Pittsfield Selected to Be on Dennis Quaid-hosted TV Show
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city of Pittsfield will be featured in a televised segment as being a "great place to live, work, and visit."
The city was selected for a short-form documentary series hosted by actor Dennis Quaid on thriving and inspiring places in the country that are favorable for all facets of life.
"Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid" will be highlighting Pittsfield in its feature called "Discovering America — Great Places to Live, Work & Visit."
"This is huge, and it's a point of pride I would say because when you're in a community and you're working hard and you're living your life, it's the community that you enjoy, sometimes, what is around you, you might become familiar with, but we also know that we live in an awesome community," Director of Administrative Services and Public Information Officer Roberta McCulloch-Dews said.
"I think this is a point of pride for people who live here to know that your community really is an awesome place and we want others to know how amazing it is and we want to tell them exactly why, and why they should come, why they should visit, why they should play here, or work and live here."
Filming for this episode is set to occur in early to mid-October.
In addition to the educational component, a commercial segment featuring Pittsfield will also air on major networks to millions of viewers including CNBC, CNN, The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel.
Past episodes have covered education, innovation, travel, technology and art. The three to six-minute segments generally run in between longer programming on Public Television stations.
The city was contacted for the spotlight by "Viewpoint" after recently appearing in The New York Times as one of the top 10 cities that people to relocated to after the pandemic.
"I am absolutely thrilled that the city of Pittsfield has been chosen for this extraordinary nationwide profile," Mayor Linda Tyer wrote in a press release.
"We already know that Pittsfield, the heart of Berkshire County, is a great place to live, work, and visit. In the wake of the pandemic, we continue to see a growing demand among people of all ages who are seeking communities that will allow them to enjoy a thriving quality of life. This documentary will showcase our city to a vast audience, highlighting our many wonderful attributes, including our growing innovation and technology, and local success stories."
Topics that may be highlighted include the area's natural amenities for outdoor recreation, the booming housing market, and local companies that are creating innovations in technology and providing jobs to the area.
"Pittsfield has it all really, we are the gem of the Berkshires and people have seen that, we see it in the demand of the housing market," McCulloch-Dews said. "So based on that, this documentary highlights the attributes that Pittsfielders and those who visit the city have known to love and enjoy and we’ll also talk about the innovations in technology."
No companies have been selected for inclusion yet and there are guidelines from "Viewpoint" for qualification. The city is going to thoroughly and thoughtfully deliberate its selections, McCulloch-Dews assured.
Officials will also be seeking input from stakeholders in the selection process.
A majority of the underwriting costs for this feature were paid for by donations. Pittsfield Cooperative Bank provided $10,000, Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corp. $14,500, and the city paid $3,400 for the costs of filming a high-quality segment.
Though there is no guarantee that Quaid will be on location in Pittsfield, the administration hopes that he will be able to come and experience the city.
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