image description — City councilors got in on the fun with scary toters in the Pittsfield Halloween Parade on Friday night. Look for more pictures this week.

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Ghouls, Goblins Turn Out for Pittsfield Halloween Parade

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
12:48PM / Sunday, October 27, 2024Print Story | Email Story

Lisa Torrey, Darin Torrey and Jen Glockner were judges for the floats this year.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Ghouls, goblins, and pop culture icons lined Tyler Street on Friday night for the city's annual Halloween Parade.

The "Spooky Hollywood" theme brought characters from "Ghostbusters," the "Wizard of Oz," and slasher icons. This was the 78th Halloween parade in the city and the last one led by Special Events Coordinator Maddy Brown, who will vacate the position next month.

"It's bittersweet. I've loved my time with the city and I couldn't be more grateful to everybody here," Brown said. "This was the first big event I did last year, ironically, it's my last now but I'm glad to be able to see it through."

Parade planning began at the end of summer and Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Executive Director Rebecca Brien was credited for helping to make it happen.

The event is a draw for Halloween lovers from all over the county, attracting about 5,000 people in 2022.

Participants included the City Council, Pittsfield Public Schools, some local businesses, and a group of local drag performers. There were 25 units in the procession.

Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, and Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi dressed as characters from "Hocus Pocus." They incorporated a call to action into the group costume, pushing a recycling toter with a sign that read "Real witches recycle."

RSVP Director Lisa Torrey, Darin Torrey of the Highway Department, and Cultural Development Director Jennifer Glockner were among the float judges. They were tasked with ranking by theme, effort, originality, and costumes.

Glockner explained that she was looking for a "fun factor" in the winner.

Winners of the float contest were Capeless Elementary (Haunted Halloween, Allendale Elementary School (Coco!), and RSI Signs (Ghostbusters.)

The parade ran from the intersection of Tyler Street to the roundabout. Superintendent of Schools Joseph Curtis and Ellen Spear hosted Pittsfield Community Television's coverage of the event from the site of the former Hess Station.

Trick-or-treat is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 31, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. rain or shine. Participants are asked to leave their porch or exterior light on.

Tags: Halloween, parade,

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Pittsfield Schools See Better Building Utilization, Continued Choice Outs

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
01:24PM / Wednesday, August 19, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Students return to school in two weeks; Pittsfield will have one less elementary school and around 100 fewer students.

The School Committee was updated on enrollment for the 2026-2027 academic year during last week's regular meeting.

At this time, the Pittsfield Public Schools had 4,586 students, compared to 4,682 at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. Superintendent Latifah Phillips said this has been the district's trend for years and is not surprising.

"Across all of these grade levels, we have a decrease. I believe of about 80-90 students. I think it's at eighth grade that we're going to look into and make sure that our data is accurate," she said to the School Committee last week.

"But otherwise, the enrollment is following the trends that we have expected in probably the last decade."

With this school year comes the closure of Morningside Community School and the middle school restructuring that sends Grades 5-6 to Herberg Middle School and Grades 7-8 to Reid Middle School.

Fifth grade enrollment was subtracted from last year's elementary enrollment, and these reflect the reassignment of Morningside students to Allendale, Capeless, Egremont, and Williams.

Phillips pointed out that this process has increased the use of school buildings, as underutilized buildings were one of the concerns that led to institutional changes.

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