Lenox Apple Squeeze This Weekend

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LENOX, Mass. — On Saturday Sept. 27 from 10am to 5pm the Lenox Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its 44th Lenox Apple Squeeze.
 
The Apple Squeeze is a one day Fall festival that takes over the town of Lenox. The annual event to welcome the Fall season will have over 95 artisan crafts, food and information vendors tents lined up and down the Main Street sidewalks. 
 
Attendees can browse through local handcrafted jewelry, woven baskets, candles, quilts, photography, woodworks, and more. Enjoy food including some apple themed dishes such as cider donuts from Shire Donuts, mile high cakes from Mary Zabian and international fare from Naji's Mediterranean, BB's Caribbean Food Truck and Mazz's Kettle Corn. 
 
The Morris PTO will once again take over Lilac Park for their Kids Carnival with inflatable toys, games, bake sale and Balloon Ben will be making balloon art throughout the day. New this year, the Lenox Community Center will host family friendly activities in front of the Library next to the Curling Club demo booth.
 
Back this year there will be a street party on Housatonic Street which will be closed to traffic between Main Street and Church Street from 7am- 6pm. 
 
Antimony Brewing will have their beer truck at 17 Housatonic Street parking lot and food by La Chalupa Taco Truck, and pizza from ButtonBall from their Antique truck will be served on Housatonic Street. Live music sponsored by Toast will be performed by Lewis and Ide, Jordan Weller and the Feathers, and Happy Together at the stage area in front of the Lenox Visitor Center at 27 Housatonic Street from 10:00am-5:00pm. The Berkshire Rhythm Keepers led by Aimee Galinas will kick off the party at 10:00am in front of the stage.
 
The local downtown merchants will also have sidewalk sales at local merchants and galleries. Clothing, blankets, home goods, toys and even great artwork can be found at sale prices.
 
Parking is available in the lots behind the Berkshire Bank on Main Street and behind the Lenox Police Station. There will be limited street parking by order of the Lenox Police. Attendees parked illegally on residents' properties will be ticketed.

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A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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