Winter Woodcraft Program during February School Break

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SOUTH EGREMONT, Mass. — Flying Cloud Institute will hold an all-new science and art exploration program during the February school break for children aged 7 to 13 years. 
 
It runs February 16 - 19, 2026, Monday to Thursday, from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm (with early drop-off at 8:30 am), at the April Hill Education and Conservation Center in South Egremont. Participants will engage in science investigations, art projects, engineering challenges, and nature explorations.
 
The theme this year is "Winter Woodcraft." There are two meanings to the word "woodcraft:" to work with wood, and to know the forest and the skills you need to survive and explore it. The program will explore both meanings, with science activities that focus on trees and forests, skills sessions that teach how to stay warm in the winter wilderness, and art projects using wood and inspired by our relationship to the forest.
 
The February Break program will be located at April Hill Education and Conservation Center, which serves as the headquarters for Greenagers, as well as a resource for community gatherings and education. The nearly 100-acre property has nature trails, vegetable gardens, orchards, pastures and hayfields, and abuts the Appalachian Trail. 
 
The cost is $270 for the four-day program and financial aid is available. To register, visit flyingcloudinstitute.org or call (413) 645-3058 with questions.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Friperie Berkshires Moves to New Great Barrington Location

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Friperie Berkshires has moved to new quarters on Bridge Street and will reopen this Friday, Feb. 13.

Owner Elizabeth Conkey has relocated her store from Lee above the Berkshire Co-op at 34 Bridge St., in Suite 101. 

The space is twice the size of her former spot in Lee, which is better for her, she said, because she needed it to add more services for her customers.

"I've been looking for a permanent space to land, and this space is perfect, because it's twice the size of where I was and I needed more room because I'm going to start doing men's and children's clothing as well," she said.

Besides adding more clothing, she will also be implementing a wardrobe service for her customers. 

"In addition to just constantly stocking the store and finding treasures, I started offering a capsule wardrobe service," Conkey said. "So it has three tiers, and basically, people can hire me depending on what tier of offering they're interested in, and I will go and thrift specifically for them based on a mood board that they send me from Pinterest, or just a file folder of photos that they like."

Conkey kept the Lee storefront through the summer and had been renting a space in Great Barrington from a friend. She finally found her new space around New Year's, and will be launching a website.

She is excited to open just a short distance from where she was. 

"I've really grown pretty exponentially in the past six months. I'm launching a website. I'm so thrilled with the growth. So it just seems like appropriate to finally move into the forever space, and have room to spread out and offer more categories of clothing," she said.

She also wanted to express her gratitude for her customers and friends' support to keep her dream alive.

"I am just so grateful to the people who have continued to shop in my store from the day it opened. Through the holidays, I had an incredible holiday season, and I just felt so grateful to everybody for telling their friends at my store, sharing about what they bought on Instagram, encouraging co-workers to come in," Conkey said. "It's been such a gift to feel welcomed by the community, and I feel like now my customers are becoming my friends, and I'm just excited to start this new chapter and never have to move all of this inventory ever again."

She will be open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. She encourages people to check her Instagram for updates on clothes and her store.

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