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Owner Peter MacGillivray has had his eye on the Water Street storefront for some time.
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Employees spent the day setting up for the grand opening.
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Much of what is sold at Provisions is locally produced.

Provisions Williamstown Grand Opening Today

By Brian RhodesiBerkshires Staff
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The store's regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Provisions Williamstown, a new fine wine and cheese shop at 4 Water St., is celebrating its grand opening today, Thursday, with a tasting event that begins at 4 p.m.

 

"This is supposed to be an experience, like anything else we enjoy in life," said Peter MacGillivray, who runs the business with his family and others. "You really want to be able to hang out here. You want to dwell in the moment and explore new things and meet people." 

 

MacGillivray, who grew up in the area, said he had an eye on the building before he knew what kind of business he wanted it to be. He explained that he had seen the property through several iterations throughout his life.

 

"I knew just in my gut that it was a special place because I grew up here," he said. "... It's not like this is what we planned. It just happened. We saw something that checked a lot of boxes for us and went for it." 

 

After a license became available in town, MacGillivray decided to sell locally produced wine and cheese, in addition to things he has tried in his travels. He has partnered with several local farms and distributors to help stock the store. 

 

"I was able to dip into my experience living in California, and then really traveling around the world trying interesting wines," he said. "... I want super local beers here. I want super local cheese. It warms my heart that I've got places like Cricket Creek, yeah, that are in the same ZIP code as I am." 

 

Additionally, the store hosts art from several local artists, such as Jackie Sedlock of Pownal, Vt,. and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts professor and artist Melanie Mowinski. 

 

"It's been a lot of fun for me, while I've been building this, to reacquaint myself with a lot of people that I knew when I was growing up here, but also meet new people that are being super supportive and helping me out," he said. 

 

The store's regular hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit the store's website here. Click here to register for the grand opening tonight, Oct. 27.


Tags: grand opening,   wine,   

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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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