Berkshire Holiday Retail, Craft Market Set Saturday

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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DALTON, Mass. — A new holiday market is coming to town this weekend for Small Business Saturday.

On Saturday, the first annual Berkshire Holiday Retail and Craft Market will take place at the Stationery Factory on 63 Flansburg Ave.

"The driver is to get out there, get off Amazon, get off of Walmart.com and big-box stores and go support the local community," organizer Randy Cormier said.

"These are your neighbors, these are your neighbors' businesses that are going to be here."

The market will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and admission is free. There will be more than 30 vendors, including artisans and local retailers, food, drinks, and live holiday music by pianist Benny "Fingers" Kohn.

Cormier felt it was important to include small businesses that buy products wholesale and sell them. He is a retailer himself and will be selling 1960s and 1970s-inspired goods such as T-shirts, hoodies, Baja jackets, gloves, tapestries, and candles.

He said the event has garnered more than 1,000 responses on Facebook. There has also been a lot of interest from vendors with a waitlist of almost 70.


Cormier quickly put this together after a successfully vending at the Big E in Springfield earlier in the fall. He had product left over and decided to create a market for retail and craftspeople on the day that is dedicated to shopping locally.

He was glad to find plenty of people who answered the call.

"I had no idea there were this many crafters around here," he said.

Some of the products attendees can expect to find include candles, CBD products, body-care products, birdhouses, and Christmas wreaths. Berkshirecat Records, located on the upper level of the factory, will also be vending.

Shire Breu-Hous, located on the lower level, will be open early and will have a presence upstairs selling food.

Cormier said he already has the whole second floor of the Stationery Factory booked for two days next year, which will allow for 100 vendors.

He said Coggins Ford of Bennington, Vt., provided a sponsorship to help with advertising for the event.


Tags: artisans & crafters,   

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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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