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Cultural Pittsfield This Week: June 26-July 2

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Welcome to Cultural Pittsfield's weekly guide featuring in-person and virtual classes and events, information, and more. If you are a Pittsfield business and would like your event listed, please email us at cultural@pittsfieldch.com. Thank you and be well!

  FUN & LEARNING
Barrington Stage Company presents the BSC Bash: On with the Show! on Saturday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m. The FREE virtual event includes a BSC-style evening of songs, artists, and community leaders, plus a sneak preview of next year's world premiere musical A Crossing. Performers include Jordan Craig, Alan H. Green, Jeff McCarthy, Alexandra Silber, Elizabeth Stanley, and Alysha Umphress, with appearances by Josh Bergasse, Ty Allan Jackson, and John Rando!
 
Berkshire Natural Resources Council announces the opening of a new trail in Pittsfield! The Mahanna Cobble Trail begins and ends at Bousquet ski area. The entire out-and-back trail is 2.8 miles of strenuous hiking and includes gorgeous vistas. FREE. Open daily from dawn until dusk.
Plus...
Berkshire Artist Profiles Learn from Home w/Berkshire Theatre Group | Classes w/IS183 Art School | Painting Tutorials w/Berkshire Paint & Sip | Virtual Barrington Stage Classes w/Radiance Yoga | Classes w/Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness Classes w/Antil Fitness | Email aimee@gaiaroots.com for Online Drumming Classes | ONGOING Online Classes w/Berkshire OLLI | FRI Virtual Culture Chat | MON Summer Olympics Germany: 1936 & 1972 | MON WordXWord Poetry: Reality Bites | WED 1Berkshire Virtual Town Hall: Census 2020 | WED+ 4th of July Virtual 5K | THU Lawn Concert w/Paul Green & Benny Kohn

  FAMILY FRIENDLY
 
Join 18 Degrees for a Virtual Dance Party on Friday, June 26 from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Gather your friends and family and have a dance party at your home, then share it on Facebook. Five families will be sent a surprise in the mail for sharing their videos!
Plus...

  EAT LOCAL
 
Hotel on North's new outdoor culinary and cocktail experience, "The Backlot," returns with food from Bounti Fare, plus lawn games and a full bar! Reservations are required. Thursday-Saturday 4-9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Below are some of the Pittsfield restaurants currently offering takeout, delivery, and/or curbside pickup. Please check their websites for updates. Visit the 1Berkshire website for a list of all current Berkshire County takeout options, including restaurants that now offer outdoor dining options.
Berkshire General Store Berkshire Mountain Bakery Berkshire Organics Braise Worthy | District Kitchen & Bar Dottie's | Flavours of Malaysia | Flo's Diner | Forthill Farm | Guido's Fresh Marketplace | Hangar Pub & Grill | Highland Restaurant | Hot Harry's Fresh Burritos | Hot Tomatoes Pizza | House of India La Fogata The Lantern Bar & Grill The Marketplace Cafe | Mazzeo's Ristorante | New Amazing Pavilion | O'Laughlin's Pub | Otto's Kitchen & Comfort | Pancho's Mexican Restaurant | Papa Joe's Ristorante & Pizzeria | Patrick's Pub | Pittsfield Health Food Centre | Pittsfield Rye Bakery | The Proprietor's Lodge | Seeds Market Cafe | That's a Wrap | Thrive Vegan Diner | Tito's Mexican Grille | Trattoria Rustica | Virtual Pittsfield Farmers Market | Zucco's Family Restaurant 

  RESOURCES
1Berkshire has compiled a list of online sites where you can find information on a number of topics, including an explanation of our state's reopening plan. You can also visit the City of Pittsfield's COVID-19 webpage for updates and helpful resources.
Plus...
The city's first ever Drive.Walk.Bike City Art Show will take place on Friday, July 3 from 4-9 p.m. Artists will be displaying their paintings, drawings, sculpture, ceramics, photography, fashions, sidewalk art, videos, and more on their porches, trees, lawns, and driveways, in their garages, or projected onto their homesTo participate and get on the map, send your Pittsfield address to drivewalkbikeart@gmail.com by July 2!
 
Have you dreamed of writing at the same desk at which Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick? Apply to be Arrowhead's newest writer-in-residence! Writers working in all genres, both published and emerging, are encouraged to apply for one of two 8-week residencies.

 

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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