image description — Taconic High School's "A World Without Skills" was the winning float in the annual Halloween parade.

Pittsfield Halloween Parade Attracts 5,000 Attendees

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
01:36PM / Saturday, October 29, 2022Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city's annual Halloween parade rose from the dead on Friday after a two-year absence.

Around 5,000 people lined Tyler Street to watch a procession of floats, schools, and other organizations dressed to the nine in their spookiest garb for the 76th parade.

There was undeniable excitement — and fright — in the air for the return of the event that fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

"This is one of our largest parades we have had in quite some time," Recreation & Special Events Coordinator Rebecca Manship said.

"We have a bunch of new participants, too, so that tells me that the community has missed this parade and is so excited that it's back."

See parade photos here.

Taconic High School won first place for its float titled "It’s a scary world out there without skills," which featured ghoulish creatures as various different tradespeople to represent the vocational school.

Allendale Elementary School came in second place with "Allendale's Dog House/101 Dalmatians," Capeless Elementary School third with its "Superheroes" float, Fran Morin Painting & Property Maintenance fourth with "Flying Hocus Pocus," and Carpenters Local 336 fifth with "Shot to the Moon: Captain Crook & Ghouls."

The five floats received awards ranging from $100 to $325 that were provided by Greylock Federal Credit Union.

Halloween parade coverage was co-hosted by Superintendent Joseph Curtis and Jody Spielmann of Pittsfield Community Television.

"I think it's critical because it’s been two years since we've had a Halloween parade," Curtis said.

"And it's always been a great occasion for our entire community, including our school community, to get out and really rally together as school teams and celebrate not only Halloween but a great community event."

He said the district was buzzing with excitement leading up to the parade. Students had been coordinating their contributions to the procession for about a month.

"We are so excited that the parade is back and live," Spielmann said. "We have not been able to cover this parade since 2019 so we could not wait to get out here and get right back in the thick of things"

She said PCTV loves to partner with the city and provide coverage to the community for people at home who couldn’t be there.

"It’s really great to see the spirit and energy is still alive," she added.

Tags: Halloween, parade,

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Lanesborough Selects Assistant Building Inspector

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:16PM / Saturday, February 28, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. –— The Select Board appointed an assisting building director on Wednesday.

Tim Sears submitted his resume to the board and said he heard about the position and reached out to Building Commissioner Brian Duval.

"It can be a tough position. And if you followed recent activities here in Lanesborough, I'm not stating the obvious, but can you talk a little bit about because you've done the work before, right?" asked member Michael Murphy.

Sears started as a housing inspector in Pittsfield and then became building commissioner there and a health official. He was also director of buildings and grounds for the Mount Greylock Regional School District. He currently works at AC Wood Contracting.

"I've had a lot of experience, and as someone who's in the construction industry, also, it can be challenging. If Brian knows someone, or if I know someone you know, we have to excuse ourselves and be very forthright about that," he said. "But in the end, the building code is a little different from some of the other code enforcement and law enforcement, where we have to be able to write down what the violation is, so it either is or isn't. You can't really, oppress someone because you need to write it down. You have to cite the code. So I think it's just very black and white.

"The challenge can sometimes be, you know, if a town feels a certain way about certain subjects, then my attitude has always been to look through the code to try to find a way to make something happen."

Sears said he has already talked with the owner of AC Wood Contracting and would be available to do an inspection during the day if needed.

The board moved to appoint Sears as the assistant building inspector.

In other notes, Town Administrator Gina Dario reminded the board of the joint meetings with the Finance Committee, which is something they are doing for the first time. Department heads will be invited to the meetings to go over their budget proposals to keep residents as informed as possible before the annual town meeting.

Monday, March 2, is the first joint meeting.

"We're always just trying to be as transparent as we can as we go through this kind of the crux of the budget season for the next three months, as we approach town meeting," Dario said.

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