image description — The course has been installed at Kirvin Park.

Disc Golf Course Installed at Pittsfield's Kirvin Park

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
03:46AM / Friday, April 22, 2016Print Story | Email Story

Parks and Open Space Manager Jim McGrath updated the Parks Commission on Tuesday about the installation.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The disc golf course at Kirvin Park has been installed.

The nine-hole course is now established and the metal and chain baskets have been set up. In the next week or so a sign with a course map will be installed.

"With the sign, there will be a small trifold brochure box with a pull-out brochure which explains the rules of disc golf. It has a map on it," Parks and Open Space Manager James McGrath told the Parks Commission on Tuesday.

The course will be the first free one in the city and only the second course created. Bousquet Ski Resort has a course currently operating in the county and one is being planned for Windsor Lake in North Adams. Outside of that, an 18-hole course in Wilbraham is likely the closest.

Kirvin Park's course was first conceived in 2013 and received approval from both the Parks Commission and the Conservation Commission. McGrath worked with consultants from Explore Disc Golf to identify and create the site.

The course at Kirvin is laid out in areas of the park which aren't routinely mowed or maintained, so it is unlikely the course will disrupt much at the park and McGrath has previously said the operation will "co-exist" with other activities there.

"I think for a minimal amount of effort and maintenance, we can make this a wonderful destination within the park," McGrath said.

The sport evolved from recreational Frisbee throwing, to a golf game, and, in 1975, the first disc golf course was built. Now, there are thousands of courses all over the world. The sport has exploded with popularity in the last decade or so and from 2000 until 2008 the number of courses nationally doubled.

Tags: disc golf, parks commission, public parks,

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Pittsfield Housing Project Adds 37 Supportive Units and Collective Hope

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:01PM / Monday, December 29, 2025

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— A new chapter in local efforts to combat housing insecurity officially began as community leaders and residents gathered at The First on to celebrate a major expansion of supportive housing in the city.

The ribbon was cut on Thursday Dec. 19, on nearly 40 supportive permanent housing units; nine at The First, located within the Zion Lutheran Church, and 28 on West Housatonic Street. The Housing Resource Center, funded by Pittsfield's American Rescue Plan Act dollars, hosted a celebration for a project that is named for its rarity: The First.

"What got us here today is the power of community working in partnership and with a shared purpose," Hearthway CEO Eileen Peltier said.

In addition to the 28 studio units at 111 West Housatonic Street and nine units in the rear of the church building, the Housing Resource Center will be open seven days a week with two lounges, a classroom, a laundry room, a bathroom, and lockers.

Erin Forbush, ServiceNet's director of shelter and housing, challenged attendees to transform the space in the basement of Zion Lutheran Church into a community center. It is planned to operate from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. year-round.

"I get calls from folks that want to help out, and our shelters just aren't the right spaces to be able to do that. The First will be that space that we can all come together and work for the betterment of our community," Forbush said.

"…I am a true believer that things evolve, and things here will evolve with the people that are utilizing it."

Earlier that day, Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Secretary Ed Augustus joined Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll and her team in Housatonic to announce $33.5 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funding, $5.45 million to Berkshire County.

He said it was ambitious to take on these two projects at once, but it will move the needle. The EOHLC contributed more than $7.8 million in subsidies and $3.4 million in low-income housing tax credit equity for the West Housatonic Street build, and $1.6 million in ARPA funds for the First Street apartments.

"We're trying to get people out of shelter and off the streets, but we know there are a lot of people who are couch surfing, who are living in their cars, who are one paycheck away from being homeless themselves," Augustus said.

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