image description — William Pham with his scarecrow, 'Love,' at the Williamstown Youth Center. The activity was made possible by Wild Oats Market.

Williamstown Youth Center Children Create Scarecrows for Town Decor

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:07PM / Monday, October 06, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Children at the Williams Youth Center last week decorated scarecrows that will be showcased around the town this season.

The activity was in partnership with Wild Oats Market, which provided the materials.

The market recently held an ice cream social that raised more than $600 for the center, and it was planning a free Wild Smoke Party on Oct. 18, featuring a barbecue with locally raised pork.

"When we finished [the ice fundraiser], we were planning on delivering the money, we had some shirts, and we're planning our Wild Smoke Party," said Amy Carey, marketing and owners relations manager with Wild Oats Market.

"And I thought, what a great thing. Maybe the kids could make scarecrows and we could put them around town? So I ended up contacting the school here, saying, 'Would you be interested?' and they were thrilled."

Wild Oats Market brought over hay, shirts, and more for the children to build scarecrows. They made 10 scarecrows that will be placed in locations, including the market for the barbecue. The children were able to stuff, name, and decorate their scarecrows.

"The kids are coming up with their own names for the scarecrow, and they're designing the whole decoration of each one, and making the scarecrow faces, the whole nine yards," Carey said. "So they're using their own creativity. And then, as we name them, I'll be around and people will be able to see them and know who made what scarecrow. So their goal is to use their creativity to make them."

Carey said Wild Oats was happy to have the children do this and repurpose items.

"We love the fact that it's all using material that is sustainable. You know, it's about repurposing what we have and making it be something fun for the season," she said.

The Williams Youth Center was excited for the kids to do this.

"Organizations in communities working together is, first of all, just a great thing for kids to see that we can work together and come up with a project, and then these kids will take such pride in going around town and showing their families and friends what they worked on," Youth Center Business and Operations Director Miriah Downing said.

Eight-year-old Luisa Tokeshi had fun making a scarecrow with her friends and said it was really fun and is excited to see her scarecrow displayed.

"We're making scarecrows. So everyone's working in a group, and we get to name our scarecrows, and we're making them with different designs and different colors. And the scarecrow I'm making with my group is a big green scarecrow, we're naming him Greenie," she said.

Seven-year old William Pham made a scarecrow he named Love because he really loves hearts.

Executive Director Michael Williams said the Youth Center value's the partnership with WIld Oats.

"We love our friendship partnership with Wild Oats, they've always been so supportive of our mission here, and we appreciate them taking the time out to work with us. The center continues to be a fun, safe, secure place for kids to enjoy their after-school time," he said.

Tags: Wild Oats, williamstown youth center,

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Williamstown Studying Major Overhaul for Main Street

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14AM / Wednesday, July 29, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town is working with a Worcester civil engineering firm to redesign Main Street with an eye toward a major project sometime in the next decade.

Community Development Director Andrew Groff was before the Select Board on Monday night to talk about Town Hall's use of a $500,000 state grant to do preliminary design on major improvements to that portion of Route 2 that runs from Water Street west to the Field Park rotary, through the middle of Williams College's campus.

Groff introduced the elected officials to Amanda Bazinet of Worcester's Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, who is helping the town to develop a plan for Main Street that would align with the commonwealth's Complete Streets Program.

"Our project goals, in addition to the increased pedestrian and bicycle accommodations, is just, in general, improving the sightlines and improving the intersection geometry," Bazinet said.

"Complete Streets … has a lot of different facets to it. As Andrew had mentioned, the goal is to improve the safety for all of the roadway users — not just the motorists. We're looking at improving it for pedestrians, bicyclists, anyone using a mobility device. We want to create streets that are safe for all ages and abilities to use. So, while bicyclists will still be allowed, legally, to use the roadway, we want to look at providing a separate bicycle accommodation along the corridor, whether it's a shared use path along both sides of the streets that is a little more accessible to young children or older people with disabilities to look at all transportation options."

One goal is to encourage "active transportation." The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, who the town hopes one day might fund the construction, has a "healthy transportation policy," Bazinet said.

That MassDOT funding would come through the Transportation Improvement Program, which is managed locally by the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission. The design work underway now is being done with an eye toward going after TIP funding years down the road.

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