image description
The Drury band marches down Main Street last year. This year's October parade has been canceled.

Northern Berkshires Cancels Fall Foliage Parade, Fall Events

Print Story | Email Story
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It's official: the 65th annual Fall Foliage Parade is off, along with a host of other fall gatherings. 
 
The fate of the parade, usually held the first Sunday in October, has been up in the air for some time. The summer events in North Berkshire were canceled because of the pandemic months ago, including the Susan B. Anthony celebration in Adams, the Downtown Celebration in North Adams and Fresh Grass at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. 
 
"Every decision we have made in the interest of protecting public health and public safety in response to the COVID-19 pandemic comes at a cost to our community," said North Adams Mayor Thomas Bernard. "Whether it's summer events, Fourth of July fireworks, or now the Fall Foliage Parade and other fall traditions in the Northern Berkshires I share everyone's disappointment at canceling events that mean so much to our community. 
 
"I know we all will miss the floats, the great school marching bands, and the chance to see our friends and neighbors along the parade route, but I also look forward to seeing that energy and spirit on display next year when North Adams hosts our next parade!"
 
This will be at least the third time the parade has been canceled. The last time was when another freak of nature — a snowstorm — hit the city in 1987. 
 
In a statement, the city, 1Berkshire and ProAdams said they had made a collective decision to cancel the 2020 Fall Foliage Parade, Greylock Ramble, and RambleFest events. 
 
"The volunteers of ProAdams are disappointed that we will not be able to continue these traditions in 2020," said ProAdams co-Chairman Raymond Gargan. "However, we will continue to market Adams and Northern Berkshire as a great place to enjoy our beautiful fall foliage season. We look forward to bringing these events back in 2021."
 
Officials said because of restrictions in place to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, it would not be possible for the 65th Fall Foliage Parade along with the 53rd Greylock Ramble and 9th annual RambleFest to take place this October in a way that ensures the safety of residents, visitors, and participants. 
 
"Combined, these cherished annual events have the potential to draw over 20,000 participants across the Northern Berkshires," according to the statement. "In the interest of our communities, canceling these events for 2020 made the most sense for the city and town as well as for the organizers and attendees."
 
Northern Berkshire officials say the region is still welcoming. If residents and visitors adhere to the safety precautions and social distancing guidelines they can enjoy the natural beauty, culture, and cuisine offered in the region each fall.  Each organization is looking forward to the fall of 2021, when they can once again bring these beloved events back to the community. 
 
"It is disappointing for this region of the Berkshires, but a necessary decision. While we're encouraged by the return of many important activities in our region, these popular events simply cannot be done responsibly in the current social distancing world that we reside," said 1Berkshire President & CEO Jonathan Butler. "We're hopeful that 2021 will return these traditions in even bigger and better ways."
 

Tags: Fall Foliage,   parade,   

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

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."

View Full Story

More North Adams Stories