LaFesta Baseball Exchange Marks 25 Years

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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North Adams and the North End played the first of four games in the annual baseball exchange. See more photos here.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The score was 9-2 for home team North Adams on Saturday night in the first of two matchups against the North End at Joe Wolfe Field.

More important than the score, however, was the picnic at Windsor Lake that preceded the game and the 24 pizzas waiting for all the players afterward.

Saturday marked the 25th anniversary of the LaFesta Baseball Exchange that has brought more than 700 players aged 12 to 15 from North Adams and Boston's North End together.

The teams from the opposite ends of the state have been forging bonds on the diamond since 1990. The two games in North Adams are followed up by two games in the North End.

"I think what's most important is that we get a 26th year," said Mayor Richard Alcombright from the field before the first of two games in North Adams. "My commitment to this program is such that we are going to have a conversations with Mayor Marty Walsh to make sure this continues here and in the city of Boston.

"From the smallest city in the commonwealth to the largest city in the commonwealth, we have to keep this relationship going."

The program started in 1990 with George Canales, Tony Abuisi and John Lipa as a way to get youth involved in LaFesta, at the time a local heritage event at the former St. Anthony's Parish that grew into a celebration of the city's ethnic communities. The North End also had a similar fair, and out of that grew the baseball exchange that has long outlasted the original LaFesta event.

Now each year, the two Babe Ruth teams — one western and rural and the other eastern and urban — play twice on their home fields.

"I've been around this program quite a bit," said Jason Card, who played in 1997 and spent 10 years coaching the team. "It's great for the kids, it's a great game ... it's baseball.


 "I had a the chance to coach this team and it was a really good experience ... baseball and the combination of everything, it turns out to be an all-round good experience for the kids and everybody involved."

 One hasn't happened is the development of a rivalry, or at least not an obvious one. Rather, the results of the game are less important than the experience — playing on new fields, meeting new people, learning about how the other half the state lives.

 "I got a lot out of the program. Just knowing the tradition," said John LeClair. "I was on the 20th anniversary team in 2010, we had a big ceremony down here as well. It was definitely nice going to the Boston ballfield and know the players down there, how they lived and what their life was like every day."

LeClair remembered the buildings, the street right next the field, a 25 foot fence, and a foul ball breaking the windshield of parked car.

"It was a great time, especially the street fair and hanging out with the kids in Boston," LeClair said.

The real heart of the program on the North Adams side has been George Canales, and his family.

John Romano, Canales' Boston counterpart, presented him with a certificate of recognition from Mayor Walsh for he and his family's "hospitality and kindness and their dedication to the youth of the North End and North Adams."

"It's a pleasure to come out here it's an honor to play on this field and to play with all  these kids," Romano said. "We have a great time every time we come up."

The players take to the field again on Sunday at 11 a.m.


Tags: lafesta,   youth baseball,   

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Main & Mill: A Vibrant New Restaurant on Main Street

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — You can now enjoy another eatery on Main Street by well-known restaurant siblings Colleen and Sean Taylor.

Their restaurant Main & Mill opened for the first time Tuesday, bringing their vision of creating something vibrant and new to downtown North Adams.

"We have created Main & Mill to be part of our day. It's very seasonal ingredients, thoughtful cooking, beauty, beautiful presentation and dishes. And we really wanted to be part of the community, the downtown area, and start a vibrant area on this end, which has been shuttered for a while," said Colleen.

The building is owned by Ginko on Main Street LLC, which has granted 20 years exclusive possession of the property to Latent Builds as the developer. Jack and Suzy Wadsworth, behind Ginko, are development partners with Karla Rothstein and Salvatore Perry of Latent.

The bank closed in early 2021 and was purchased by Ginko late that year. Plans for the property unveiled three years ago envisioned a restaurant, retail, a park and rooftop bar. 

Colleen saw potential and said she initially wanted the building when it first went up for sale. Being good friends with Rothstein and Perry, she helped them design the kitchen and the bar before learning in March that she could lease it as a restaurant space, something she told them would be a great idea.

She said one of the most important things about the restaurant was the collaboration between Rothstein, Perry, and the Wadsworths, who put a lot of time and energy into the building.

"If Sean and I had done it, we would not be able to do what the collaboration supported. The collaboration of the three of us being able to really have that kind of money to put in down here. The design that the architecture firm that Carla and Sal own is stunning," she said. "The time and effort, everyone came together to do this in a really trusting manner."

The two wanted the restaurant to be an all-day venture, so people could eat at any point throughout the day, all week long.

"We wanted it to be open for coffee and socialization in the morning where people can meet, have their cup of coffee, have a quiche, a vegetarian quiche, or croissant or yogurt. Something intentional with their coffee," she said. "Then move into a lunchtime for the downtown business or anybody, and then go into supper, dinner, with drinks later into the evening. So have it really be open all day long, so that there wasn't a void on any particular day."

They also wanted to do something different than the other restaurants they owned.

"We didn't want to mimic any other restaurant in town. We wanted to bring something that was inspiring, something that had some familiar things that people would see, and other things that we would bring to them for them to experience," she said.

As a woman business owner, Colleen said she wanted to bring a female chef into the kitchen. 

Colleen brought on Chef Anna DeRose, who she said puts twists on a lot of her dishes.

"So we have a creme brulee, but our creme brulee is topped with marshmallow," she said. "Our creme brulee is like almost two desserts in one. It's a s'mores creme brulee. So you could have a s'mores, and you could have a creme brulee - but when you put both of them together, fireworks go off."

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