Housatonic Party in the Park

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HOUSATONIC, Mass. — Live music, dance, face painting, food and more will fill Housatonic Village Common on Saturday, June 10, 11 -3 p.m., for "Party in the Park."
 
The free event is coordinated by the Housatonic Improvement Committee and all are welcome.
 
Food and snacks are provided by North Plain Farm, SoCo Creamery, Truck Dining Haul and Extra Special Teas. The Great Barrington Fire Department will bring a display fire truck and the Great Barrington Police Department will bring Archer, its comfort dog.
 
Bowey the Magic Clown will entertain, and the Great Barrington Libraries will host activities. Other local vendors and organizations will provide information about their activities and services, and there will also be a contest to create a Housatonic Village poster.
 
Live musicians include Soul Prophet, Johnny Blond, The Faithless Few and  Jackson Whalan. Berkshire Pulse will present classes in African dance, drumming and swing dance, and BerkCirque will present an aerial circus demonstration.
 
Event sponsors are Berkshire Food Coop, CT Management Group, and Gabriel Electric. Other sponsors include Berkshire Property Agents, Bradley Architects, Formel Auto Salvage, Friends of the GB Libraries and Housatonic the Beautiful. T Square Design has designed Housatonic-centric merchandise, which will be for sale at the event. 
 
In the event of rain, the event will be held in the Housatonic Community Center.
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Simon's Rock Awarded Freedom to Read Grant

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Bard College at Simon's Rock was awarded a Freedom to Read Grant by the Newburger Schwartz Family Foundation. 
 
The grant was awarded to support the Alumni Library and Bard Queer Leadership Project in building a more robust collection of queer scholarship, starting a Queer Book Club, and hosting Drag Story Time events in partnership with Drag Story Hour of the Berkshires.
 
According to a press release:
 
In response to current educational threats with book bans affecting schools and libraries across the country and further proposed legislation against LGBTQ+ people's access to basic rights and education, Simon's Rock is actively seeking to create inclusive and equitable spaces for queer individuals. 
 
The Bard Queer Leadership Project and Alumni Library will utilize the grant funding to expand the library's current collection of queer books in order to fully enable the longevity of the Queer Book Club and the Bard Queer Leadership Project. The Queer Book Club will be an intergenerational space, open to local middle school students through rainbow seniors and will partner with local community organizations, to discuss queer books and learn about LGBTQ+ issues and experiences. Bard Queer Leadership Project students will eventually help lead this initiative as part of their leadership project training. 
 
The Queer Book Club will host their first meeting on April 6 at 3:00 p.m. at the Alumni Library, with following meetings on April 27 and May 11. This semester, the selected books are "Obie is Man Enough" and "He/She/They," both by Schuyler Bailar, inspirational speaker and first openly transgender NCAA Division swimmer, who was a guest speaker in the inaugural Queer Leaders Vision Forum in fall 2023 at Simon's Rock. Schuyler Bailar will return to campus for a book signing and pool party at the Kilpatrick Athletic Center on April 19 at 7:00 p.m. Participants in the Queer Book Club will receive a free copy of either book of their choice. 
 
The first Drag Story Time will be on Saturday, March 30 at 2:00 p.m. at the Simon's Rock Alumni Library and is open to all LGBTQ+ affirming individuals. The event is in partnership with Drag Story Hour of the Berkshires with local drag queens JV and Poppy DaBubbly. The second Drag Story Time will be Saturday, April 27 with drag queen Poppy DaBubbly and drag king Sativo Green.
 
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