Marchetti Releases Details of New 'First Fridays at Five' Events

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The First Fridays at Five events will blend arts and entertainment, shopping, and community engagement and planners hope it expands with time.

Mayor Peter Marchetti released details on Friday of the new event that combines the beloved Third Thursdays and the First Fridays Artswalks. It is a collaboration between the city, Downtown Pittsfield, Inc., and the Downtown Pittsfield Cultural Association with the first occurring on May 3.

"We have so much in store for you," he said during a press conference in council chambers.

Cultural Development Director Jen Glockner placed a few seconds of music from a nine-piece brass band called Soul Magnets that she said will "blow your socks off" at the inaugural event.

Though the region was hit late in the week with a winter storm and earthquake rumblings, she vowed that this won't be the case in a month.

"There will be no snow on the ground a month from today," Glockner said. "We will be outside on a beautiful evening. The sun will have shined all day long on downtown Pittsfield. It will just be getting dusk from 5 to 8 p.m. That band, Soul Magnets, will be playing on the main stage."

The stage will be located in front of Park Square and North Street will be blocked off from the intersection of Fenn Street. The administration hopes to extend the street closures in the future, even closing the entire corridor to traffic as Third Thursday once did.

There will be a maker's market on North Street comprised of local artisan vendors selling handmade items such as clothing, crafts, gifts, and packaged foods.

Dunham Mall will feature a Family Fun Zone with free activities such as kids' paint and sip.

"We are welcoming all of our social service agencies to come and do interactive family fun with us whether it be face painting or crafts," Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Managing Director Rebecca Brien explained.

"We also will have every month some sort of kids' entertainment and in May it's going to be Balloon Ben with balloon art."

The arts walk will also continue for its 13th season with opening receptions throughout the downtown.  New this year, there will be a shuttle provided by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program that brings people from City Hall to the Clock Tower Artist Studios and back from 5 to 7 p.m.

"Dining during First Fridays at Five and throughout the summer."

He reported that many eateries will have live entertainment of their own and that Berkshire Art Center has special events planned for the first Fridays of the month.

Attendees are encouraged to continue their evening all the way down North Street.

"This isn't just an event that's going to take place from Depot Street to Park Square," Marchetti said. "We're encouraging folks to take the entire walk all the way up and down North Street and enjoy everything in between."

Further into the season, the city will celebrate Pride Month in June and regional band Happy Together will play sounds of the 1960s on the main stage. In July, a Berkshire Blues Legends concert will be held with Misty Blues headlining. Other highlights include Jacob's Pillow Dance's Wandering Dance Festival, a Cultural Collaborative Concert with Latinas 413, a 100th birthday for Berkshire United Way, and a cultural food festival similar to the ethnic fair of the past.

"We cannot wait to get started," Marchetti said.

Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:04AM / Sunday, April 05, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing. 

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said. 

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today." 

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback. 

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director. 

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care.  Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires. 

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs. 

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said. 

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.