St. Joseph's Polish Picnic Set Sunday

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
10:10AM / Friday, July 18, 2025Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The annual St. Joseph's Polish Picnic will be serving up thousands of pierogies and gallons of kapusta this Sunday.

Held on the church grounds at 414 North St., it runs from noon to 5 p.m. and is free to the public.

The Polish picnic is one of the last ethnic festivals in the Berkshires, and the event is expected to draw several thousand people.

"It's not just for Polish people. I mean, it draws all kinds of people to the event, and it's for the non-Polish people, who this is the one time a year that they can try that kind of food," said volunteer Peter Lafayette. "If you go to these different ethnic festivals, and it's just you're tasting food that you don't normally have. So, so that's a treat."

The event was originally held by Holy Family Church and continued on once it merged with St. Joseph's.

"It started at Holy Family Church in Pittsfield, which was originally a Polish parish, and they started to have this festival each year," Lafayette said. "And then the Holy Family Church merged with St Joseph's Church, I think, about 12 or 13 years ago, and one of the things that they wanted to do was to maintain this tradition."

Now the tradition has been carried on for more than 60 years.

"There is a core group of people from the original Polish parish whose parents worked the festival, and it was always a big homecoming weekend for people from that parish who moved away, and it still is," he said. "So that's one of the incentives or motivations that keep it alive. And then it moved kind of into the merge of the other parish, which I belong to, a lot of non-Polish people. ...

"We all became kind of Polish people for a week, or at least that day. And so we help out to keep it alive, and it's a lot of fun bringing people together."

Lafayette said parish volunteers started in May making the pierogies every Saturday. They make around 5,000 pierogies, 2,800 golumbki, and 8 gallons of kapusta.

An outdoor Polish Mass will kick off the festivities at 11 a.m. Eddie Forman Orchestra will play Polish music at 1 p.m. and "KiddyLand" will provide games and activities for children. Raffles will also be available for adults.

Tags: community event, community picnic,

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Pittsfield Committee Recommends Scanlon for City Audit

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
04:30AM / Thursday, August 06, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— After the bid for a new auditing company came back over 30 percent higher, Pittsfield will stick with Scanlon and Associates.

On Tuesday, the Auditing Services Evaluation Committee voted to advance Scanlon to the City Council for an independent audit. CliftonLarsonAllen also responded to the bid, but came in costing $120,000 more.

"I have to go with saving money for the city. I mean, the discrepancy is too much of a difference," committee member Karen Kalinowsky said.

"The city could have use for that difference over the next three years."

This process was prompted by Rule 40 of the council rules and the City Charter, where in any year the City Council votes to hold a procurement process for an independent certified public accountant or firm to audit Pittsfield's books and accounts, the city must, through its Finance Committee with the assistance of the purchasing department, solicit requests for proposals or invitations for bids before June 1.

The council in March recommended that the purchasing agent draft a request for proposals and put it out to bid.

Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren, who has been vocally in favor of the independent audit for years, said the city doesn't have to follow a bidding process for the professional service, "We are doing this so the public knows that we're being professional, and a looking for other options, looking at what the best options are, and comparing them based on what they can offer and what the cost is."

Board member Kathy Amuso said both CLA and Scanlon have equitable reviews with high recommendations. Especially considering the budget crisis Pittsfield is in, she moved to recommend Scanlon to the full council.

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