Wild Soul River Expands Hours and Offerings

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Wild Soul River recently changed its hours and added more to its menu.

Owners Rebecca Guanzon and Justin Adkins opened the herbal and metaphysical shop in 2021. The shop offers a lot of herbs, herbal teas, and one-on one-sessions for tarot reading and reiki.

"At our core, we're a small herbal business, and that's kind of the core of everything we do," Adkins said. "Rebecca is a trained herbalist, and she sees people one on one for herbal consultations. She also does reiki and tarot readings, and then we're also like a little cafe slash metaphysical shop, and all of it comes together, though, really around hers and around herbal healing."

Since opening the shop at 248 Cole Ave, the two noticed that they would be able to get more customers and help if they were to open earlier and add more items for patrons.

"We realized that that's where we were, and we are right across the street from elementary school, and this street is actually really busy in those morning hours, and so we've always been really focused on our neighborhood and our community, and so seeing that our neighborhood and community are up and on the street before 10 a.m., we're like, we should be up before 10  a.m.," Adkins said.

The two say they have worked hard to make their shop a community hub and hope that by expanding hours and merchandise, customers will feel more welcome and that they can sit and enjoy a cup of tea before starting their day.

"I think with this expansion, we're really thinking about how we can be of better service to our community. We're a gathering place in many, many ways, and for people to have the opportunity to come in and have a cup of tea or coffee and a little nibble, before going to their work day, or, after somebody drops the kids off at school, having a little bit of time to themselves in a place where they know that they're going to be in this welcoming and supportive environment, and with the possibility of meeting other really cool people, like people connect here, and I love that about the shop," Guanzon said.

The two realized the Berkshire community didn't have a herbal shop like theirs close by and they hoped to fill that need.

"Our region does not actually have another herbal business where you can come in and buy, like an ounce of a different plant," Adkins said. "We have a lot of herbalists, but we don't have any like retail herbal businesses. The closest one that we know about is in Florence, out by Northampton."

The store now offers green and black tea, a dirty chai, baked goods, and simple coffee that they get made just for them.

"Our coffee is roasted by our friends in Pennsylvania called French Creek coffee and tea. And Rebecca grew up with them, and they have created. Blend that is just for us. And so they roast our coffee and ship our coffee," Adkins said.

Guanzon used to do trauma-informed work then turned to higher education. She began to learn about herbs and natural remedies, which inspired her to open the shop.

"From there, I moved into higher ed. I was doing bystander intervention training, and so during those times, I had been reading tarot since I was in my 20s, I had been working with different informal herbal medicines, and then I formalized my education while I was working in higher ed for the herbalism," she said.

Adkins has had a love for plants and herbs since a young age.

"I always was doing things that were really land based when I worked at Williams College, I helped start a program called root, which is about sustainability and identity in place. And we did, like different plant walks and stuff like that. When I was a teenager, at the summer camp I worked at, I would lead, I had no clue what I was doing, but I would lead kids on a walk of looking at different edible plants. So for both of us, it's just something that's been really a core to who we are," he said.

In the spirit of community, the two also set up community garden boxes by their building to provide herbs to others for free.

"We're an Herbalists Without Borders site, so those herbs are not sold in the shop. They're only free to the community, and people can come and harvest them. If they're not all harvested, we harvest and dry them and then give them away," Adkins said. "So this idea is that herbalism is the medicine of the people, and coming together as a community."

The shop is now open Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Coggins Classic Golf Tournament Helps Bennington Project Independence

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:37PM / Saturday, September 05, 2026

This was the tournament's fifth year; it combined with the independence project's annual golf outing this year. 

BENNINGTON, Vt. — Thirty teams hit the green for this year's Coggins Classical Golf tournament, helping Coggins Auto raise money for Bennington Project Independence.

Coggins Auto Marketing Director Valerie Harrington said the fifth annual tournament, which was held on Aug. 28, continued a tradition of community-driven giving. 

Harrington first helped organize the tournament in 2022. She hoped to raise $10,000, which would allow the auto group to leverage a $10,000 Toyota match program. 

The tournament has successfully raised more than $50,000 the last two years, with last year's beneficiary the Cancer Center Community Crusaders. 

This year, it raised more than $50,000 alone, including meeting the Toyota match the third year in a row.

Harrington said she wanted to help the nonprofits in the area, especially those that might get overlooked.

"The idea of it was especially for those nonprofits that are pretty small and don't have really the funds or the means or understanding of how to put on a golf tournament, and to give them an opportunity to get at least $20,000 in funds that year, which is huge for a lot of them, and it's really grown since then," she said.

"There's a lot of nonprofits that are big and big and loud and you know about them, but there are so many more that are like people don't even realize they exist. But what they do is super critical and important to the people in our community."

Local nonprofits submit an application each year explaining their mission and what they need to succeed. Coggins employees narrow the submissions to their top three choices and then let the community decide who they should pick.

Bennington has more than 100 nonprofits, and it can be hard to keep track of them all, but with the tournament, Coggins is able to have many people learn and see the needs in their community and nonprofits they haven't heard about.

"Even if they don't win, they've got in front of thousands of people who read their story and know what they need and know what they do to just spread awareness," Harrington said. "And then by having the community vote on it, then we know for sure what we're doing is what the community wants the most at that given time ...

"The community is saying, 'Hey, we want this nonprofit. We like what they're trying to do. Let's give them help because it's the decision of hundreds to thousands of people rather than just a handful of us.'"

Bennington Project Independence is an adult day service for individuals and families facing the challenges of aging or disability. This year the organization is combining its 13th annual golf tournament with Coggins.

"I think they've affected a lot of people's lives and helped a lot of families because it's an adult day facility for not just the elderly but also special needs," Harrington said. "So what they do every day to keep those folks' lives enriched while giving the family a break or allowing them to go to work and do these things. It's really important."

The 2027 tournament submissions will open in March of 2027.