Community Legal Aid Information Session At North Adams Public Library

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Community Legal Aid will hold a Northern Berkshire information session on Massachusetts Unemployment and Public Benefits law on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026.

Community Legal Aid is a non-profit organization that provides free legal services annually to over 800 low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire County. An advocate from Community Legal Aid will lead the free, open-to-the-public information session. It will be held from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the community room at the North Adams Public Library, 74 Church Street.

This information session, a collaboration between Community Legal Aid and the North Adams Public Library, is the third event in a series of Know Your Rights presentations held at the library 2026. Other sessions this year covered Housing and Family Law.

At the event, Community Legal Aid will provide important general information on public benefits topics such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), cash assistance, unemployment insurance benefits, and more. The info session will not include one-on-one consultations with an attorney, but attendees may apply for Community Legal Aid's assistance at the event.

North Adams Planners OK New Event Space for Tourists Resort

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:34AM / Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Tourists' owners say they've been in need of a gathering space for years, based on the number of requests they get. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Tourists Welcome resort was approved on Monday for construction of a building to serve gatherings and the Airport Rooms.

 

"This is our first opportunity to like fix the biggest thing we screwed up in building Tourists, which was not making a big room," said representative Eric Kerns. "The first year we opened, we got 1,200 event requests the first year, and we've continued to have almost 1,000 event requests every year."

 

The 140-seat event building will be constructed adjacent to the Airport Rooms on the east end of the State Road property, which operates at Blackinton Operating LLC. The 91-foot-long structure will include a kitchen to serve both the event space and the Airport Room, which will be connected via an enclosed corridor. Overflow parking will be at the Blackinton Mill, also owned by the partnership, with shuttle service for events. 

 

The new building will be set on piers to minimize excavation and will include a deck that will extend behind the Airport Rooms. The building also will utilize an all-electric mechanical system with high-efficiency heat pumps and energy recovery ventilation.

 

Kerns noted the resort has been erecting tents on that space for events — this will just make the use of the space permanent. He described the trailer being used as a "kitchen" for the Airport Rooms "a very clever two-year solution that has lasted seven years."

 

"It's just been a a real struggle to find a building that we can build that makes the math make sense given current, you know, construction costs we have come across," he said. "We've come upon a design that works for us, and it's really a continuation of the business that we've been doing. This site is where you've probably seen us put up a tent before, so we already have events of this size on the site."

 

Tourists was built as a minimalist resort, with the rooms facing the Hoosac River; the new structure will continue that aesthetic with a blank wall facing the road and large windows looking out on the river.