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Glen Rutan puts finishing touches on an icy Easter basket at last year's Winterfest.

Winterfest Returns To North Adams' Downtown

Staff ReportsiBerkshires
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Winterfest returns downtown Saturday.

The 14th annual celebration features chowder tasting, ice skating, horse-drawn wagon rides and more to fight cabin fever.

The main attraction is a Chowder Hop with tastings throughout downtown. A map will be available with directions to participating restaurants offering free samples and ballots to vote on the best chowder.

The participating restaurants are the Freight Yard Pub, Taylor's Restaurant, Tastefully Simple, Petrino's Cafe, Red Herring, Big Shirl's Diner, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Aramark Dining Services, North Adams Regional Hospital Dining Services, Desperados, the Hub Restaurant, Boston Sea Foods Restaurant, Bounti-Fare, Gringos, the Berkshire Food Project, Gramercy Bistro and RUB.

Ice sculpting will be on Main, Holden and Eagle streets from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Hoosac Bank is again offering hot chocolate, cookies and face painting from 10 a.m. until noon and horse-drawn wagon rides up Main Street from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.

The Northern Berkshire Girl Scouts will host winter carnival games from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and First Congregational Church will be selling cups of hot chocolate and giving stained-glass window tours with the profits going to the church's ministry programs from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m..

MCLA Gallery 51 will host a free paper-making workshop from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The workshop will teach participants how to make paper from garden plants.
 
Slider, the SteepleCats mascot, will make an appearance on Holden Street and the team will hold a raffle.

Ronnie's cycle will provide a display of snowmobiles on the sidewalk throughout the day on the Berkshire Plaza and Petrino’s Cafe will have live music from late morning into the afternoon.

Christo's Famous Pizza will offer samples of its special soup and other restaurants and stores are planning specials for the day.

The Peter W. Foote Vietnam Veterans Memorial Skating Rink will have a free ice skating party from 7 to 8:50 p.m.
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Berkshire County Homes Celebrating Holiday Cheer

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

There's holiday cheer throughout the Berkshires this winter.

Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.

We asked the homeowners questions on their decorations and why they like to light up their houses.

In Great Barrington, Matt Pevzner has decorated his house with many lights and even has a Facebook page dedicated to making sure others can see the holiday joy.

Located at 93 Brush Hill Road, there's more than 61,000 lights strewn across the yard decorating trees and reindeer and even a polar bear. 

The Pevzner family started decorating in September by testing their hundreds of boxes of lights. He builds all of his own decorations like the star 10-foot star that shines done from 80-feet up, 10 10-foot trees, nine 5-foot trees, and even the sleigh, and more that he also uses a lift to make sure are perfect each year.

"I always decorated but I went big during COVID. I felt that people needed something positive and to bring joy and happiness to everyone," he wrote. "I strive to bring as much joy and happiness as I can during the holidays. I love it when I get a message about how much people enjoy it. I've received cards thanking me how much they enjoyed it and made them smile. That means a lot."

Pevzner starts thinking about next year's display immediately after they take it down after New Year's. He gets his ideas by asking on his Facebook page for people's favorite decorations. The Pevzner family encourages you to take a drive and see their decorations, which are lighted every night from 5 to 10.

In North Adams, the Wilson family decorates their house with fun inflatables and even a big Santa waving to those who pass by.

The Wilsons start decorating before Thanksgiving and started decorating once their daughter was born and have grown their decorations each year as she has grown. They love to decorate as they used to drive around to look at decorations when they were younger and hope to spread the same joy.

"I have always loved driving around looking at Christmas lights and decorations. It's incredible what people can achieve these days with their displays," they wrote.

They are hoping their display carries on the tradition of the Arnold Family Christmas Lights Display that retired in 2022.

The Wilsons' invite you to come and look at their display at 432 Church St. that's lit from 4:30 to 10:30 every night, though if it's really windy, the inflatables might not be up as the weather will be too harsh.

In Pittsfield, Travis and Shannon Dozier decorated their house for the first time this Christmas as they recently purchased their home on Faucett Lane. The two started decorating in November, and hope to bring joy to the community.

"If we put a smile on one child's face driving by, then our mission was accomplished," they said. 

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