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Adam Steele, left, and Tyler Purdy opened The Tap Room in the former location of the Lanesborough Local Country Store.
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The space features darts, a stage for live music, pool tables, cornhole, karaoke, and ping pong.
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The owners are also encouraging patrons to start their own leagues for the various games available in the space.
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The Tap Room features a busy schedule of themed events.

The Tap Room in Lanesborough Offers Food, Music & Themed Events

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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The Tap Room is open Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to closing, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to closing.
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Adam Steele and Tyler Purdy opened The Tap Room on Nov. 25, a new space designed for community members and visitors to gather.
 
Purdy, whose wife Ana Bradbury owns the Lanesborough Local Country Store, took over the original storefront after Bradbury moved her business to a larger location across the parking lot.
 
"When we moved over to the bigger location, I did a lot of work in this space initially and didn't really want to give it away to someone else. Me and him have always talked about just, like, opening a bar, a brewery, or doing something," Purdy said.
 
Lifelong friends, the duo always wanted to start some sort of business venture together. Steele operated a home brewery for 15 years, and together the pair previously ran a mobile bar business called Farm Truck Catering Company. When the storefront became available, they decided it was the right moment to establish a dedicated space for people to enjoy.
 
"We wanted to make a cool spot that has a lot of games, TVs with, like, cool stuff on—you don't typically see, like skiing and fly-fishing and mountain biking, stuff that's not typical—and have good drink options, good beers, and live music a lot, because it just seems like this area is lacking all of those things," Purdy said.
 
Purdy noted that few local establishments offer the variety of activities found at The Tap Room. The space features darts, a stage for live music, pool tables, cornhole, karaoke, and ping pong. His experience at the country store often involved tourists asking for recommendations on local entertainment.
 
"When we have people, like tourists from the Lanesborough Local, and they always ask, 'What food is there to do around here?' And really it's a lot of, like, restaurant bars; like, there's not a lot of, like, activity places," Purdy said.
 
The Tap Room features a busy schedule of themed events: Mondays are "Bring Your Own Vinyl" night, followed by Trivia Tuesdays, Open Mic Wednesdays, and Karaoke Thursdays. Fridays and Saturdays are dedicated to live music, while Sundays feature tournaments.
 
"We're very open to suggestions with things. We've had people suggest bands. We've had people suggest beers, and we've changed them. People suggest something, yeah, we'll get it, and we get it," he said.
 
The owners are also encouraging patrons to start their own leagues for the various games available in the space.
 
When renovations began in October, Steele and Purdy handled much of the work themselves, including painting and construction. They also commissioned local Pittsfield artist Bobby Diesel to create a custom graffiti mural on the interior wall.
 
"Built the stage, built the tables, built the bar, built the tap system," they said.
 
Based on patron feedback, they are currently adding more high-top seating to accommodate the growing crowds. The duo hopes The Tap Room will become a staple music venue and the go-to destination for entertainment in Lanesborough.
 
The Tap Room is open Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to closing, and Saturday and Sunday from noon to closing. Information on upcoming events can be found on their website and social media pages.

Tags: new business,   bars, taverns,   taproom,   

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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing. 

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said. 

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today." 

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback. 

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director. 

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care.  Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires. 

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs. 

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said. 

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025. 

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