Berkshire Home Expo Returns To Mall This Weekend

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Chamber of Commerce's annual Home Expo is returning to the Berkshire Mall this weekend.

Starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, 50 local home-improvement businesses and related companies will display their goods and services. From windows to solar to landscaping, the expo brings an array of options for people looking for some spring projects.

According to Christine Hoyt, director of programs and events for the chamber, this year's expo will be the biggest one with 10 new exhibitors.

"We're really excited about the quality of exhibitors and the number of exhibitors," Hoyt said on Thursday. "This is the most we've seen in four years. Over the last few years, we've been in the low 40s."

The exhibitors will be at the mall from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Forty of 46 exhibitors from last year have returned, some boasting big benefits from "getting their name out," Hoyt said, such as a landscape company that nearly booked its entire summer based on those few days.

"There are quite a few returning. It just continues to grow," Hoyt said. "It's also a good time of the year for a lot of these companies because it is before they get busy."

"They estimate a few thousand people come through," she said.

The business generated is also difficult to tell because sometimes a business won't see the benefits until months later. The chamber surveys all of the exhibitors asking about sales leads but those have been varied depending on the company.

"Home-improvement projects are not something people go into lightly, so it could be eight months down the road when they remember they met someone at the home show," she said.

Based on talking to exhibitors, Hoyt said the home-improvement business is picking up since the recent recession.

"They're starting to see more business come their way in the last year. They are seeing a change," she said. "While they are seeing people spend a little bit more money in home improvement now, it still isn't as great as it once was so they still have to get their name out there.

"It is a way to showcase our member organizations who fall into those categories."

Great Barrington Fire, Police Respond to Chimney Fire

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
02:48PM / Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Fire Chief Scott Turner called for mutual aid as soon as he saw flames. 

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Firefighters made quick work of a chimney fire on Tuesday afternoon and two police officers aided the occupant in escaping the building. 

 

Fire Chief Scott Turner said the blaze at 205 North St. was reported about 12:38 p.m.

 

"When I arrived on scene, we had a small amount of flames coming out of the eaves of the roof over by the chimney for the wood stove, and then we had light smoke conditions on the second floor," he said. 

 

Police Officers Andres Huertas and Elias Casey were first on the scene and immediately entered the single-family home to find the occupant was on the second floor. 

 

They helped her out of the building, Turner said, "they did a great job."

 

The chimney is a metal chimney and burn marks could been seen where it meets the eaves on the side of the building. 

 

North Street is a narrow residential way and firetrucks from Alford, Egremont, Monterey, Richmond, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge were parked along nearby streets.