael Nock, a humorous favorite of audiences every year; and Joshua Rifkin, one of the most celebrated musicians in America, famous for work on the Beatles, Bach, and Scott Joplin.

Part Two will be the Cover-Band Concert in the evening. All the bands are local bands, and all the bands will be playing covers of Beatles songs. This event takes place at the Duffin Theater of Lenox Middle and Memorial High School at 7 pm.

Tickets to the Third Annual Beatles Day are available by contacting Lisa Berkel, Director of Development, at the Lenox Library, 18 Main Street, Lenox (413-637-2630 or lberkel@lenoxlib.org). Tickets are $10 for the Symposium, $15 for the Concert, or $20 for a combined ticket. Children’s all-day tickets are $10. Tickets will also be available at the door.

As a free event to prepare audiences for the 2009 Beatles Day, Jeremy Yudkin, professor of music at Boston and Oxford University and a year-round Lenox resident, will give a lecture at the Lenox Library on Saturday, June 20, at 2 pm, on what makes the music of the Beatles so great. The lecture is entitled “A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed for All. The Music of the Beatles: Why We Cannot Let It Be.” This lecture is free and open to all.

This event is a fundraiser for the Lenox Library. Proceeds from the Third Annual Beatles Day in Lenox will help underwrite all the activities of the Lenox Library, from its extensive music holdings to its year-round lectures and events, to its top-ranked children’s programs.
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A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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