image description — The steel structure of the 75-year-old Wahconah Park is failing and the city is planning a capital project for the historic structure.

Pittsfield Looks into the Future of Wahconah Park

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
04:49AM / Friday, July 08, 2022Print Story | Email Story

The park's grandstand is closed for this season. The city is hoping to gain $3 million in federal funds toward repairs.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is embarking on a more than $3 million capital improvement plan for historic Wahconah Park with a restoration committee and a promise of federal funds.

The City Council voted at its June 28 meeting to establish a Wahconah Park Restoration Committee.

The nine-member committee will assess the current condition of the 75-year-old facility, solicit public input, recommend the specifics of the repairs, and make recommendations to the city on the hiring of project agents.

In April it was announced that grandstand seating would not be available this year because the steel structure was compromised.

Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resource Program Manager James McGrath, who will serve as staff support on the panel, said the city will have a full structural report of the park's grandstand by the time the committee meets. This will guide its work.

"That will help us understand the true condition of the grandstand and what it will take to not only bring the grandstand up to a safe condition, but I think that the scope and scale of such a project would also require the grandstand to meet all current modern building codes, Massachusetts building codes," he added.

The committee is expected to issue a preliminary report to Mayor Linda Tyer within 180 days of its appointment and a final report within 270 days.

On Tuesday, the council will be asked to appoint nine members for committee.

To aid the process, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal was able to place a $3 million earmark into the $57 billion Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies funding bill for fiscal 2023.

McGrath said the $3 million is a great start but he anticipates that additional funding sources will be needed National Register-listed property. One of the functions of the restoration committee will be to work closely with Finance Director Matthew Kerwood and Tyer to secure funding.

After a structural evaluation of the facility in late 2021 that revealed concerns, the city hired a structural engineer and architect to look at it more comprehensively. Their recommendation was for the grandstand to be closed for this season.

The uses underneath the grandstand that include the bathrooms, locker rooms, maintenance room, and concessions were OK'd for use. Because of the way the facilities were constructed, they are rather disconnected from the superstructure, warranting no risk.

To supplement seating, large bleachers were brought in.

"I think although it has a little different look and feel than in previous years, I think folks really are understanding of the situation that we're in," McGrath said.

"Folks really go to Wahconah Park to see great baseball and to experience that atmosphere, so the crowds are returning and I think the Suns are pleased with where we're at, but at the same time, I think they're anxious as are we to understand what the future of Wahconah Park is. We'll work quickly but thoughtfully with this task."

After the structural report is completed, the committee will assess whether the best option is to repair or replace the grandstand. This will be done with thoughtful consideration.

"We understand that Wahconah Park is a well-loved baseball facility and there are so many that have ideas for the future," McGrath explained.

"So we want to hear them and use all of that input to make decisions for how we proceed."

This year the Pittsfield Suns are celebrating their 10-year anniversary. They are a collegiate summer baseball team that competes in the Future Collegiate Baseball League of New England. The team is owned by the Goldklang Group, which also owns the Saint Paul Saints in Minnesota and the Charleston Riverdogs in South Carolina, and moved to Wahconah Park in 2012.

Owner Jeff Goldklang has had a home in the Pittsfield area for about 40 years and when the team was created said, "We intend to honor the tradition and history of the game in Pittsfield while adding heavy doses of smiles and laughs."

In the decade before the Suns came to Pittsfield, professional and collegiate league teams including the Defenders, Black Bears, and Dukes took up residence at Wahconah Park.

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PCTV Turns 40, Anniversary Celebration This Friday

By Breanna SteeleiBekshires Staff
03:30PM / Monday, September 14, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield Community Television is turning 40 this week, and it's celebrating with its viewers and listeners.

This Friday, Sept. 18, PCTV will celebrate at the Berkshire Hills Country Club. Ryan Peterson, WTEN News10 ABC anchor and Pittsfield High School graduate, will give the keynote address.

Executive Director Shawn Serre, who has been with the station for over 32 years, said it's their chance to celebrate all they have been able to bring to the community.

"It's a chance to reflect on everything that the organization has done over those years, all the people that have been involved. From board members to volunteers to producers to crew people to staff members, and all the different programs that we've produced," he said. "Everything from public programming to education, sports, graduations, parades, government meetings and forums, and election night coverage, and all kinds of other things that just year upon year of history that we've been able to create and document here for the Pittsfield community over those years."

Serre took over as executive director about nine years ago. Originally a volunteer fresh out of college.

The original board included former mayor Edward Reilly, Dan Dillon, Diane Morgenstern, Bernard Avalle, and John Fukes of the Berkshire Athenaeum. The operation was all-volunteer until PCTV hired the first executive director in January 1989.

PCTV has operated out of its station on Federico Drive since 1999. But originally they worked out of a basement.

"The first location that we ever had, we had all of our equipment stored in cardboard boxes in the basement of the Berkshire Athenaeum, because the Berkshire Athenaeum at the time was very gracious and allowed us to have some space while we sort of got our feet on the ground and sort of got things organized," he said. "But we had no location. We had no studio. We just had this equipment that was ordered with the money that we had from the original cable franchise grant."

"So that lasted a couple of years, and then we signed and got a lease over in our first studio location, which was over on Fourth Street in Pittsfield," Serre continued. "That was around the time that I first got involved, just before we moved to Fourth Street. So I was there in the basement of the library, opening those boxes up and seeing what we had for equipment. So we stayed there at Fourth Street for about 10 years, and then this building that we're currently in now, over on Federico Drive, was constructed in 1998. It was built kind of custom-made for the cable company and for us and for one other company."

Serre said one of their proudest moments was saving the radio station WTBR-FM back in 2018. PCTV made space for them so they could continue operation.

"We carved out some space here in our facility for that, and we've been operating that radio station ever since. So those are some of the big milestones of growth of the organization over the years, and the things that we've done," he said.

They have also invested in advanced technology to keep their programming accessible to all.

"Technologically, there's another whole series of things that we've gone through," he said. "We've started out with a single cable TV channel. We grew to three cable TV channels. We started out as standard definition on videotape, and we grew to digital, and then to high definition, and then everything went to the internet. So we're able to offer video on demand and live streams and video on social media. And then with the radio station, we also have a live stream there and podcasting. So we've seen a lot of technological change and tried to roll with that over the years."

Serre said that PCTV strives to keep people informed while also allowing space for people to create their own media.

"The whole idea behind PEG [Public Education and Government Access]...the whole idea behind that back in the 70s and 80s was that people could be left behind with the technology that's available to the big corporations," he said. "So, if you had a cable system at the time, ordinary people maybe they had camcorders at home, but they didn't have access to a TV studio; they didn't have access to the kind of technology that we had to allow them to create programs and share it with the community. So we filled that gap, and that was one of the main things that we did. And then also to be able to create programming for viewers and for the city, so that the municipal meetings can be shown, and so school committee meetings can be shown, and it really brings people in and involved."

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