North Adams Hosts First Friday Community Picnic Sept. 2

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — All North Adams residents and visitors are invited to dine together on Eagle Street for Sept. 2's FIRST Fridays Community Picnic event. 

Guests are encouraged to pack a picnic or order takeout from local restaurants, and sit and dine on Eagle Street, which will be closed to car traffic during the entirety of the event, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 

"I've had a vision of all of North Adams sitting down together at one long table on Eagle Street ever since attending a similar event on the Cape several years ago," said Anna Farrington, owner of Installation Space and FIRST Fridays organizer. "This is a popular kind of event around the world, and I'm excited to bring this style of community building experience to North Adams." 

This is the second FIRST Friday that Eagle Street will be closed to car traffic. The intention of the event is to provide a positive, uplifting experience for all city residents, and provide opportunities for local businesses to thrive. Eagle Street will be closed to car traffic on FIRST Friday for October 7 as well for the Night Market event.

Beer and wine will be served by Desperado's Mexican Restaurant on the sidewalk next to the Eagle Street parklet, galleries and businesses will be open late, and DJ DUBTC will be spinning tunes all night.

At 11 a.m., the community will welcome a new store on Eagle Street – Berkshire Adventurer's Guild – with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Mayor Jennifer Macksey. 

During the Community Picnic the City of North Adams will launch a scavenger hunt game that will include a mixture of digital puzzles and a physical scavenger hunt throughout downtown North Adams – beginning on September 2nd and concluding on October 2nd. Participants will be given symbols to follow and solve the puzzles digitally. Those who complete the scavenger hunt puzzles will be entered into a raffle drawing for a winning prize. Information regarding the scavenger hunt will be available under the Mohawk Theater marquee. 

This event will also feature an appearance by Mr. Ding-A-Ling in the Mohawk Plaza and Center Street Parking Lot adjacent to Adams Community Bank and beneath the "Poppy Girls" mural. This pop-up is made possible by 1Berkshire and the NAMAzing Initiative. The first 100 customers are guaranteed free ice cream servings from Mr. Ding-A-Ling.

"I know many of us are craving connection opportunities and I can't think of a more open, authentic, and equitable way to host a community picnic than on a street like Eagle Street, allowing guests to order from a variety of restaurants or to cook food themselves," said Andrew Fitch, FIRST Friday organizer.

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