Whitney's Farm, Second Chance Composting to Hold Pumpkin Smash Event

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CHESHIRE, Mass. — On Saturday Nov. 8, Whitney's Farm and Second Chance Composting are teaming up to offer a free community event for people of all ages to bring their pumpkins after Halloween to smash them.
 
The event will be on Saturday Nov. 8, from 11am-3pm.
 
Community members must bring their own pumpkins, as they will not be provided.  Pumpkins must be unpainted, unbleached, and have any non organic materials removed.  Once smashed, pumpkins will be made into compost by Second Chance Composting.
 
For more fun, Whitney's Farm will be opening the Haunted Corn Maze and giant slide for the day.  Donations will be accepted.  By donating, patrons will automatically be entered to win a gift card for a free 3-month subscription to the Second Chance Composting Residential Community Composting Program or a $50 Whitney's Farm Gift Card.  Two winners will be chosen.
 
In America, over 1 billion pounds of pumpkins are put in landfills each year, creating pollution via methane gas, taking up dwindling landfill space, and destroying the potential for new growth if they were instead composted, according to a press release.
 
This is the fourth year that Second Chance Composting has held the event. 
 
"We are excited to again be partnering with Whitney's Farm to make our yearly event bigger, better, and more fun for our community, all while keeping more pumpkins out of the trash and putting them back into our soil," Second Chance Composting Owner John Pitroff said. 
 
More information can be found by visiting www.secondchancecomposting.com or www.whitneysfarm.com
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Shipping Business PostNet Opens on North Street

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

Look for the banner over the door, next to the A-Mart.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — You can now design, print, bind and ship all from the same location downtown — and pick up your mail while you're at it.

Siblings Bina and Gary Patel recently opened a PostNet location at 524 North St. The worldwide chain offers shipping, printing and mailbox services.

Gary Patel also owns the convenience store A-Mart right next door.

"PostNet is a one-stop destination for shipping and printing. You can ship your stuff with the multi-carrier, because we offer UPS, FedEx, DHL, and post office, also, and we have a printing press here," Bina Patel said. "So if you want to print something like a brochure, business cards, banners, you can print here, and we also provide the mailbox services here also, so we have a physical mailbox and virtual mailbox both here."

The printers can accommodate large banners and print logos on shirts. The store also has tape, envelopes, other stationery items, packing materials, and shredding services.

The Patels said they were looking into a shipping business and had a friend who used PostNet and liked it. They researched for two years about the business and signed a contract with PostNet in October. 

They said they wanted to their destination to provide customers everything they needed to do, noting shipping services are scarce after FedEx closed its Pittsfield location last year. They had been getting inquiries about FedEx options and UPS, which has a store in Pittsfield and one in Williamstown.

"We just went many times, around here, maybe one UPS Store, even in Berkshire County, we have the A-Mart, and we're trying to make it like one stop," Gary Patel said. "So whoever comes from the hospital, comes for lunch or whatever, and they want to make it one stop to drop a package or something, and that'll help out the community."

The store also provides competitor prices from other carriers for customers to compare.

The store is open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, with Sunday hours currently by appointment. 

 
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