Berkshire Business Journal October 2023

Berkshire Business Journal

Fall tourism

BY JIM THERRIEN

PITTSFIELD — The Berkshires have long been known for their beautiful scenery, especially in autumn when the leaves turn the county into a cornucopla of color.

Those brilliant hues of red, orange and yellow have long lured visitors to the Berkshires, but not at the same level as in the summer when the county’s various and diverse cultural organizations are all operating at full throttle.

But fall tourism in the Berkshires is becoming more popular. According to 1Berkshire President and CEO Jonathan Butler, fall tourism in the Berkshires had been steadily gaining on the peak summer months of July and August until COVID-19 hit three years ago.

This year a resurgence is possible. The

fall tourism season in the Berkshires is poised to continue its climb from the pandemic nadir of 2020 — especially if the weather cooperates.

Butler expects that growth trend to continue this year although he’s keeping his fingers crossed that the weather is drier than it was in the Berkshires this summer. Dry weather enhances the important component of any local autumn — New England’s world famous fall foliage.

“Historically, the fall is a little different from the summer because the nature of things to do shifts a little bit,” Butler said. “There is still a performing arts presence in the fall, although it isn’t the robust schedule that we see in the summer, anchored by Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow and theater festivals.

“Yet, there is still a fair amount to do,”

he said. “You know the fall is a big season for the visual arts, our museums, our historical sights — they’re seeing some of their best traffic in the fall. It’s definitely a robust time of the year.”

According to Butler, 2020 “was really the only year we were significantly impacted in overall visitor activity. In 2021, we saw the visitor numbers jump back to about the 2019 numbers ... In 2022, we had an increase over 2019 of about 8 percent.”

Referring to what are known in the Berkshires as the spring and fall “shoulder seasons,” Butler said, “we’ve seen increased activity over the past 10 years, and the expectation is that this year will be consistent with that.”

The fall tourist season isn’t as lucrative as the summer.

“There is a drop-off after Labor Day,”

Butler said, referring to the amount of tourist-related dollars that flow into the Berkshire in the fall. “But it’s not as steep a decline as in past years.”

With more day trippers viewing foliage and museums, hiking, attending fall outdoor festivals or local theater productions and dining out, “it’s a shift, really,” Butler said

The average lodging stay during the fall shifts from three to four nights to one to two nights, he said, and the financial impact “probably drops off about 15 percent over peak season in July and August.”

Although more cultural events take place in the Berkshires in the fall now than they did 20 years ago, an increased interest in outdoor activities like hiking and kayaking has also helped lure more

Once considered a complement to the traditionally strong summer season, fall tourism in the Berkshires is beginning to pick up

GILLIAN JONES-HECK

People stand around a fire and roast marshmallows at last year’s RambleFest at the Adams Visitor Center. The annual RambleFest event is one of the signature features of the Berkshire fall season.

Centennial celebration

O.W. Landergren, a metal spinning business in Pittsfield, that has made parts for the International Space Station, is marking its 100th anniversary. Page 5

Business updates

Founded in 1891, Joseph Freedman Co. is the oldest and largest privately owned scrap metal processor in New England.

According to a news release, the new partners have a full suite of metal recycling services to further complement Apkin’s existing operations.

The company will retain all of its employees at its Adams facility at 17 Depot St. Joe Apkin will remain as president while Bill Apkin will stay on in an advisory role. Sally Cable and Cindi McLain will remain as office employees.

Apkin had closed its other recycling center in North Adams in December.

Pittsfield Cooperative Bank recognizes senior employees

Forward Program, which was funded by fiscal 2023 Regional Economic Development Projects Grant from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development.

The program, now in its second pilot year, awarded $48,000 across 11 communities in the Berkshires, improving the facade presence of at least 81 individual businesses, and supporting over $67,000 in additional private investment in facade improvements across the grant awardees.

Builders Foundation has awarded over $428,500 in scholarships and awards to deserving students.

Berkshire Medical Center recognized by orthopaedic program

Berkshire Medical Center has received 2023-2024 star performer recognition from The American Orthopaedic Association’s Own the Bone program, the eighth consecutive year BMC has received such recognition.

1Berkshire presents 2023 Trendsetter Awards

1Berkshire presented its 2023 Trendsetter Awards recently and honored Mill Town for its contributions to the local community at its Celebrate the Berkshires event at The Colonial Theatre.

Over 200 people attended the event, which was held for the first time in three years.

Mill Town, a Pittsfield-based impact investment firm that owns several Berkshire properties, received the Putting the Berkshires on the Map award.

The Trendsetter Awards, which were presented in six categories, recognize businesses, organizations, and individuals whose outstanding achievements and commitment have strengthened the economy and helped the Berkshires grow.

The finalists in each category were nominated by the public. Five of the six categories had five finalists. The Under 40 Change-Maker category had four. The finalists were all nominated by the public.

The winners and their categories are as follows:

• Enhancing Visitor Engagement: Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge.

• Entrepreneur/Visionary of the Year: Balderdash Cellars in Richmond.

• Under 40 Change-Maker: Lorena Dus, director of client and community services for the Berkshire Immigration Center.

• Nonprofit Collaborator: Elizabeth Freeman Center.

• Breaking the Mold: Blackshires, a program of R3SET Enterprises.

• Growing/Advancing the Berkshire Economy: Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing in Lee.

Recycling company changes name George Apkin & Sons Inc. a recycling company in Adams, has changed its name to Apkin Inc. after forming a partnership with a Springfield-based company and its two affiliates, one of them located in the Berkshires.

The company has partnered with the Joseph Freedman Co. and its two affiliates, Perlman Recycling in Pittsfield and Eastern Vehicle Recycling in Westfield.

Pittsfield Cooperative Bank recently recognized six employees for their years of service, which range from 10 to 40 years.

Recognized for 10 years with the bank were deposit operations clerk Kristine Williams; branch tellers Candre Markham and Lauren Miller; and Director of Facilities Jeff Hescock. Branch teller Lauren Miller was honored for 20 years of service.

Special recognition was given to Senior Vice President of Retail Operations Peter Marchetti for 35 years of service; and Assistant Vice President, Branch Manager Sandra Girard for 40 years with the bank.

“We are grateful for our employees’ dedication and service. They are the heart and soul of The Co-op, and we look forward to them continuing to be a part of our team,” stated J. Jay Anderson, president and CEO of Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, in a news release .

Berkshire Pride hires staffers, receives grant

Berkshire Pride, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting LGBTQIA+ visibility, education, and community engagement, has received a staffing grant from Mass Humanities, hired three staffers, and received formal recognition as a nonprofit organization.

The matching grant from Mass Humanities has allowed Berkshire Pride to bring in a new executive director, Cass Santos-China, and also Emma Lenski as LGBTQIA+ competency educator.

Santos-China has a wealth of experience and passion for LGBTQIA+ advocacy. Lenski will play a pivotal role in creating safe and informed spaces for the community.

Berkshire Pride also has a new president, Michael Taylor, and has received formal recognition as a nonprofit organization. That designation reaffirms Berkshire Pride’s mission to create safe spaces, provide educational resources, and support LGBTQIA+ individuals across the Berkshire community.

1Berkshire awards

facade improvement grants

1Berkshire recently awarded 52 facade improvement grants to Berkshire County entities through its Best Foot

The initiative provides small businesses and organizations with a pedestrian-facing facade, storefront, or presence with grants of up to $1,000 to support non-construction improvements to their respective business aesthetic. Improvements ranged from window cleaning to painting, to plantings, lighting, seating, and more.

Grants were awarded to enterprises located in Adams, Becket, Dalton, Great Barrington, Lanesborough, Lenox, North Adams, Pittsfield, Stockbridge, West Stockbridge and Williamstown.

Windsor awarded grant to fund safety/ risk management activities

The town of Windsor was recently awarded a $2,804 grant from the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, the town’s property and casualty insurance provider, to fund safety and risk management activities and equipment.

The town used the grant to purchase portable radios for use by Highway Department employees while conducting road work and performing routine traffic control duties. The grant also funded the purchase of a chainsaw safety kit that includes personal protective equipment such as chaps, goggles, and ear protection, as well as new, upgraded ladders for use by town employees for building maintenance.

“This MIIA grant has been a tremendous help in providing an enhanced safety environment for the town’s employees,” said Windsor Town Administrator Madeline Scully in a news release. “The items we were able to purchase through have helped us to ensure safer work practices and reduce risk — without impacting taxpayer dollars.”

Students receive stipends from Home Builders Foundation

Jack Thomas Clark of Lee High School, Logan Traversa of McCann Technical School and Holly Rose Scarfone of Taconic High School are among 10 recent trade school graduates who recently received $750 tool stipends from the Home Builders Foundation, the charitable division of the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Western Massachusetts in Springfield.

Guidance counselors from 14 area vocational and trade schools in the four counties of Western Massachusetts submitted their top senior candidate for this annual award. The association works with each student to purchase tools for them based on their chosen career goal in their respective trade.

Since its inception in 1990, the Home

BMC is one of over 300 healthcare institutions nationwide that has taken initiative to ensure its osteoporotic fracture patients receive the highest quality care by implementing The American Orthopaedic Association’s Own the Bone program.

The program is aimed to better identify, evaluate, and treat patients that suffer from an osteoporosis or low bone density-related fracture.

Star performer designation is reserved only for institutions that have achieved a 75 percent compliance rate with at least 5 of the 10 Own the Bone prevention measures. Berkshire Orthopaedic Associates has achieved 100 percent compliance on all but one of the ten measures, with a 99 percent compliance on the tenth, based on data from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

First round of Glow Up! grants awarded Downtown Pittsfield, Inc. and the Pittsfield Economic Revitalization Corporation recently announced the first round of Glow Up! Grants to several businesses and property owners in Pittsfield.

The recipients will use the funding for signs, painting, lighting, and improvements to their entryways. They include:

Berkshire Aesthetic Medicine; Berkshire Fitness & Wellness Center; Brooklyn’s Best; Deidre’s Special Day; Marketplace Cafe; Pampered Pup Dog Day Spa; South Street Pizza House; Spirited Shears; Steven Valenti, as the property owner of 155 North St.; Paul Aronofsky, as the property owner of 344 and 417 North St.; and Ann Deneault and Francis Smith, as the property owners of 324 North St.

The Pittsfield Glow Up! Business Improvement Grant Program is made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act funding. The program’s purpose is to provide grants of up to $10,000 to eligible businesses affected by COVID-19 within ARPA’s disproportionately impacted district of Pittsfield.

MountainOne named top insurance employer

MountainOne Insurance has been named a top insurance employer by Insurance Business America for the fourth time in five years.

The company has now been honored by the IBA in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

“We are incredibly proud to be recognized once again by Insurance Business America as a Top Insurance

PHOTO PROVIDED BY 1BERKSHIRE

David Mixer, left, and Tim Burke of Mill Town accept the Putting the Berkshires on the Map award at The Colonial Theatre, at the 2023 Celebrate the Berkshires event hosted by 1Berkshire. Putting the Berkshires on the Map was the signature award given at the event, which also included the awarding of the 2023 Berkshire Trendsetter Awards.

Employer,” said Jonathan Denmark, President & COO of MountainOne Insurance Agency, Inc., in a news release. “We strive to offer flexibility and firstclass benefits to our employees, as we continue to attract top talent.”

Berkshire enterprises receive state agricultural funding

Four Berkshire agricultural enterprises are among 12 farms across the state that have received a combined $4.7 million in Agricultural Preservation Restriction funding from the state of Massachusetts.

The Department of Agricultural Resources’ APR program addresses statewide and national challenges related to land access, food security, and environmental protection by purchasing land from Massachusetts farmers to permanently protect their agricultural usage.

North Plain Farm in Great Barrington received $828,000 from the program; Mackenzie Farm in New Marlborough, $531,000; Fairfields Dairy Farm in Williamstown, $327,450; and Balderdash Cellars in Richmond, $187,844.

One of the first programs of its kind in the nation, the APR program has protected more than 950 farms totaling over 75,000 acres in its over 40-year history and will play a major role in meeting the Commonwealth’s ambitious farmland conservation goals for 2050.

Greylock helps MCLA

expand LEAD Academy

Greylock Federal Credit Union has pledged $100,000 to help Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts expand its two decades-old LEAD Academy, which helps new students integrate into college life.

The credit union’s pledge will support

a reimagined Greylock LEAD Academy, which will allow the program to grow from around 30 students each year to 200 this fall. Due to Greylock’s pledge, the LEAD program is now available to all MCLA first-year students free of cost.

LEAD, which stands for Leadership, Education, Action, and Development, is a college success, leadership, and civic engagement program designed to help students develop leadership skills and the skills necessary for college preparation, which they can immediately apply.

counties.

The team of Kevin Carolan, Dave Mahoney, Bryan Mahoney and Chris Puls finished first at 10-under par.

To make a contribution or to learn more about the CMH Foundation visit: www.givecmh.org/events or contact Barbara Klassen at bklassen@cmh-net.org.

Pittsfield Cooperative Bank donates to The People’s Pantry

Pittsfield Cooperative Bank has donated $1,000 to The People’s Pantry

ter reflective of the community.

High school students complete summer internships

Twenty-seven high school students completed grant-funded and local sponsored paid internships this summer through the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board’s Summer Youth Employment Programming.

Berkshire

Agricultural

Ventures awarded USDA grants

Berkshire Agricultural Ventures has been awarded a combined $50,000 from two Rural Business Development Grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The funding will be used to provide the business planning technical assistance that farms and local-food businesses across the Berkshire-Taconic region need to thrive.

Of that funding, $30,000 will be deployed for business planning technical assistance projects in Berkshire County, and $20,000 for similar projects in Litchfield County, Conn.

The grants empower the organization to extend its successful track record of offering to local farms and food businesses one-on-one tailored business planning and consulting services with high-level experts.

Health Foundation raises $55,000

The Columbia Memorial Health Foundation in Hudson, N.Y. raised $55,000 at its 27th annual golf tournament which took place recently at the Columbia Golf and Country Club in Claverack, N.Y.

The funding will support Columbia Memorial Health’s network of health care services in Columbia and Greene

Located at Saint James Place in Great Barrington, The People’s Pantry is a nonprofit that offering locally sourced and other resources to clients experiencing food insecurity.

“We are extremely grateful and appreciative of the donation from The Pittsfield Cooperative Bank”, said Beth Moser, President of The People’s Pantry in a news release. “We rely on our donors’ generous support to help reduce food supply costs, so that we can keep serving our community.”

Roots Rising, BBEC announce Vendor Fund recipients

Roots Rising and the Berkshire Black Economic Council have announced the first round of their 2023 BIPOC Vender Fund recipients at the Pittsfield Farmers Market.

Upstreet Smoke, Grice Beauty and Imperfectly Purple received the awards. Upstreet Smoke is an eatery; Grice Beauty provides natural skincare products; and Imperfectly Purple provides CBD body care and pet care products.

The BIPOC Vendor Fund aims to reduce the barrier to participation at the Pittsfield Farmers Market, by waiving the vendor booth fee and providing additional financial support for business start-up costs, such as supplies, permits and business development to make the market more accessible, more equitable and bet-

The internship sites included, Berkshire Arts Center; Berkshire Museum; Berkshire Pediatrics/CHP; Bloom Creativity; Clarksburg School Summer Camp; Hotel Downstreet; Emporium Antiques & Art Center; Historic Valley Campground at Windsor Lake; Kayla Civello Training LLC; Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; Moresi & Associates; Porches Inn; Red Shirt Farm; and Williamstown Farmers Market.

“All of the youth participants demonstrated tremendous dedication to their employment experiences this summer and exemplified what it means to have a strong work ethic,” said Heather Shogry-Williams, the youth director at the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board, in a news release. “We extend our sincere thanks to their host employers for providing enriching work opportunities that will lay the foundation for their future career success.”

Carr Hardware receives national industry award

Carr Hardware is one of two businesses from across the country that were selected to receive the hardware industry’s Retailer Beacon Award this year.

The Beacon Awards are the premier national industry awards program in which the hardware industry recognizes the “best of the best” independent home improvement retailers.

Pittsfield-based Carr Hardware, which operates six stores in Massachusetts and

UPDATES, Page 4

Business updates

Updates

Connecticut, was chosen for the award based on its best-in industry-rated customer service, its innovative and creative marketing, and a strong commitment to the communities it serves.

The other recipient, RP Lumber Co. Inc. of Illinois, operates 82 stores in five states throughout the Midwest.

Carr Hardware received its award Aug. 18 at The Hardware Conference Awards banquet in Marco Island, Fla.

Cultural Council opens local funding process

The Mass. Cultural Council has opened the application process for its fiscal 2024 Local Cultural Council Program.

LCC grant awards, typically from $500 to $750, support a broad range of projects and programs, such as operating support; ticket subsidies; field trips; artist residencies; public art; fellowships; community events/programs; site specific projects; and other activities, based on local priorities. Both individuals and organizations are eligible for funding.

The application deadline is Oct. 17.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to review the program guidelines for more information, including directions on how to apply. Information: massculturalcouncil.org.

Applications being accepted for Berkshire Sustainability Challenge

Startup accelerator Lever Inc. and the Massachusetts Founders Network are seeking clean energy startups to apply for the 2023 Berkshire Sustainability Challenge, which is supported by the Massachusetts Clean

Energy Center.

The winning company will be awarded a $40,000 innovation grant. All participants will be eligible for an additional scholarship award sponsored by MassCEC.

Participating startups will attend four workshops over a 15-week period, culminating with a final event on Feb. 9.

This is the first Lever Challenge co-hosted with the Massachusetts Founders Network, which launched in the summer of 2023. Applications are due by Oct. 13 at tinyurl.com/bdzfk5tm.

Berkshire Bank awards 2023 NextGen scholarships

Berkshire Bank has awarded 2023 Next Gen scholarships to 20 students in its five state coverage area, including eight from Massachusetts.

Each recipient received $2,500 toward their college tuition and advancing their educational goals. These scholars embody academic excellence and share the bank’s commitment to community service and volunteerism.

All applicants were reviewed, and winners were selected by a committee of Berkshire Bank volunteers. The 2023 Next Gen Scholars include high school seniors, current college students and adults pursuing an undergraduate degree from an accredited nonprofit college or technical school.

The Massachusetts recipients include Corey James Lynch; Michael Maggipinto; Vanessa Mwanjiru Muturi; Denis V. Protsun; Deisy Escobar; Justin Underdown; Nhi Le; and Nayalie Velez. Escobar is a recent graduate of Mount Everett Regional High School.

The Clark receives $100k from National Endowment for the Humanities

The Clark Art Institute recently received a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support the implementation of a summer 2024 exhibition on French artist Guillaume Lethière.

The grant was part of a $41.3 million package of 280 humanities projects nationwide recently announced by the NEH.

“We are extremely grateful to the NEH for its support and for the recognition of the importance of this project,” said Olivier Meslay, director of the Clark. “This is the first time in the Clark’s history that we have received an NEH grant in support of an exhibition and its related programming and we are very honored to be in the prestigious company of the other recipients.”

The Clark’s exhibition is the first major museum presentation on Lethière’s life and achievements and will provide new insights into questions relevant in the artist’s time regarding the reception and assessment of Caribbean art. It will open June 15, 2024.

Pittsfield Cooperative Bank supports Goodwill program

Pittsfield Cooperative Bank has made a $1,000 donation to Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires and Southern Vermont’s Soar for Success Program.

The program focuses on job training in custodial skills, customer service, employability skills guidance for individuals preparing for job interviews, and provides interview and work attire.

“The Goodwill Industries of The Berkshires has been a foundational community organization for more than 66 years,” said J. Jay Anderson, president and CEO of Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, in a news release. “Their dedication to helping members of our community and offering

fair opportunities is admirable.”

Other programs offered by Goodwill Industries include seasonal operation of the Popcorn Wagon, which is staffed by supported DDS employees and is a key part of Goodwill’s customer service training program.

To donate or volunteer, go to goodwill-berkshires.org.

Towns, agencies awarded forest conservation funding

Five Berkshire towns, a county agency and a startup accelerator, are among nine state entities in Western Massachusetts that have received a total of $460,000 in state grant funding to support rural economies and forest conservation.

Through the Woodlands Partnership Grants, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs is focusing on the conservation and sustainable management of forests within Massachusetts’ Woodlands Partnership of Western Massachusetts region.

The town of Windsor has received $24,984 for a climate smart road maintenance invasives reduction report. Williamstown has received $25,000 to complete the planting of the town green with a diversity of species to replace ash trees lost to the emerald ash borer.

New Ashford has received $22,400 for the creation of a trailhead parking and picnic area for access to Mount Greylock Reservation. Peru has received $20,000 for Pierce Scenic Way — gaining access to forests for tourism. Adams has received $25,000 for the Greylock Glen Forest Center.

Berkshire Regional Planning Commission has received $75,000 for the Greylock Glen Forest Center forest and climate exhibit, and startup accelerator Lever Inc. has received $75,000 for launching the Woodcraft Collaborative to support local wood businesses.

The Global Top 100 Inspiring Workplaces list comprises organizations across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

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Front pages

A century of metal spinning

By Tony D oBrowolski

PITTSFIELD — The 1939 World Fair, the Polaris missile system of the 1960s, and the present day International Space Station might not seem to have a lot in common.

But there’s a connection between all three of these events, and it runs through Pittsfield.

All of these projects and events had items made for them by O.W. Landergren Inc., a Pittsfield metal spinning business, that is marking its 100th anniversary this year.

A direct line to the company’s origins in Pittsfield in 1923 can also be drawn through the company’s ownership structure. Current President and CEO George Goodrich purchased the company from his father, Arthur in 2002. And Arthur Goodrich is one of three men who bought the company from its founder, Oscar W. Landergren in 1956 (Arthur Goodrich’s two other original business partners are deceased).

Longevity is a staple here. Arthur Goodrich, who is still involved with the company, began working at Landergen 70 years ago at the age of 17. His son started when he was 16 and has been at the company for 44 years.

There’s a reason this company has lasted so long.

“It’s a unique business,” George Goodrich said. “Not a lot of companies do it.”

Metal spinning, also called spin forming, spinning or metal turning, is a metal-working process that dates back to the ancient Egyptians. Today, it is performed by rotating a disc or tube of metal at high speed either by hand or on a lathe, to form what is known as an “axially symmetric part.”

Examples include gas and fuel tanks, cookware, bells, cans, flowerpots, lampshades, funnels and trash bins.

“It’s hard work, but it’s kind of

like doing pottery,” George Goodrich said. “When you do pottery you just form the clay. Here, basically you just take the metal and make it the same way, but you do it on a horizontal lathe and you’ve got a form underneath that you match. It looks like pottery when you do it.”

The process has its drawbacks because it can only be used to make parts that are formed in asymmetrical shapes. And Goodrich said a combination of time, costs and advances in technology have caused many firms to turn to different processes, like metal stamping.

“There’s only about 80 companies left in the United States,” that still do metal spinning, he said.

Oscar Landergren, who died in 1971, was a Swedish immigrant who came to United States in 1910, and came to Pittsfield from Lynn two years later. An entrepreneur with some interesting habits — he played golf constantly and chewed tobacco incessently — Landergren worked briefly at General Electric after coming to the Berkshires. The story goes that he left GE in the early 1920s after being denied a nickel an hour raise he believed he had earned, and then started his own company.

Landergren originally formed an auto body shop that was known as Berkshire Auto Body and Radiator Repair, according to Arthur Goodrich.

“They did a lot of fancy cars for the Crane family in Dalton,” he said.

Metal spinning was initially done on the side, but Landergen began to change the company’s focus as World War II approached.

“He switched over to metal spinning when World War II started,” Art Goodrich said. “It really picked up after then.”

One of the company’s first major metal spinning products was a pair of

Station

aluminum “doughnuts” that it created for GE’s man-made lightning exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair, according to Eagle files. GE’s work with high voltage lightning was a major component of its Pittsfield operations back in the day. The company’s high voltage laboratory in Pittsfield, was billed as the “world’s largest man-made lightning center” when it opened in 1949.

On the plant’s first day of operation, GE engineers sent a 15-million volt bolt of lightning 50 feet off the ground between two generators. It was the longest distance ever spanned by manmade lightning up to that time, according to Eagle files. GE tore down its high voltage center in 2013 after it had been inactive for at least a decade.

GE was Landergen’s first — and only customer — when the business began a century ago, according to Eagle files. But its work with the corporate giant steadily increased. O.W. Landergren received several citations from the Navy for the work it performed for GE Ordnance during World War II.

In the early 1960s, O.W. Landergren performed work on the initial phases of the Polaris missile system, but maintained its work with GE. That work went away when GE began to downsize its Pittsfield operations in the mid-1980s and began to phase out its power transforming manufacturing division. But O.W. Landergren pivoted quickly, and had picked up a significant amount of business from Westinghouse by 1988, according to Eagle files.

“We did a lot of work for IBM,” Art Goodrich said. “Little by little they started getting our name out there.”

One of Oscar Landergren’s metal spinnings was on display at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. in 1971, according to Eagle files. More recently, the company has made parts for a Boston-area aerospace

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A colorful, tobacco-chewing golfer and entrepreneur founded a business in Pittsfield a century ago that has made parts for the International Space

PHOTOS BY BEN GARVER

O.W. Landergren, a metal spinning business in Pittsfield, is marking its 100th anniversary. George Goodrich owns the company but his family has been involved with it for 70 years. George has been there 44 years.

Front pages

Significant growth curve

New processes, equipment help Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing thrive

By John Townes

LEE — In the past several years, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing has been significantly increasing its capabilities and expanding its potential market.

This has included the development of two new processes that have enhanced and increased the company’s ability to produce both smaller and larger quantities of medicines.

For larger orders, the company developed and recently installed a new system utilizing glasswork provided by Steriline and components from other manufacturers to create a state-of-the-art, isolator-based sterile filling line incorporating innovative technologies never used before in small volume aseptic fillers.

The output from the new Steriline filling line will increase BSM’s maximum lot sizes to 60,000 units per batch. The company is preparing to begin filling drug products on that line for several clients.

Another development improved BSM’s ability to handle orders on the other end of its production volume scale, for medicines of up to 2,000 units.

In 2022, BSM developed a new low-loss fill process to reduce drug product loss for high-value medicines with low-volume fills of less than 1.2 liters.

It is a one-of-a-kind system, according to BSM’s CEO and co-founder Shawn Kinney, with features that make it particularly useful for drugs that are especially sensitive to conditions during processing.

It uses a pressure system rather than pumps, which is important for substances that are susceptible to shearing. “It has fewer hoses and fewer contact points and minimizes transfers between

vessels,” said Kinney. “We also found a way to do fewer weight checks which can be destructive.”

The company developed the system in response to a need for a process that would meet certain specific criteria and would minimize loss.

“We had a customer who was disappointed in the amount of loss of their product,” Kinney explained. “We then developed this system which reduced losses significantly. The customer was very sat-

isfied with the results.”

It has already been used for several products, including a pioneering mRNA therapy for COVID 19 developed by RNAimmune, a biotech company.

RNAimmune received approval from the U.S. FDA to begin Phase 1 clinical studies for the investigational new drug as a vaccine booster with the potential to provide continued protection against COVID-19. The company credited BSM’s process with enabling it meet schedules

and move forward in the research and FDA approval process.

Kinney said that while this type of high-sensitivity, small-volume drug is a niche market, the process enables BSM to provide a unique specialized service. Its precision is especially important as some of the drugs can cost in excess of $1 million to produce one liter.

“It’s an additional feature we can offer to serve an underserved market,” he said. “There’s already been interest in it from other companies through word of mouth.”

The COVID pandemic had unexpected effects on the company, according to Kinney.

“We were concerned about the impact on our operations when COVID first hit, and we took out a PPP loan,” he said. “But soon, we saw that the situation had the opposite effect, and we returned the PPP money quickly. A lot of research was launched to find approaches to COVID, and we participated in that.”

It also had another effect. Many other CMOs devoted themselves exclusively to producing COVID vaccines through contracts with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a Federal agency that supports responses to public health emergencies.

“Because our competitors were exclusively focused on that, we received additional business of manufacturers and researchers for other types of products and research,” Kinney said.

BSM, based in a 116,000 square-foot building at 480 Pleasant St. (Route 102) is a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) that serves the pharmaceutical

Shawn Kinney, the co-founder and CEO of Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, says the company’s one-of-a-kind filling system contains features that are particularly useful for drugs that are especially sensitive to conditions during processing. It has already been used for several products, including a pioneering mRNA therapy for COVID-19 developed by RNAimmune, a biotech company.

FILE PHOTO

Employees mix a batch of a drug solution for a client at Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing in Lee, in this file photo. The development of new processes has helped the firm enhance its capacities.

Front pages

A robotic arm, used to remove the lids and liners from sterilized tubs of ready-to-use containers, is one of four such devices that are utilized in Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing’s new, state-of-the-art automated filling line in Lee.

Berkshire Sterile

and biotechnology industries and medical research institutions. This category of CMO formulates medicine using specifications and material from its customers.

CMOs range from operations that produce large volumes of widely used commercial drugs to those which produce very small amounts for clinical research or for medications for very specialized conditions and populations of patients.

BSM’s focus is on producing smaller-batch medicines and inserting it into syringes, cartridges or other devices or media for administration to patients.

The categories of medicines produced by BSM are used on a more limited basis, primarily for clinical trials and smaller-scale commercial production. Its customers include established pharmaceutical and biotech firms, startups, and research institutions.

All drug development and manufacturing involves stringent requirements to protect the quality, purity and sterility of the medicines and minimize loss during preparation.

However these factors are especially critical for the smaller-volume medications BSM works with, according to Kinney.

He explained that small-batch drugs require especially high levels of precision, quality control, and a totally sterile environment to avoid losses due to potential contamination, waste or other issues during the process.

“It’s a very high level of engineering,” he said. “When a medicine is produced in large amounts, there is more tolerance for potential losses. But these drugs are made in limited quantities and can be very difficult and expensive to develop and produce, so preventing loss becomes

much more critical.”

That is one of the specialties of BSM. The company’s sterile filling equipment and processes are designed to prepare and package the medications as precisely, safely and efficiently as possible. It involves optimizing factors such as sterility of the work environment, stability of the drug, and careful transport and handling of the substance throughout the processing system.

The production of drugs in smaller volumes is an increasingly important segment of medical care and the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, noted Kinney.

“There is a trend towards personalized medicines that are targeted to rare diseases or tailored to very specific medical characteristics of patients,” he said. “Because of that, these individual drugs have a limited number of potential users, and in some cases might even be produced for one individual.”

BSM’s services also include consulting and process engineering to help its customers analyze and evaluate their products to develop the most appropriate mixtures, optimize their formulation process, and perform scale-up studies.

“We’re problem solvers,” said Kinney. “We advise and work with our customers on ways to make their products usable and achieve their goals.”

BSM was founded in 2014 by Kinney, Andrea Wagner, the company’s chief technical officer, and Paul Souza, who are the company’s primary ownership partners. Wagner was a winner in the 2022 global Enterprising Women of the Year award. In 2020, Sharp, which is part of UDG Healthcare plc, a global contract packaging and clinical supply services company, purchased a minority ownership share of 25 percent in BSM, as an extension of a preferred partnership agreement that they had established in 2018.

In 1999, Kinney, who holds a doctorate in analytical chemistry, and Wagner, who has a doctorate in toxicology and chemistry, had founded Hyaluron Inc., a company that manufactures pre-filled syringes for clinical use. They sold Hyaluron for $27 million in 2010.

After founding BSM, they purchased the former Lee Corporate Park on Pleasant Street, which includes the building where the company is located., from the Lee Community Development Corporation. The structure originally functioned as a warehouse for the former KB Toys of Pittsfield.

BSM originally used only a portion of this large building, but expanded in phases and now occupies the entire structure.

The expansion included a $20 million project that was launched in 2020 with financing from Berkshire Bank and Lee Bank and a $1.5 million tax increment finance package from the town of Lee. This alloed BSM to increase its manufacturing capabilities with the installation of a new robotic state-of-the-art sterile manufacturing line.

Since the company started, BSM has served about 205 customers. Its sales were in excess of $50 million in 2022.

BSM produced and released 117 lots of drug product for clinical trials or commercial usage in 2022, and has done 101 lots so far in 2023.

The lot sizes vary, ranging from 100 units up to a potential of 25,000 units.

“Our sweet spot is production of between 8,000 units to 15,000 units, which are the most common amounts,” said Kinney. “The largest we have done is 50,000 units.”

Among other medicines, BSM has worked on vaccines, including ones for COVID-19, and treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, among others.

It has also worked on medicines to treat rare diseases such as Niemann-Pick, a de-

generative genetic childhood disease that can lead to death before age five.

In addition to drugs that are undergoing clinical trials, BSM is currently an FDA-approved commercial supplier of three drug products.

These include Pedmark, produced for client Fennec Pharmaceuticals Inc. It is an injection given to pediatric patients with a non-metastatic solid tumor. It reduces the risk of ototoxicity (hearing loss) induced by chemotherapy. Prior to this treatment, children undergoing chemotherapy had a 50 to 70 percent probability of developing hearing loss, which Pedmark has reduced to approximately 40 percent.

Another is an injection used to treat loss of control of body movements in people with advanced Parkinson’s disease, which is produced for a confidential client.

BSM also produces Vyjuvek for client Krystal Biotech, which received FDA approval in May and utilizes an excipient gel developed by BSM. This is the first-ever topical gene therapy approved to treat children and adults with dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB) a very rare, genetic skin disorder which makes the skin extremely sensitive and can lead to vision loss and other serious or fatal complications. Recently, a patient was able to regain their vision after being treated with this product.

With the exception of certain highly specialized positions, BSM has emphasized the hiring of local residents and has actively supported training programs in skills required by its operations.

BSM currently has about 230 employees in Lee including positions in process engineering, validation engineering, logistics and materials management, formulation and manufacturing, quality control, visual inspection, facilities, finance, HR, and administration.

STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN

company that were used on both the space shuttle and the International Space Station, and products that were used for a lightning exhibition on the reality television show, “Fear Factor.”

Referring to the aerospace projects, George Goodrich said his company often doesn’t know what the parts it makes are for until after they have been created.

“They just give us a drawing and say can you make this? It could be a bolt,” George Goodrich said. “Then later they say it’s going to be on the space station.

“I think it’s a unique thing to do,” he said. “You’re part of history.”

O.W. Landergen has had three different locations in Pittsfield on McKay Street, East Street and at its present site on West Housatonic Street, where the company moved to in 1988. Manufacturing has had its share of ups and downs over the years, particularly in the Berkshires, but George Goodrich said the company has averaged around 30 employees for most of its existence. It currently employs 25.

George Goodrich, who began working at O.W. Landergen as a teenager during summer vacations, said he got hooked on metal spinning early.

“There’s a lot of different things to do here,” he said “You’ve got welding, metal fabrication, machining and spinning. I just like the spinning.”

By all accounts, Oscar Landergren enjoyed metal spinning too, when he wasn’t out on the golf course.

According to Eagle files, Landergren was one of Berkshire County’s leading golfers in the 1920s and 1930s, winning the club championship at Berkshire Hills Country Club three times. When he was 70, Landergren shot a 74 at the Country Club of Pittsfield, then actual-

ly matched his age nine years later at 79. Arthur Goodrich still has a set of Oscar Landergren’s golf clubs, which have wooden handles. His tobacco chewing was as well known as his golf game. Art Goodrich said Landergren chewed tobacco so long and so much, that even when he

wasn’t chewing, “his lower lip it looked like he had a pinch in there.

“When we were on North Street he would send me up to get him two packs of Copenhagen tobacco,” Art said. “When he was running the lathe he would put some sawdust near the lathe, and when he wanted to spit he’d spit in the sawdust.

“The parts were in a box,” he said. “I used to get the parts. If you reached down and he was ready to spit, he’d spit on your arm.”

Things have certainly changed since then, but the company’s mission is still the same. There’s a connection between metal spinning and Pittsfield, and it runs through O.W. Landergen.

PHOTOS BY BEN GARVER

O.W. Landergren, a metal spinning business in Pittsfield, is marking its 100th anniversary. George Goodrich owns the company but his family has been involved with it for 70 years. His son, George has been there 44 years.

Landergren

O.W. Landergren, a metal spinning business in Pittsfield, is marking its 100th anniversary. The Goodrich family owns the business, and Arthur Goodrich has been with the company for 70 years. His son, George, has been there 44.

Berkshire voices

Grab your digital surfboard: The future is vocal

PITTSFIELD — Voice search is no longer just a futuristic concept; it’s a daily reality.

According to Adobe, nearly half of consumers are now using voice for general web searches. As we step into the fall of 2023, it’s clear that Voice Search Optimization is not just a buzzword but a critical pivot in digital marketing strategy.

Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on keyword stuffing and link building, VSO is all about understanding the user’s intent. It’s conversational. It’s intuitive. And it’s becoming increasingly important for businesses right here in the Berkshires. Why? Because voice searches often include local intent. Phrases like “find a coffee shop near me” or “best Italian restaurant in the Berkshires” are golden opportunities for local businesses to appear in search results.

So, what can you do to get started?

First, think about the questions your customers might ask and incorporate those phrases into your website’s content. For example, if you run a local bakery, consider adding a FAQ section that answers questions like, “what are the best gluten-free pastries in Berkshire County?” or “how do I order a custom cake?”

Voice search algorithms are designed to pick up conversational phrases and questions. An FAQ section naturally aligns with this because it’s formatted as questions and answers. It’s like handing Google a cheat sheet of what your business does, making it easier for your site

A new era for Bascom Lodge

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Google alone accounts for a great majority of web searches worldwide, but nearly half of all searchers have turned to voice to find what they’re looking for.

to be the go-to answer when someone asks a voice-activated device a question related to your business.

Second, make sure your business’s name, address, and phone number are consistent across all online platforms. This is crucial for appearing in local voice searches. And don’t forget to claim and optimize your Google My Business listing, as voice-activated devices often pull information from these sources. By taking these simple steps, you’re not just preparing for the future; you’re shaping it. Voice Search Optimization is not a wave that’s coming; it’s already here. So, grab your digital surfboard and ride this wave all the way to increased visibility and customer engagement.

Kaitlyn Pierce is the founder and chief strategist of PierceSocial, a digital marketing company

John Dudek and Brad Parsons end 15-year stewardship of Greylock summit house. Peter Dudek is looking for partners to continue its legacy

By Jane K aufman

ADAMS — Bascom Lodge is facing an uncertain future at the close of this season as partners John Dudek and Brad Parsons end their 15th season running the nearly 90-year-old stone lodge atop Mount Greylock.

The state-owned property at the highest point in Massachusetts has enjoyed

a revitalization following a total gutting and complete restoration under their care. The couple has offered jazz dinners on Saturday nights, attracting 50 to 80 diners and listeners to enjoy a rotating fleet of combos, as well as homemade ice cream and a maple walnut cake that is legendary among hikers on the Appalachian Trail.

GILLIAN JONES-HECK

Bascom Lodge operating partners John Dudek and Brad Parsons have decided they are no longer interested in running the 90-year-old stone lodge atop Mount Greylock.

BASCOM LODGE, Page 19

Kaitlyn Pierce

Berkshire voices

Time to pause and reassess

LEE — The Massachusetts cannabis market hit record revenue sales numbers in July of this year, which caused some minor celebrations in local press and on social media. But any celebration about the Bay State hitting record retail sales numbers by operators, particularly in the Berkshires, is a false celebration to be sure.

When the market is getting crushed, it’s irresponsible to present a headline suggesting Massachusetts cannabis is raking it in with record revenue, unless you’re also reporting on the health of those businesses generating that revenue. What I know for sure, is the main two entities truly celebrating topline revenue milestones are the state of Massachusetts, and the Internal Revenue Service.

Throwing a flashy headline with big numbers is not doing justice to the operators generating that revenue, and actually makes it quite painful. People see those numbers and jump to the conclusion that the industry as a whole is rolling in cash, but the reality is with a hyper competitive, highly regulated market with an oversaturation of businesses, we’re at a point where we’re just crushing each other. The headlines should be telling both sides of the story. Maybe something like: “Revenue is record-breaking, but business-

es are struggling. How do we right size?”

You can’t have an honest portrayal of the health of this industry without focusing on cash flow. Unfortunately it’s a hard point to make, but one that mustn’t be ignored. Cannabis businesses — those currently open in the Berkshires as well as those still looking to open — not actively focusing on building and sharply monitoring their cash flow are frankly already dead. They just don’t know it yet.

There are roughly 420,000 people working in the U.S. cannabis business across 23 states that allow adult-use cannabis. Here in the Berkshires we have racked up a lot of licenses. Take a drive around Great Barrington to see a microcosm of how we’re at a point where (if you are doing the math) you can’t responsibly say the market is sustainable, especially when there are more licenses being added. Simply put, the pie is not getting bigger. Towns long ago made the mistake of growing too fast, throwing more businesses into the mix thinking it will equal more money and tax revenue and not understanding that the market can’t support that kind of cognitive dissonance between the supply and demand

in Massachusetts legal cannabis.

What’s important is for local municipalities and business entities to see such glowing headlines about top line revenue milestones in the state as a red herring, and not a true indication of the health in the local industry. It is only an indication that consumers want to buy this product in a regulated way. So before Berkshire County gets all whipped up into a frenzy about this revenue where again the only ones winning are the state and the federal governments and not the actual businesses.

To my knowledge the state of Massachusetts has no ability to pause or limit the awarding of cannabis business licenses. The rollout of licenses and cultivation is the paramount issue in the modern cannabis market in Massachusetts. My opinion is we need to pause on any more awarding of business licenses until we have an accurate way to understand the health of the industry. For example, in other state-regulated industries there is a way to report to the regulating body a company that is not paying you. And then that company’s name goes on a public list, and they are then required to terms of COD only. This small

addition to our regulations would make a difference in our industry. But we don’t have that.

I subscribe to the free market mentality. However in a highly regulated industry like cannabis, the free market becomes relative.

So big headlines about record sales numbers and revenue for state markets is reflective of the health of the businesses creating that revenue in the way that funhouse mirrors accurately portray their subjects. In order to get a clear sense of what you’re looking at in those mirrors, you have to address what’s warping the true image.

In cannabis, the record topline sales numbers warp the truth given that operators pay the municipality we operate in three percent or more of our revenue for potential community impacts that often never ever occur. We are also part of an industry with no consequences for businesses not paying their bills, which has a ripple effect that can deeply impact or totally destroy a business trying to survive. To be clear this isn’t about eliminating competition, this is about the survival of the industry. Even if you have resources to manage the current price and market compression, a certain mentality of limited licensing with the option of later expansion is a safer way to go.

Doing nothing won’t be felt the

hardest by the massive, publicly-traded cannabis companies (like multi-state operators, or MSO’s). It will be the social equity, mom and pop shops with their whole life savings and family investment devoted to their dream. Doing nothing will result in more new business licensees being set up to fail. Many already are and don’t know it yet. Doing nothing will create another classic Wall Street win as Main Street loses scenario, all while the state tax coffers are bursting at the seams.

And doing nothing will be felt acutely right here in Berkshire County.

Meg Sanders is the CRO and cofounded of Canna Provisions in Lee.

FILE PHOTO

The state’s cannabis market posted record revenue sale numbers in July, but those figures don’t tell the full story about what’s happening in the industry as a whole.

Meg Sanders Cannabis Corner

Berkshire voices

Why manufacturing is a good career choice

LEE — First, the good news. A recent study by Goldman Sachs estimates that the United States could see the creation of 200,000 to 250,000 new manufacturing jobs during the next two years led by investments in the semiconductor and green-technology sectors.

The bad news? Virtually all the growth is expected to take place in the southern and western regions of the country, far from Berkshire County and Massachusetts (one-third of the total private investment pledged to green, and semiconductor manufacturing is set to occur in Arizona.) Moreover, Goldman Sachs notes that the potential creation of new jobs will be half of what it otherwise might be because of “labor supply bottlenecks.”

As Massachusetts and the nation prepare to celebrate Manufacturing Month in October, companies that make things have shown remarkable resilience in the face of persistent labor shortages, inflation, rising interest rates, economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions. Economic output from Massachusetts increased at a surprising annual rate of 4.0 percent during the second quarter of 2023 while national GDP rose at 2.4 percent. Massachusetts has long maintained a different sort of manufacturing economy than the rest of the country. The com-

monwealth’s limited geography and high cost structure generally leave it out of contention for the sorts of mega-projects referenced in the Goldman Sachs report. Instead, Massachusetts maintains a thriving infrastructure of smaller, highly productive companies that run on technology, innovation, ingenuity and skill.

Take VulcanForms, a sleek, 3-D printing company in Devens that has been called “the most interesting startup in America.” The company is currently valued at more than $1 billion and stands on the leading edge of a push to transform 3-D printing from a niche technology — best known for new-product prototyping and art-class experimentation — into an industrial force.

Closer to home, in Berkshire County, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing was

founded in 2014 in Lee to develop a process capable of providing the safest sterile drug products for clinical use. BSM has grown significantly since its inception by providing small-scale sterile manufacturing services with the highest level of sterility assurance and quality achievable through the use of the most modern technologies for sterile manufacturing, stringent quality standards and highly trained employees.

Finding enough workers continues to be a challenge for my company and every other manufacturer in Massachusetts. The demographics of an aging population, an exodus of residents leaving Massachusetts for lower-cost states and a persistent shortage of people with the math and mechanical skills needed by advanced manufacturers will continue to challenge the ability of our state to maintain its select base of production companies.

Manufacturing jobs are key to economic prosperity since average annual compensation across the industry is $86,000 in Massachusetts.

According to the 2023 Career Advancement in Manufacturing Report, 82 percent of US manufacturing companies are experiencing a labor shortage. A separate survey this summer by Associated industries of Massachusetts, where I serve as board chair, revealed that 74 percent of employers currently have vacancies. Thirty-five of the 196 companies that participated said the vacancies comprised 10 percent or more of their workforces.

Why might one consider a career in manufacturing in the Berkshires?

The jobs are accessible to those without formal education beyond high school, the entry level jobs offer good pay and benefits, as well as opportunities for growth in responsibility and pay, and flexible schedule options.

Most manufacturing companies in the Berkshires require only a high school

degree to qualify for entry level positions on the production floor. Companies like mine, Onyx Specialty Papers, provide extensive on-the-job training to enable new hires to be safe and productive from their first day of hire. This on-the-job training program also allows for progression to higher paying positions. So far this year, over 35 percent of our front line manufacturing associates have received promotions with pay increases by participating in our progressive training program and four individuals have been promoted multiple times this year. The average annual income for manufacturing associates working on the production lines at my company is around $70,000.

Most manufacturing businesses run 24 hour schedules and schedule workers to cover those hours with either fixed shifts or rotating shifts (this is when a different shift schedule is worked each week). This type of schedule can take some getting used to, but there is typically additional compensation for working shift work, and there can be benefits to working non-traditional hours in scheduling appointments and recreational activities (including tee times!), as well as managing family activities and childcare.

Manufacturing companies also employ degreed engineers, in a range of disciplines including mechanical, chemical, electrical, quality, systems and process control, as well as other professionals in sales, marketing, logistics, human resources and finance.

If you like the idea of being part of a team that produces tangible products of value to customers across the globe, while building financial security for you and your family, maybe you should consider a career in manufacturing.

Patricia Begrowicz, the president of Onyx Specialty Papers in Lee, is chair of the board of directors of Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

FILE PHOTO

Paul Bianco widens the mold of a papermaking machine at Onyx Specialty Papers in Lee, in this file photo. Manufacturing is a good career choice for Berkshire County residents because good pay, benefits and job training are available.

Patricia Begrowicz

The View from AIM

Berkshire voices

Abundant energy resources are tailored to the Berkshires

PITTSFIELD — August marked the one-year anniversary of the In flation Reduction Act, which mobilized an es timated $370 billion in federal incentives to ward the goal of shifting the U.S. grid to 80 percent clean energy and cutting climate pollution by 40 percent by 2030.

This has, among other things, prompted a manufacturing boom for clean energy technologies, supercharged the shift to electric vehicle adoption, and incentivized the decarbonization of buildings and the electricity. It has also pushed state governments, including the HealeyDriscoll Administration here in Massachusetts, which has envisioned a climate corridor from the Berkshires to Barnstable, to vigorously compete for federal funds.

At the Berkshire Innovation Center, we are pushing members and partners to seize all available opportunities to make Berkshire County a leader in the clean energy transformation, as well as all opportunities to bring the federal dollars back home. We are also walking the walk and taking advantage of the incentives to reduce our carbon footprint and our monthly energy bill.

Governmental incentives, like those offered by the IRA, are designed to spur acceptance and deployment of technology. The technology itself often also creates its own cost savings. Occasionally, technology and incentives align to create extraordinary savings. That’s happening right now with clean energy.

Companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Citibank are embracing clean energy to reduce their carbon footprint, but also because it’s actually cheaper now, too. Solar panels, the predominant clean energy technology, are silicon-based. Like most such technologies, they become more efficient and less expensive over time, so their economics get better. Meanwhile, finite fossil fuels trend upward long term. Right now, clean energy may be at a cost-benefit peak. This is due to a remarkable intersection of lower costs and, most importantly, extraordinary incentives.

“In 31 years in energy, I’ve never seen incentives like

these. The amount of money and breadth of programs is simply unprecedented,” said Malcolm Smith, the CEO of Sustaine Inc., a BIC member company that helps businesses get cheaper and cleaner energy.

Smith described some of the key incentives as well as how they particularly help Berkshire County. To begin with, every business can claim a tax credit for 30 percent of energy investments. That increases to 40 percent in low-income areas, like the BIC’s location on Woodlawn Avenue in Pittsfield. Better yet, for non-profits like us that don’t pay taxes, a direct payment from the IRS is newly available.

“Any building can get 30 percent to 40 percent of an energy project paid for by the federal government,” Smith added. “But it gets better, especially locally.”

Smith went on to explain that 50 percent grants are available through the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Electrification for America Program. The so-called “REAP” grants are for rural small businesses only. All of Berkshire County is designated rural, Smith explained, and while the definition of “small” is complicated, a good litmus test is under 500 employees and $30 million in annual revenue.

REAP grant applications are competitively scored, he added. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, businesses in distressed zones get a 15 percent bonus, which is compelling. That turns a C+ grade into an A. Most of the distressed zones in Massachusetts are in urban areas, which aren’t eligible for REAP grants. But Berkshire County has multiple distressed rural zones, including most of Pittsfield, Adams, North Adams and around Stockbridge.

“Here’s the really exciting part,” Smith added. “The REAP grants and the tax credits work together. Many companies are seeing 30-40 percent reductions in their energy costs, after incentives pay for 65-70 percent of their project. That could be happening all over Berkshire County, if more businesses become aware of the opportunity.”

One area business already pursuing this advantage is Excelsior Integrated in Lee. Rooftop solar panels have offset half of Excelsior’s usage for years.

Company owners David and Christopher Crane have been looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint even further. With today’s rich incentives in mind, Excelsior is moving now to double its solar coverage, and eliminate a significant portion of their remaining carbon footprint all while reducing their energy bills, too.

One challenge with clean energy is the plethora of solutions available. Solar photovoltaics are popular, but other options include solar thermal, combined heat and power, battery storage and a wide array of efficiency measures for space heating and cooling, lighting and major equipment. Tax credits and grants apply to all of them, often in different ways. So finding your most cost-effective solution can get complicated quickly.

At the BIC, Sustaine helped us navigate the myriad of options several years ago. We provided our energy bill and Sustaine calculated what each energy option and incentive was worth to us. Their software generated an energy scorecard, revealing that offsite solar was the best start for us — simple but effective. With a little paperwork, we began cutting energy costs by 10 percent.

When the IRA was passed last year, we heard that direct payments — in lieu of tax credits — were now available to help non-profits transition. This was a massive shift, and a rooftop solar project suddenly

Be rkshire Business Journal

made tremendous financial sense. And so, this fall, Solect Energy of Hopkinton, will be installing a 75 kilowatt solar array atop the BIC. It will generate 40 percent of our energy. Including financing by Berkshire Bank, we’ll be saving about 24 percent compared to our old energy bill.

“We’re proud to help enable this important clean-energy project for the BIC, which can serve as a model for other organizations looking to move to cleaner, greener energy sources. Thanks to federal, state and local incentives, it’s never been easier for organizations to leverage clean energy projects to drive a benefit to their bottom line, the environment and community,” stated Gary Levante, Berkshire Bank’s senior vice president of corporate responsibility.

Because the BIC is a non-profit, we aren’t eligible for a REAP grant. That said, we still see immediate cost savings and get another key advantage: budget certainty. With the energy from solar, we don’t have to worry about rising energy costs for the useful life of the project, which is 25-to-30 years. In the last decade, those costs have risen four percent per year. If that continues, we’re insulated from it.

At the BIC, we work hard to make sure our members and regional partners are well positioned to access any available public funds. As a rural area in an urban-dominated state, this can sometimes be challenging.

At other times, our rural setting out on the commonwealth’s western edge plays to our advantage. REAP grants make this one of those occasions.

Moreover, relatively high energy costs in Berkshire County make alternative energy all the more cost-effective for us. Coupled with today’s extraordinary incentives, local businesses have the opportunity to lock in lower costs for decades to come. Indeed, forward-looking Berkshire businesses are turning a current deficit into a long-term advantage–especially those that act decisively.

“It’s likely that something this good can’t last,” cautions Smith. “The REAP grants are awarded quarterly, and Massachusetts has about $2 million per quarter to distribute. That’s terrific, but the program is only funded through September of 2024. After that, we anticipate less generous incentives–quite possibly a great deal less.”

Governor Maura Healey speaks of a climate corridor stretching from the Berkshires to Barnstable. Her administration is competing to bring previous federal dollars back to Massachusetts. The Berkshires has an opportunity to be a leader, and an immediate opportunity to leverage available federal dollars to move to cheaper and cleaner energy.

Let’s act and act fast!

Ben Sosne is the executive director of the Berkshire Innovation Center in Pittsfield.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BERKSHIRE INNOVATION CENTER

The Berkshire Innovation Center recently installed this array of solar panels at its building in the William Stanley Business Park of the Berkshires in Pittsfield.

Ben Sosne

Berkshire voices

Where east blends with west

GREAT BARRINGTON — Nonprofits reach out to Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires every day requesting referrals to resources. Growing and thriving organizations are actively seeking help with everything from strategic planning and board development, to marketing and human resources. Luckily, there are many local and regional resources at their disposal.

According to the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, our state’s nonprofit advocacy organization, “the work of the nonprofit sector impacts every resident of Massachusetts. The state’s more than 38,000 nonprofits educate us, keep us healthy, support our most vulnerable populations, and care for our cultural, historical, and environmental treasures. They are a critical economic engine generating more than 548,000 jobs and employing over 17 percent of the state’s workforce.”

The Berkshire nonprofit sector is even more robust, employing one in four people, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a huge part of our economy, the Berkshire nonprofit sector is supported by many local organizations including Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (including Berkshire Funding Focus), Berkshire United Way, 1Berkshire, Berkshire Community College, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts , Williams College, MassHire, and Entrepreneurship for All, among others. Perhaps less well-known are the regional organizations that support Berkshire nonprofits. They don’t have offices close by so Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires serves as the welcome wagon for these Eastern Massachusetts-based providers. MNN’s annual visit to the Berkshires is a summertime opportunity to network, and Berkshire nonprofits enjoy learning about recent policy updates that affect all nonprofits in Massachusetts like the new Massachusetts state tax deduction for charitable donations. Local and regional organizations that provide services to nonprofits will showcase their offerings at NPC’s Nonprofit Resource Fair on Oct. 24 at the Berkshire Innovation Center in Pittsfield. Sponsored by Toole Insurance and Massachusetts 401(k) CORE Plan, the fair will include a “Lunch & Learn” to showcase the following regional providers:

• Massachusetts 401 (k) CORE Plan: With a deep commitment to the nonprofit sector in the state, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created a retirement plan specifically for small nonprofits

with 20 or fewer employees at the time of adoption. This plan was built for and is tailored to the Massachusetts nonprofit community. The commonwealth also acts as a plan fiduciary, so the organizations enrolled in the plan don’t have to shoulder most of that role, making the CORE Plan an easy way to offer a quality, affordable benefit. For more information, please contact local representative, Lisa Cardinal, at Lisa.Cardinal@ Empower.com or 617-510-4036. If you already offer your employees a retirement plan, Lisa can help you compare it to the CORE Plan.

• MassDevelopment: For 25 years, MassDevelopment has helped nonprofit organizations with the assistance they need to upgrade equipment, build new structures, or renovate and expand existing buildings. Our resources have recently expanded to include PACE Massachusetts, a new mechanism for financing building energy improvements i.e., new chillers, LED lighting, high-efficiency HVAC systems, etc. We’re committed to finding solutions that create jobs, revitalize communities, and stimulate the economy. Call 617-330-2000 to connect with a business development representative in your region or visit massdevelopment.com.

• Health Connector for Business: Through the official state health insur-

ance marketplace, Health Connector for Business, non-profits and start-ups with 50 or fewer employees have access to medical and dental coverage, along with unique benefits that give employees plan choices and save money. With employee choice, even the smallest companies are able to offer significant flexibility to employees. And many employers are eligible to participate in the ConnectWell Rebate program that can save employers up to 15 percent on the cost of health insurance premiums while promoting a healthy lifestyle in their company. Information: MAhealthconnector.org/business.

• Massachusetts Service Alliance: For over 30 years, the Massachusetts Service Alliance has provided funding, training, and resources to hundreds of nonprofits across the commonwealth, building their organizational capacity through service and volunteerism. As Massachusetts’ official State Service Commission, we administer tens of millions in federal and state dollars annually via AmeriCorps State and Commonwealth Corps program grants. We also offer a variety of trainings, mini-grants and resources focused on effective volunteer engagement and management, including the nationally-recognized Service Enterprise Initiative, Service-Learning training

and implementation grants and our volunteer portal MSA Connects for Good. Information: www.mass-service.org.

• Philanthropy Massachusetts: This is a 54-year-old membership association for both grant makers and for nonprofits seeking grants. Bridging the two communities, Philanthropy MA provides learning opportunities to promote better understanding, efficiency, and impact to collectively shape the future of a healthy and vital commonwealth. Nonprofit professionals participate in the fundraising industry standard in skills training and professional development, they access critical grants research tools and engage with funders via in person and online programs. Information: www.philanthropyma.org.

The Nonprofit Resource Fair will feature 30 vendors, attractions such as chair massages sponsored by Lee Bank, door prizes, swag and lots of chocolate! Everyone is welcome to attend — admission is free — for some vibrant learning and networking. Register online at npcberkshires.org. For desk-bound folks, there is an online directory of over 600 nonprofit resources at https://npcberkshires.org/ virtual-resource-directory/.

Liana Toscanini is the executive director of the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires in Great Barrington.

FILE PHOTO

The city of Pittsfield partnered with MassDevelopment to redevelop this former Hess gas station on Tyler Street in June 2019. The Boston-based state development agency that has worked on several projects in the Berkshires will participate in the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires’ Nonprofit Resource Fair at the Berkshire Innovation Center on Oct. 24.

Liana Toscanini Nonprofit Notes

Cover story

Fall tourism

visitors here in both the summer and the fall.

1Berkshire is charting a demographic shift toward younger visitors, although the majority still are baby boomers, many of whom formed strong attachments to the Berkshires decades ago.

TRAVEL TRENDS

Lindsey Schmid, 1Berkshire’s senior vice president of tourism and marketing, believes this summer’s statistics might show that people who took trips closer to home during the pandemic may have journeyed farther this year to make up for trips they may have previously postponed.

But in the fall, she expects those summer trends to end and that people will more likely travel locally.

“In the fall, I don’t think you will see that travel pattern,” she said, “because in the fall people are hunkering down, staying a little bit closer to home; the kids are back in school. So I feel that our fall visitors will actually be stronger than even our summer, because we’re not going to see that drop off for folks going further afield.”

Schmid added, “And certainly during the pandemic, we found that it wasn’t just through October but strong all the way through November.”

As the fall season has grown over the years, theaters, cultural and historic attractions and organizers of music, autumn and other fall festivals have responded, Schmid said.

Numerous examples listed on 1Berkshire.com and other tourism websites include the Housatonic Heritage Walks that feature guided walks or tours through Oct. 30, and Art Week, which takes place Oct. 14-22. The county has continued to hold Art Week, which originally began as a statewide initiative.

Other events, some of which date back decades, include the annual Fall Foliage Festival and Parade in North Adams; RambleFest on Mount Greylock and downtown Adams, which both take place in October; and the annual Founders Day Weekend celebration in Lee in September.

Historical site attractions include the Susan B. Anthony birthplace and museum in Adams; and Arrowhead, author Herman Melville’s historic home in Pittsfield, which also serves as the headquarters of the Berkshire County

Historical Society.

FALL THEATER

After persevering through the worst of the pandemic, Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield “was able to open up the doors of the theaters again, and we have had some success,” said Bryan Keith-Wilson, the company’s director of communications. “We are very thankful to the patrons, the community, our staff and everyone that really came together to make that happen.”

The theater company, with its main venue, the Boyd-Quinson Stage, on Union Street, and the St. Germain Stage on Linden Street, “is seeing people come back to the theaters,” Wilson said.

Like most theaters navigating the post-pandemic period, however, Barrington Stage Company is aware of the uncertain economy and the lingering effects of COVID-19.

“And so we are still trying to keep our programming solid,” Keith-Wilson said.

“We have a new artistic director, Alan Paul, and a managing director, Meredith Lynsey Schade, who’ve brought some new energy creatively, and of course administratively, to Barrington, and we are really excited.”

Paul succeeded Julianne Boyd, Barrington Stage’s co-founder and artistic director, who retired at the end of the 2022 season.

The company is also bringing back “The Happiest Man on Earth,” starring Kenneth Tigar, this fall.

“And then we have our Pulitzer Prize winning play, ‘English,’ by Sanaz Toossi, who is here, in the Berkshires with the play, and she also is in the play,” Wilson said.

Educational programs will be gearing up as the fall winds down, he said, including the 10 by 10 Play Festival, which features 10-minute plays by 10 emerging or established playwrights.

“It’s just a great opportunity for playwrights to get their name out there, get their work out there, and for audiences to see many different creative voices in one sitting,” Wilson said.

Theater and other events on Barrington Stage’s performance spaces will extend through mid-October, he said. Following a break for the holidays, work will continyu on the 10 X 10 plays and performances, as well as the company’s Playwright Mentoring Project.

‘PARALLEL UNIVERSES’

Nick Paleologos, the executive direc-

Fall Foliage Fiesta

Tourists always flock to the Berkshires when the leaves turn in the fall and the scenery becomes a panorama of color.

Where are the best places to view the show in New England this year?

Here are some excerpts from Yankee Magazine Foliage Expert Jim Salge’s updated 2023 fall foliage forecast, which was recently posted on Yankee’s website, www. newengland.com.

Q: What word do you find yourself using most often to describe this year’s New England fall foliage forecast?

A: “Pastel” comes up when talking about the expected quality of the colors. While a flip to cool, clear weather would certainly help, it is becoming increasingly likely that this will not be the best year for bold, bright red colors in our forested landscape. A more muted palate is expected, but the trade-off is that it should be long-lasting.

Q: In your initial forecast, you thought we’d reach peak a bit later than normal, but that it would last longer. Has this forecast changed?

A: It hasn’t, and it’s only become more clear that the foliage is going to peak a bit late this year....With all the moisture, though, there will be little impetus for the leaves to drop quickly after peak, so it should be a long season.

Q: You had some lingering questions in your first forecast, and one of them was leaf fungus. Are we seeing this? How will it affect our fall colors?

A: Unfortunately, yes. With so much moisture, humidity, and general dampness this summer, which has continued into the early fall season, a few different foliar fungi have set up, especially on maples. The most common are anthracnose and septoria leaf spot, both of which brown the leaves.

For a number of reasons, the old stately sugar maples along roadways seem to be most affected, with the interior forests less so. Unfortunately, these are the trees that a lot of leaf-peepers love most. They will likely have some browning and early leaf drop this year.

tor of the Berkshire Theatre Group, said working under the current conditions, “has the feel of operating in parallel universes.”

“On the one hand, we’ve had a sensational season from the perspective of audience projections,” he said. “We thought people would be a little slower to come back.”

BTG has three venues, the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield and the Fitzpatrick Main Stage and Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge. They’ve all been packed.

“It has been just one sold-out audience after the other,” Paleologus said. “So that’s the good news.”

But Paleologus cautioned, “we are also operating in a national eco-system that is scary to say the least.”

Citing a close-to-home example, Paleologus referred to the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s decision to curtail most of its 2023 summer season when many other theater companies were either experiencing similar struggles or closing.

“So that was a wake-up call for all of us that something was in the air,” Paleologos said.

He said it constituted “a perfect storm of bad economic news” that regional

theaters faced as federal pandemic relief funding ended and new realities set in.

Inflation made everything more expensive for theater companies, “by a factor of anywhere from 20 to 35 percent,” he said. That produced “some pretty harrowing numbers financially,” Paleologus added. “Fortunately, at least through to this point, we’ve had great support from our board.”

There are still financial hurdles to overcome, but Paleologus said fund-raising is targeting that. From an artistic standpoint, he said the fall season at Berkshire Theatre Group, “is going to look reasonably normal. We’ve got a really exciting fall season planned.”

When comparing the current fall season to the pre-COVID era, the bottom-line is “no retail theater in America is going to be the same as it was,” Paleologus said, adding that some long-running, signature theaters have been shuttered.

“I think the answer is that there will be a new norm that we are headed toward,” he said.

“A lot of what we did may not be sustainable in the long term,” Paleologus

FALL TOURISM, Page 15

Community Health Programs… Care for a Lifetime.

Cover story

Fall tourism

FROM PAGE 14

said. “On the other hand, we will be looking at our business model, our capacity. We’ve got ambitious plans for the celebration of our 100th anniversary in 2028 and for the rehabilitation of the playhouse in Stockbridge.

“If the question is are we optimistic? Yes, we are theater people,” he said. “We are basically glass-is-half-full kind of folks. But we’re also not looking at the world through rose-colored glasses.”

“In order for the theater to be successful going forward, it’s not going to just sustain itself on ticket sales. It’s going to require the active cooperation of community partners.”

Those partners include businesses, the city of Pittsfield and other community supporters.

The benefits for everyone? More than $8 million in estimated activity that the Colonial Theatre alone generate in Pittsfield based on drawing 38,000 patrons per yeat.

BERKSHIRE LODGING

“We have had a good year so far,” said Sarah Eustis, CEO of Main Street Hospitality Group, which either owns or operates The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, The Porches in North Adams and the Briar Cliff in Great Barrington.

“We are probably overall, between The Porches, and Red Lion Inn and Briar Cliff, fully recovered from COVID,” Eustis said. “Last year, 2022, was higher than 2019.

“What I think is going to happen this fall — what we are definitely thinking about for next year,” she said, is the importance of controlling lodging prices.

“We want to make sure we are providing a really strong value — not that we don’t always — but also paying attention to price and making sure that prices are stable,” she said. “We’ve seen more sensitivity to that.

“I feel optimistic about the balance of the year — especially at the Red Lion, where we really own Christmas too.,” she said. “Holiday bookings are already strong, and we haven’t seen any real slowdown.”

The pandemic year of 2020 “stopped us dead in our tracks; 2021 was a building year, and then 2022 was excellent — at 2019 or above,” Eustis said. “And this year is looking better than 2022 ... But we also know how to flex down again if we have to. We learned it, but it was hard.”

INDOOR ATTRACTIONS

The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge always gets a boost in the fall.

“The fall for the Rockwell Museum is generally one of the best seasons, year over year,” said the museum’s chief marketing officer Margit Hotchkiss. “But like everyone, we’re still climbing back from COVID, and I would say we’re not completely returned to normal levels. The growth in the fall is with our group tours, and those are different charter buses and specialty tours. They are definitely starting to rebound more thoroughly.”

She added, “Right now, with those reser-

Regional Tourism spending

Following two down years in 2020 and 2021, tourism figures in the Berkshires rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

2022

Expenditures: $640.8 million

Employment (in thousands): 4.4

Payroll: $138.7 million

State Tax receipts: $36.4 million

Local tax receipts: $22.1 million

2019

Expenditures: $520.8 million

Employment (in thousands): 4.3

Payroll: $138.7 million

State tax receipts: $27.0 million

Local tax receipts: $15.5 million

*Source: Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism

vations, we are looking at a strong September-October.”

An exhibit based on Tony Sarq’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon design at the museum has already attracted media attention.

“Hopefully, it will spur some more interest and visitation as well,” Hotchkiss said. People tend to see the Berkshires “as an area with so much natural beauty, and

then the cultural richness of a big city,” she said, especially with more venues open beyond the summer season. “Regardless of the weather, they are going to be able to find wonderful things to do,” she said.

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown is also hoping to add to what’s already been a good year.

“I can tell you is we have had a very strong summer; our attendance has been very positive, through June, July and August,” said Victoria Saltzman, The Clark’s director of communications.

The current Edvard Munch exhibit “will continue through mid-October, she said, “and we have seen really strong attendance, particularly connected to that exhibition. So we have high hopes the fall attendance will follow the pattern we’ve built this summer. I can say that July and August were the strongest months that we’ve had since pre-COVID.”

“Are we back to normal yet?” Saltzman said. “Who knows what normal is anymore. We’re not back completely to the numbers pre-COVID, but we saw significant forward momentum this summer, which gives us a lot of hope for next year and moving forward.

“Summer remains the busiest season, but we see that also with the shoulder seasons,” she said. “What we definitely had pre-COVID was that those seasons were getting stronger and stronger ... We are hoping that we’re going to return to that pattern.

“This coming autumn will really tell the story of how far along we are in regaining the full audience base.”

Land sales pave way for new dealerships

Demolition set to begin this fall, followed by spring construction

By C larenCe Fanto

LENOX — Following a nearly $2 million land purchase, the McGee Automotive Family is poised to begin work on a new home for Berkshire BMW, Audi and VW dealerships on Pittsfield Road (Route 7/20).

The process will start with razing of a half-dozen structures on several parcels at the intersection with New Lenox Road, including the former Different Drummers Kitchen store, which closed last month.

Demolition should begin within 60 days, Farshad Pourmousa, vice president of operations for the company, based in Hanover, said in early September, Construction is expected to begin next spring on the $14 million project, a yearlong buildout with a completion date likely in early 2025, he said.

Company owner Rob McGee has described the new facility as “a boutique-type store,” which will replace the current dealership on Merrill Road in Pittsfield. “We sell 50 to 60 cars a month and about half of them will be delivered to the buyers at their homes since the business has changed so much since the pandemic, especially for upscale models,” he said.

The remaining roadblocks were cleared for the dealerships on the 4-acre site when the Lenox Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission approved the project earlier

this year.

Once completed, McGee Automotive is expected to employ 30 to 40 full-timers in Lenox.

Already under construction on the Lenox “half auto mile” is the new Berkshire Mazda dealership, down the road just north of Holmes Road. It’s relocating from East Street in Pittsfield.

McGee won unanimous zoning board approval in April after MassDOT ordered a reduction of Pittsfield Road entrances and exits from two, as originally planned, to one curb cut for a single widened access driveway accessing the two adjacent dealership buildings.

The existing left-turn lane for southbound Pittsfield Road traffic onto New Lenox Road

will be maintained. Motorists can enter the access drive from the Pittsfield Road (Route 7/20) left-turn lane. They can depart, making either right or left turns onto the state highway.

According to documents at the Berkshire Middle Registry of Deeds in Pittsfield, McGee Automotive paid $1,910,000 to the property owners. McGee’s local company, 600 Merrill Road LLC, represented by attorney Jeffrey Lynch of Lenox, also paid $110,000 in back taxes owned to the town of Lenox on the Flynn family properties, per documents at Town Hall.

The Different Drummers Kitchen site at 374 Pittsfield Road fetched the highest price, $850,000. Following a closing

sale last month, remaining inventory was relocated to the company’s existing store at Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, N.Y., just west of Albany.

Two Flynn family properties at 384 and 388 Pittsfield Road were sold for a combined $685,000, while a residence at 11 New Lenox Road owned by Storan Inc., operator of the nearby Luau Hale restaurant, went for $375,000.

The transactions were brokered by Realtor Peter R. West, a partner at Bishop West Real Estate based on Park Street in Adams. He pointed out that even though the properties were zoned commercial — the Flynns had operated a tree service company years ago — it took

two years from start to finish to complete all the transactions because of zoning and environmental issues, as well as the necessary traffic study approval by the state Department of Transportation for the dealership.

He noted that the BMW management originally turned down the location because it was within two miles of a mobile home community, contrary to the company’s site selection requirements. But after Audi management approved it, BMW shifted gears.

“All of a sudden they became interested in it,” West recalled, “and that’s when it evolved into a ‘big three’ dealership,” including VW, which is partially owned by Porsche.

Another factor in the delay: Because McGee Automotive is a franchise-holder, it had to gain approval for the design from specific architects approved by the manufacturers, West pointed out.

Bishop West Real Estate was assigned to the project in January 2021; two previous Pittsfield sites considered but then rejected were on Dan Fox Drive (zoning issues) and a 40-acre parcel near BJ’s Wholesale Club on Hubbard Avenue (environmental hurdles).

“The third time was the charm and we were able to put it all together,” said West. “The big question is, what took so long, but there was a lot to this.”

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Dan Kinney, Aidan Gilligan, Dan Werme, Gregg Levante, Deb Oakliff, Heather Piteo

IMAGE PROVIDED BY MCGEE AUTOMOTIVE FAMILY

An artist’s rendering shows the separate building that would house the Audi/VW dealership at the corner of Pittsfield and New Lenox roads in Lenox.

An icon goes on the market

Gorham & Norton up for sale

By H eat H er Bellow

GREAT BARRINGTON — John and Diane Tracy are asked the same questions, again and again.

“Are you closing?” or, “Are you going out of business?”

The answer is a big “no.” They are simply trying to sell the business that opened in the Marble Block building in 1911, and has been in their family since the 1920s.

But the two “For Lease” signs in the windows of Gorham & Norton, their Main Street grocery, have prompted some worry.

Worry that this small grocer and sandwich shop will disappear. That what is a long-pumping heart valve downtown will up and vanish. Gone, the iconic neon “Package Store” sign installed in the years after prohibition, and when liquor sold near a church had to be hidden in a “package.”

No — none of the above. The couple have run it for four decades, and they will will run it until they find a new owner, John Tracy said in an inter-

A

view along with the building’s new owner, Craig Barnum.

None of the Tracy’s three grown children wants to take it on. The couple, he added, are “ready to relax a little bit.”

They also want to spend more time with their five grandchildren. Their daughter just had twins, Diane Tracy said, trying to curb her exaltations of grandmotherly love.

“I know they’re ours,” she said sheepishly of the twins and how they interact with each other. “But they are really sweet.”

The same could be said about the business. John Tracy’s grandfather Charles “Charlie” Norton was working as a pharmacist across Main Street when William “Bill” Gorham asked him to partner with him at Gorham & Norton, Groceries & Provisions. That was in the 1920s.

But the business itself was founded in 1874, according to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and “is the oldest firm still in business on Main Street.”

The building went up in 1902, made of “rough ashler Marble block,” says a commission document. The store opened in the current location in 1911.

Then came the war. John’s father, Joseph “Murray” Tracy, a

schoolteacher, flew “PBY” cargo planes during World War II. He safely returned to teaching, then decided to run the store.

Enter a young John Tracy, having just graduated from college. It was 1978 and the store was up for sale. Two years later he asked his parents if he could try to run the shop for a year to see if he wanted to continue.

“It worked,” he said.

More than 40 years later, still living in the house that had belonged to his grandparents, he is ready to retire. But he wants to see the business continue and possibly tweaked in sensitive ways — by adding some seating, for example, for customers.

Craig Barnum, the new owner of the block, says he wants this “extraordinary, unique” business to keep going and he’s willing to collaborate with new owners to make it happen. He wants to be flexible with potential buyers on costs, timing and other things, given the history and the importance of this “downtown staple.”

Barnum bought the building in May. It has nine apartments and six retail spaces. The building may grow more lively — plans are underway for a bar in the alley space across from Ru-

career in awards come to an end

Peter Jones ends nearly 50-year run in the trophy business

By tony DoBrowolski

PITTSFIELD — Peter Jones has spent almost 50 years creating mementos to commemorate other people’s athletic accomplishments.

Someone else will have to perform that task now.

Jones, 89, is closing Jones Trophies on Melville Street, which has been located on that city thoroughfare since 1987.

Along with his age, Jones cited an unexpected calamity that occurred at his shop around Christmas time last year in his decision to close up shop.

During a cold snap, pipes burst in an upstairs apartment, causing water to cascade into his street-level store, which still bears the scars of that incident. He rents his space from Mill Town Capital, which owns the building.

“I was inundated with water,” Jones said. “It took over a month to dry the place out, six weeks or so, the end of February. I continued, but I lost a computer and an engraving machine. I just decided I didn’t want to put up with the aggravation any longer.

“Besides, I’m getting long in years,” he said.

Jones has been winding down the business over the last few months.

“Hopefully, by the end of September I’ll be out of here totally,” he said during an interview earlier last month. “I don’t take any customers at all unless it’s something that I can do in half and hour or something. I’ve closed my credit card machine. I sent it back.”

Jones, who also taught in the Pittsfield Public Schools for 30 years until retiring in 1996 — “I didn’t leave my day job,” he said — began his career in the trophy business

working out of his house in the mid-1970s. He responded to a newspaper advertisement from a trophy company in the Pioneer Valley that was looking for a salesman.

“I was just looking for money to buy groceries,” he said.

“I did pretty well with it,” he said. “But the last four or five years I wasn’t making enough money; they were. So I just decided that I’d start out on my own.”

Jones bought an engraver and started making trophies on his kitchen table. He then moved his side job into the garage, which is where the business stayed until 1987 when he unintentionally got caught up in local politics. It started when a friend asked Jones if he would put a campaign sign for a mayoral candidate on his lawn.

“I didn’t know him at all,” Jones said, referring to the candidate. “But I said sure.

Three days later I had a letter from [a city official] telling me I couldn’t run that kind of business out of my house.” Jones chuckles.

“So, I learned a political lesson,” he said. “I went in to talk to him and he said, ‘Just get a telephone some-

HEATHER BELLOW Diane and John Tracy are looking to sell Gorham & Norton on Main Street in Great Barrington. The store, which has been in the family since the 1920s, will remain

biner’s, if permits can be had by that future tenant.

He too has been on the receiving end of alarm over the fate of the store.

“It was, ‘Oh my god what is happening?’” Barnum said.

Downtown restaurant owners also might have had that reaction.

“They come in when they forgot to order something,” John said of last minute purchases of lemons, limes and other staples.

Regarding the sale price of

the business, John Tracy says he has “a number in mind” but doesn’t want it published in the news media.

Apart from spending time with the grandchildren, one might soon see more of him on the golf course at Wyantenuck Country Club. He’s been playing there for more than 50 years. Barnum says Tracy has a reputation for talent on the greens. Tracy remains silent, and Barnum says, “He’s humble.”

Selke Cos. sold; close distribution center

BEN GARVER

place else and continue doing what you’re doing.’ But my wife suggested at the time that it might be a good idea if I got out of there.”

That’s when Jones rented his first store on Melville Street, in a building that no longer exists.

“Business tripled in a year just from the exposure of being there,” he said.

Besides the scars left behind by last year’s flood, his store currently contains the remainders of his long career: a smattering of athletic trophies for various sports, and many items of clothing that are scattered throughout the space.

“I’m going to leave it here,” Jones said, referring to his remaining inventory.

“I’m going to have a tag sale of some kind and people can come in and buy whatever they want.”

He doesn’t have extravagant retirement plans.

“I’ll probably play golf,” he said. “And probably just walk and get up in the morning and do what I please.

“I will miss it,” he added. “It was always a place to come.”

By H eat H er Bellow

PITTSFIELD — Dozens of local employees were reportedly laid off recently after online area rug e-tailer Rugs USA acquired the Pittsfield-based Annie Selke Cos. and its three brands.

The Selke Cos., which runs brands Annie Selke, Pine Cone Hill and Dash & Albert, and its CEO Lori King declined to comment on the sale when contacted by The Berkshire Eagle in August before the transaction was made public.

King, who will continue as the company’s CEO, confirmed the sale to RugNews.com four days after The Eagle published a story on the sale. Company founder Annie Selke will remain with the firm as chief vision officer. The Selke Cos. provide rugs, bedding and other home goods through their three brands.

“Joining the Rugs USA platform propels the Annie Selke brands into the future and continues to accelerate the best-in-class customer experience — all while continuing the unique product design that customers know and love, which will go-to-market as they do today under the Annie Selke, Pine Cone Hill and Dash & Albert brands,” King told RugNews.com.

The Selke Cos. founded in 1994, have closed their distribution center in Pittsfield, but will con-

tinue to operate the rest of their business from their headquarters in the Berkshires, King told RugNews.com. Rugs USA is a discount retailer of rugs, furniture and other home decor. The company’s headquarters and warehouse is located in Cranbury, N.J.

Rugs USA, founded in 1998 by Koorosh Yaraghi, received an investment by private equity player Francisco Partners in late 2021, according to RugNews.com. Francisco Partners acquired its stake in the company from private investor Comvest Partners, which sold its majority position to Francisco Partners and retained a minority stake in the business. Comvest acquired its stake in Rugs USA in the spring of 2018.

Sources, who spoke to The Eagle under the condition of anonymity, said the layoffs happened around mid-July and involved the laying off of between 40 and 50 warehouse employees.

Three members of the state’s MassHire Rapid Response Team were called in to help the workers find other jobs and career counseling.

The MassHire website said this is a “federally mandated program through the Workforce Innovation Opportunities Act designed to assist businesses and employees experiencing a layoff or closing.”

open until a new owner is in place.

Peter Jones, the owner of Jones Trophies on Melville Street in Pittsfield, is closing up shop after nearly 50 years — 36 years at that location.

ANNIE SELKE COS.

STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN

Annie Selke Cos., which owns the Pine Cone Hill office and warehouse complex on Peck’s Road in Pittsfield, has been sold to New Jersey-based Rugs USA. The company closed its distribution center in the Berkshires, but will maintain its headquarters in Pittsfield.

Real estate transactions

Berkshire County Real Estate Transactions for July 31 to Sept. 1

ADAMS

Christine A. Schrade sold property at 3 Country Club Ave. Extension, Adams, to Karley E. Morin, $235,000.

17 Depot Street Realty LLC sold property at 17 Depot St., Adams, to Four Iron LLC, $300,000.

Butler Wholesale LTD sold property at 0 and 37 Pleasant St., Adams, to Six Iron LLC, $475,000.

Carl Szufnarowski sold property at 4-10 Lehs Lane, Adams, to Thomas C. Abate, $82,500.

Theresa M. O’Bryant sold property at 17

Randall St., Adams, to Eric Ruttenberg and Celine Mina, $229,000.

Gary A. and Sharyn L. Alibozek sold property at 115 Commercial St., Adams, to Jared and Dolores Porter, $180,000.

Leon and Robalino LLC sold property at 76 Friend St., Adams, to Frank Casey, $73,000.

Nancy Carlson sold property at 16 Simon Ave., Adams, to Elizabeth A. Provost, $275,000.

Matthew A. and Brandy M. Ziter sold property at 27 Murray St., Adams, to Jeffrey Mazza and Angie Maroney, $227,000.

Viet Nam Pham and Kim Do sold property at 42 Burt St., Adams, to David Schlesinger, $284,000.

Marcia A. Lobik, Karen M. Campagna and David E. Gajda, trustees of the Gajda Family Irrevocable Trust, sold property at 45 Randall St., Adams, to Peter J. Wagner and Lisa A. Mendel, $275,000.

Kaitlyn A. Moresi sold property at 12 Beech St., Adams, to Shawn, Sandra and Joseph Dipietro Jr., $250,000.

Maple Grove Properties LLC sold property at 5 Baskin Lane, Adams, to Ashton Goyette and Trevor L. Hathaway, $156,500.

Tracy L. Saimbert sold property at 9 Marshall Ave., Adams, to Brandy M. and Matthew A. Ziter, $305,000.

Jacob R. and Amanda M. Dabrowski sold property at 28 West St., Adams, to Alice Turner, $249,900.

PHH Mortgage Corporation sold property at 4 Harding Ave., Adams, to Michele Purcell, $150,000.

ALFORD

James R. Baker sold property at 0 East Alford Road and 293 East Alford Road, Alford, to Nina M. Gallant, $1,845,000.

R. Geoffrey Donelan, trustee of 185 East Road Nominee Trust, sold property at 185 East Road, Alford, to Andrew Noble Sodroski & Carolyn Sue Hammer, $1,550,000.

BECKET

Jeanne Lieb sold property at Fred Snow Road, Becket, to Christopher Joseph and Mallory DiMarco, $24,000.

Gleb V. and Ann V. Jerebtsov sold property at 88 King Arthur Drive and King Arthur Drive, Becket, to Eduardo Jose Ortiz Rotundo and Mairy Eugenia Osuna de Ortiz, $244,000.

Stephen Moser and Robert A. DeLuca sold property at Fawn Hollow Close, Becket, to Lukas Behrndt, $10,000.

Mark J. Weisman, Randy K. Lubin and David A. Sobotka sold property at 24 Maid Marian Lane, Becket, to Jonathan C. Lemme and Elizabeth Hicks, $6,000.

Beth Sherman sold property at County Road, Becket, to Melinda Riiska and Travia Walters, $9,500.

Ian N. Curtiss sold property at 1242 Main St., Becket, to Robert N. Lowell, trustee, 1242 Main Street Realty Trust, $230,000.

Diane R. Brissette, trustee, Philip A. Wheeler & Carol R. Wheeler Joint RVT, sold property at 227 King Richard Drive, Becket, to Arthur R. Sorel, $352,000.

William S. Swindlehurst, personal rep. of the Estate of Madeleine Baum Swindlehurst, and Madeleine Baum, William S., Jack H. and James M. Swindlehurst sold property at 2601 Main St., Becket, to Christopher E. Swindlehurst, $99,750.

Neal and Gladys Miller Rosenstein, trustees, Perry Rosenstein Intervivos Trust, sold property at Yokum Pond Road, Becket, to Neal Rosenstein, $30,000.

219WMR LLC sold property at 355 Pill Drive, Becket, to Shannon L. Donnelly, $389,900.

Kathryn M. and Thomas C. Strohmenger, trustees, Kathryn M. Strohmenger LT, sold property at 303 Old Pond Road, Becket, to Edward and Erin Kowalczyk, $475,000.

Raymond C. and Maria Bordwell sold property at 97 Stoney Brook Road, Becket, to HLP Realty Holdings LLC, $250,000.

Donald T. and Ann T. Tuleja sold property at 162 Mystic Isle Way, Becket, to Yaw A. and Nicole S. Anim, $675,000.

Charles I. Rich sold property at Moburg Road, Becket, to Joshua Geisler, $10,500.

CHESHIRE

Richard C. Belanger, personal rep. of Mark William Belanger, sold property at 511 Stafford Hill Road, Cheshire, to Sean P. McNeice, $235,000.

E. Richard Scholz, trustee of the Scholz Trust of 2019, sold property at 790 Stafford Hill Road, Cheshire, to Christopher M. Nobrega, $264,000.

James J. Tworig sold property at 105 Depot St., Cheshire, to Derek and Jessica L. Furrow, $260,000.

Andress B. Hoag Jr. and Katherine A. Hoag sold property at 205 Lakeshore Drive, Cheshire, to David B. and Brandi L. Dahari, $303,000.

Anna L. Farnam and Helen Dargie sold property at 37 Flaherty Road, Cheshire, to Louise E. Rose, $35,000.

Loretta M. Mach, trustee of the Daniel J. Pupo Irrevocable Living Trust, sold property at 400 Ingalls Road, Cheshire, to Richard D. and Misty L. Kardasen, $450,000.

Joshua E. Biggart sold property at 185 School St., Cheshire, to Amanda Ledaire and William Edward McGovern Jr., $315,000.

CLARKSBURG

Heather Lynn and John C. Tietgens Jr. sold property at Middle Road, Clarksburg, to Timothy Sherman, $350,000.

DALTON

Richard F. and Judith M. Ladd sold property at 17 First St., Dalton, to Caitlin Tatro, $175,000.

Bespoke Capital LLC sold property at 137 Ashuelot St., Dalton, to Andrew S. Cheng and Alexis A. Montgomery, $289,000.

Dion Dalton LLC sold property at 1188 North St., Dalton, to MB Hauling LLC, $500,000.

Nicholas D. Miller, trustee, Alyce J. Salois RVT, sold property at 48 Deming St., Dalton, to Joseph and Jodi Hassoun, $271,000.

Kathleen P. Ochs sold property at 49 East Housatonic St., Dalton, to Alper Kuruca, $90,000.

Robert T. Murray sold property at 121-123 Warren Ave., Dalton, to David and Lizbeth Gargan, $186,060.

William E. Thompson, trustee, Thompson

FNT, sold property at 675-677 Main St., Dalton, to Matthew R. George, $125,000. David Schottenfeld sold property at 25 River Birch Lane, Dalton, to Jeannette Rutherford, $800,000.

Gordon Carr sold property at 110 Carson Ave., Dalton, to Gina M. Dario, $388,000.

Egremont

Cynthia A. Race sold property at 24 Egremont Heights, Egremont, to Horst Schenk, $542,500.

Sharon La Branche, trustee of Anthony and Sharon LaBranche Family Trust, sold property at 26 Shun Toll Road, Egremont, to Brendan James Blagbrough and Mia Johanna Hindrell, $1,100,000.

Jonathan Gross, trustee of Charlotte Gross

Nominee Realty Trust, sold property at 0 Mountain View Road, Egremont, to Angela Hall and Patrick Hickey, $180,000.

Molasses Hill Holdings LLC sold property at 264 Hillsdale Road, Egremont, to She’s Smiling LLC, $190,000.

Ingrid Borwick & John Borwick sold property at 22 Warner Road, Egremont, to Peter C. Papamichael & Andrea E.M. Miller, $1,550,000.

Daniel A. Levinson sold property at 104 Mount Washington Road, Egremont, to Allison B. Crane, $560,000.

FLORIDA

Daniel M. and Darrell R. Clark sold property at 5 Oleson Road, Florida, to Richard Longland and Terry Liu, $55,000.

Great Barrington

Heidi M. Rose sold property at 34 Bridge St., Unit 305, Residences at Powerhouse Square I Condominium, Great Barrington, to Suzanne Smith, $410,000.

Viola Patricia Keefner sold property at 85 Lake Buel Road, Great Barrington, to Guy R. Lento and Colleen Y. Geoffray-Lento, trustees of Lento Family Trust, $420,000.

Paul A. Faggioni Jr. and Cindy L. Faggioni sold property at 22 High St., Great Barrington, to Kirsten Elizabeth Cole, $420,000.

Marion G.H. Gilliam sold property at 206 Blue Hill Road, Great Barrington, to

Stacy Allegrone-Lewis & Joseph Lewis, $1,500,000.

Thomas W. McNamara, Kathy A. McNamara and Mary E. McNamara sold property at 359 State Road, Great Barrington, to James Francis Noonan, $285,000.

Marie Elizabeth Saunders, trustee of Aston Magna Nominee Trust, sold property at 24 and 30 Berkshire Heights Road, Great Barrington, to John F. Baughman and Caroline A. Baughman, $5,100,000.

Christopher Hassett and Pamela Jean Hassett sold property at 30 Pine St., Great Barrington, to Scott Dionne and Peishan Shieh, trustees of Dionne Shieh Family Trust, $395,000.

Colleen Fernbacher sold property at 1 Crosby St., Great Barrington, to Jones Brokaw, $327,500.

Karen Drucker, trustee of Karen Drucker Revocable Trust, sold property at 15 Highland Drive Great Barrington, to Peter Drucker, Richard Drucker & Debra Drucker, $720,000.

Estate of Martha J. Shaw sold property at 9 Forest Row, Great Barrington, to William S. Leicht, $276,000.

Peter J. Delgrande, trustee of 1 River Street Realty Trust, sold property at 425 Park St. and River Street, Great Barrington, to 274GP LLC, $352,000.

Mary T. Auger sold property at 30 Silver St., Great Barrington, to Alex J. Cotton & Rachael L. Thatcher, $450,000.

Lenox Landings Barrington Brook Holdings LLC sold property at 13 Thrushwood Lane, Great Barrington, to Richard Mikita & Sharon Shaloo, $921,563.80.

HANCOCK

Alexander and Holly C. Pedicone sold property at 37 Corey Road, Unit 634, Hancock, to David Mendelsohn, $129,900.

Lynn A. Mora sold property at 139 Birch Grove Road, Hancock, to Brian L. and Amber L. DiNicola, $430,000.

Jeremiah Wright sold property at 140 Main St., Hancock, to Timothy D. and Margaret M. Goss, $165,000.

Marlaina Haigh Cataldi sold property at Corey Road, Hancock, to Robert C and Anne M. Jordan, $117,500.

Valerie E. and Joseph Fox sold property at 2325 Hancock Road, Hancock, to Karin Ludwig and Bernhard Rohrbacher, $735,000.

HINSDALE

Susan M. and Robin L. Korte sold property at Bonnie Drive, Hinsdale, to Paula Walczyk, $54,500.

Michael G. George sold property at 16 Shore Drive, Hinsdale, to A.C. Enterprises LLC, $555,000.

Richard D. and Misty L. Kardasen sold property at 157 South Shore Road, Hinsdale, to Chandravathi and Srinivas Loke, $639,900.

Thomas D. Carkhuff sold property at 280 Maple St., Hinsdale, to Wynter R. Bachetti and Kathyann Pellegrini, $336,000.

LANESBOROUGH

David and Erin Dawson sold property at 48 Greylock Estates Road, Lanesborough, to Jacob Stephen Mullen, $399,000.

Lance M. Beauchamp and Jennifer S. Carr sold property at 79 Meadow Lane, Lanesborough, to HLP Realty Holdings LLC, $145,000.

413 Development LLC sold property at 11 Bangor St., Lanesborough, to Jeffrey A. and Michele Diane Ducharme, $435,000.

Debra A. Carlson-Farrell sold property at 71 Miner Road, Lanesborough, to Jacob Belanger, $148,000.

Gerard W. and Teresa A. Christopher sold property at 57 Old State Road, Lanesborough, to Adam T. Bradley and Rhia E. Morrissette, $415,000.

Kenneth N. and Kenneth P. Ferris, co-trustees of the Ferris RT, sold property at 757 South Main St., Lanesborough, to Sadhvi and Mukul Verma, $495,000.

Paul E. Snow sold property at 29 Grove St., Lanesborough, to Bonnie M. McCabe, $380,000.

David J. Plaza and Jennifer A. Ganem, trustees of the Gamen Plaza RVT, and David J. Plaza, trustee of the Plaza FT, sold property at 0 Ore Bed Road, Lanesborough, to Kevin Ricci and Carrie Roy, $70,000.

LEE Thomas E. Touponce, trustee AJT RT, sold property at 190 Housatonic St., Lee, to Joshua Herlihy, $430,000.

Craig Marone sold property at 320 Laurel St., Lee, to Brendan and Carrie Swift Heck, $370,000.

Alice Nathan, trustee, Amended & Restated Irving Marks 2000 LT, sold property at 110 Fox Run, Lee, to Ellen Franco, $744,000.

Beatrice Susan Dagwell sold property at 22 High St., Lee, to Aaron James Biasin, $340,000.

Donna Marie Long sold property at 135 Church St., Lee, to Perla S. Mendoza and Eladio Mendoza Hernandez, $363,000.

David J. and Amy F. Foote sold property at 405 Fairview St., Lee, to Kirstin Leigh Daniel, $321,000.

Steven Lee and Carolyn Cryer sold property at 155 Willow St., Lee, to Anneliese Merkl McCann, $399,000.

Lisa M. Wills and Joseph R. Dupont sold property at 395 Fairview St., Lee, to Zon Weng Lai, $260,000.

Regina M. Campbell, trustee, 210 Summer Street RT, sold property at 210 Summer St., Lee, to Zachary F. Gagnon, $375,000.

Geraldine R. Lalli sold property at 60 Cliffwood St., Lee, to Stephen and Emily Andenmatten, $389,000.

LENOX

Jules W. Seltzer and Anne E. Goodchild sold property at 8-A Coldbrooke South Drive, Lenox, to Jeffrey Chandler and Carol Anne Doughty, $727,000.

Jeita LLC sold property at 56 Housatonic St., Lenox, to Michael P. Joseph and Ezili C. Mayo-Joseph, $375,000.

Mary Anne Teperson sold property at 2 Sedgwick Lane, Lenox, to Rohn S. Friedman and Barbara H. Byse, $1,400,000.

Amber M. Parisi sold property at 92 Hubbard St., Lenox, to Christopher and Jesse Tyler, $535,000.

Kerri A. White sold property at 260 Pittsfield Road, Unit A11, Lenox, to Alena Buka, $175,000.

Elisa Simon and Julie Samuels, trustees, Cecily Silberman RVT, sold property at 181 Old Stockbridge Road, Lenox, to Steven H. Berez, trustee, Pittsburgh Lenox NRT, $1,013,442.

Steven M. Seltzer sold property at 390 Housatonic St., Lenox, to Sheli Ronnen, $589,000.

Joseph Hyk sold property at 259 Housatonic St., Lenox, to 259 Housatonic LLC, $290,000.

Nicole Irene Webster, personal rep. of the Estate of Elizabeth A. Webster, sold property at 2 Meadow Lane, Lenox, to Mark J. and Lisa B. Sterling, $346,500.

Richard D. and Mary E. Smith sold property at 260 Pittsfield Road, Lenox, to Melody Mason, $230,000.

Alexander S. Kloman and Danielle A. Dyer sold property at 100 & 120 Old Stockbridge Road, Lenox, to 100 Old Stockbridge Road LLC, $1,300,000.

Adam and Alexandria Ofer sold property at 49 Sargent Brook Road, Lenox, to Lakewood Property Solutions LLC, $989,900.

Michele R. Acor, personal rep. of the Estate of Joseph P. Mickowitz, sold property at 45 Brown St., Lenox, to Irina B. Pritchard, $350,000.

MONTEREY

John Kirkpatrick Garber and Constance Ann Garber sold property at 10 Buckingham Lane, Monterey, to Shay Alster and Cristina Shapiro-Alster and Dror Price and Irit Price, $900,000.

Susan N. Delamater, trustee of Kickery Family Trust, sold property at 2 Pine St., Monterey, to Nikki Kickery, $55,000.

Mount Washington

Elizabeth M. Laite sold property at 481 East St., Mount Washington, to Gail E. Garrett, trustee, Plantain Pond Road Nominee Trust, $297,500.

David Velsmid and Rebecca Ben-Ezra, trustees of Velsmid Family Trust; John Velsmid and David Velsmid, sold property at 728 East St., Mount Washington, to Ian O. Collins and Malaika N. Benjamin, $350,000.

NEW MARLBOROUGH

Iwan Baan sold property at 1633 Mill River Great Barrington Road, New Marlborough, to Robert Yaffe, $930,000.

Franklin Henry Betry, trustee of Ingrid

Birgitta Bone Living Trust, sold property at 0 Route 57, New Marlborough, to Nahum Burstein and Cheryl H. Burstein, $10,000.

Christopher L. Sultan sold property at 128 Konkapot Road, New Marlborough, to Jeffrey Koenig and Jennifer Koenig, $1,300,000.

Lisa Anker sold property at 135 Knight Road, New Marlborough, to Christopher Lance Sultan, $640,000.

John H. Smith & Mildred M. Smith sold property at 68 Amory Lane, New Marlbor-

ough, to Timothy J. Hanford & Kathryn G. Hanford, $1,422,500.

NORTH ADAMS

V. Peter and Dawn A. Vadnais, trustees of Evolution NT, sold property at 35 Jackson St., North Adams, to Hannah Levi, $199,000.

Ellen P. Barber sold property at 485 Church St., North Adams, to Jennifer W. Falk, $269,000.

Francis B. and Joyce M. Abuisi sold property at 17 North Church St., Unit 5, North Adams, to Nicolas P. and Erin M. Lenski, $90,000.

Moresi Commercial Investments LLC sold property at 14-16 Blackinton St., North Adams, to Chen Li, $235,000.

Susan Forrest Castle sold property at 14 Holden St., North Adams, to Kenneth J. and Kolin M. Sullivan-Bol, $415,000.

Robert Rotondi sold property at 11-13 Wesleyan St., North Adams, to Madesco Group LLC, $20,000.

Grange Hall Realty LLC sold property at 459-461 West Main St., North Adams, to Phylandus Doughty, $160,000.

Brent E. Wiencek, personal rep. of Charlene M. Wiencek, sold property at 24 Citation Ave. and Citation Avenue, North Adams, to Brian J. Rachmaciej, $450,000.

Victoria S. West sold property at 747 East Main St., North Adams, to Allen Arnold, $251,100.

John H. Seto sold property at 169 State St., North Adams, to Charity Kwartengmaah and Faustina Andoh Kwofie, $169,900.

Adam C. Jalalian sold property at 449½ East Main St., North Adams, to Justin Hebler and Christine Litano, $170,000. Paul J. and Susan Modena sold property at 452 Pattison Road, North Adams, to Sean J. and Wendy J. Kelly, $415,000.

CFI Propco 2 LLC sold property at Hodges Cross Road, North Adams, to Spot on Storage NA LLC, $300,000.

David Coury sold property at 62 Tyler St., North Adams, to Rebecca J. Goldbach and Alishia D. Alther, $217,250.

James Pedro sold property at 21-23 Montgomery St., North Adams, to Vikrant V. Kudesia and Anne C. A. Mercurio, $20,000.

William D. Archer and Arthur L. Debow sold property at 26-28 Chase Ave., North Adams, to Viet Nam Pham and Kim Do, $317,000.

Roy P. and Glen F. Soucie sold property at 177 Kemp Ave., North Adams, to Adam B. Howland, $135,000.

Sandra S. Evans sold property at 27 Versailles Ave., North Adams, to Ann Lundhild, $250,000.

James R. Shepard sold property at 751 Mohawk Trail, Unit 1A, North Adams, to Peter Glazer and Amy Lindsey, $245,000. Belvedere Development Co. LLC sold property at 47 Washington Ave., North Adams, to P5 Property Management LLC and Joshua Poitras, 245,000. Rose Richard, Salvatore Bua and Madeline Andrews sold property at 382 Eagle St., North Adams, to Michael K. Snyder, $284,000.

Ralph A. Ballou sold property at 38 High St., North Adams, to David D. Dennison, $300,000.

Ryley and Heidi Hartzell Gaudreau sold property at 240 Daniels Road, North Adams, to Lucas and Mollie Markland, $405,000.

Caleb Y. Christopher sold property at 34 Charles St., North Adams, to Guy R. Cariddi, $25,000.

Bonnie Lynn Perry sold property at 49 A St., North Adams, to Jayne Bergeron, $196,000.

Lori M. Spencer, personal rep. of Emily Anne Breen, sold property at 549 Church St., North Adams, to Rebekah S. Jorjorian and Jason Gazda, $179,000.

OTIS

Ronald J. Mack sold property at 57 Telephone Road, Otis, to Ugur M. Erdem and Karin Schon, $405,000.

Peter A. Dolch sold property at 75 Old Quarry Road, Otis, to Stephen Costello and James Arguin, $564,000.

Jason Convertito and Heather Robinson sold property at 34 Soucie Lane, Otis, to Judy Bailey, $265,000.

Kenneth L. and Deborah F. Bassett sold property at Stebbins Road, Otis, to Randy S. White, $85,000.

Donald Gordon and Evelyn Mayer Fulton, trustees, Donald Gordon Fulton and Evelyn Mayer Fulton Joint Living Trust, sold property at 306 & 158 Sequena Drive, Otis, to REAL ESTATE,

Bascom Lodge

There are about 12 years remaining on the 25-year lease with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the couple’s decision to retire calls into question what the immediate and long-term future of Bascom Lodge will be after it closes for the season on Oct. 28.

“DCR is working with the Bascom Lodge Group to determine their options under the lease, which include transferring the lease, working with a new partner, or potentially ending the lease,” a spokesperson for the DCR said to The Berkshire Eagle in an emailed statement. “The group has fulfilled their financial obligation towards the lease investment, despite the 12 years left on the lease.”

Peter Dudek, John Dudek’s older brother, hopes he can continue running the lodge for the life of the lease, and hopes to find one or more partners to do so. He has been less active in running the lodge in recent years, although he was active in its renovation and still has a hand in cultural programming.

In May, John Dudek and Brad Parsons decided this would be their last season, partly due to age-related health issues. The post-pandemic labor shortage also took its toll, leaving the lodge running with a skeleton crew of five, rather than an ideal staff of eight to 10. There have also been technological issues to contend with.

The lodge has a kitchen, dining room, lobby and enclosed porch as well as guest rooms with overnight accommodations for up to 34 guests. It offers space for weddings and events.

CHALLENGES THIS SEASON

The staffing shortage since the pandemic has left them “worn out,” as Parsons put it.

“There’s literally one person for each job,” Dudek told The Eagle. He’s ended up making beds up, cleaning rooms, as well as cooking dinners. But ongoing issues with the lodge’s phone lines have further mired operations.

“It is an absolute nightmare,” he said.

The lodge typically has two phone lines and Wi-Fi. This year service has been limited to one phone line with no Wi-Fi, despite Dudek’s eight calls to the lodge’s phone and internet service carrier, Verizon, and five service calls.

That means there is no computerized point-of-service system available to record food sales in the dining room. It also means that the person running the gift shop (who also mans the lobby, answers the phone and handles email inquiries), has to run back and forth in order to run credit card transactions.

“While I am unable to comment specifically about the situation because this involves private customer information, I can confirm that Verizon has both the technical capabilities and the will to provide customers with phone and internet service in this area to meet customer needs,” Andrew Testa, head of communications, Atlantic North Market for Verizon, wrote The Eagle in an email Wednesday. “Any story that would portray that differently would be false.”

IT STARTED OVER DINNER

In the fall of 2008, Peter Dudek, noticed a legal advertisement in The Eagle for historic curatorship of Bascom Lodge. He brought the paper to a family Thanksgiving dinner and showed it to Brad Parsons and John Dudek.

By that point, John Dudek had worked at restaurants in New York City and Parsons had worked as a designer of home textile furnishings. The two had met as students at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. They had moved to their Cummington property and hoped to open a restaurant together in Pittsfield, when Pittsfield appeared to be on the edge of a renaissance. That plan fell through.

Peter Dudek and John Dudek, who had grown up in the shadow of Mount Greylock, with Parsons then formed

Bascom Lodge Group LLC to launch a proposal for a 25-year lease of the historic curatorship of the lodge, which was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. They won.

Peter said the plan was for John to be chef and manager, for Parsons to design the interior of the lodge, and for Peter to manage cultural programming and to oversee renovations.

FROM

DORMANCY TO RENAISSANCE

In May 2009, Bascom Lodge Group LLC signed a 25-year, rent-free lease that required it to open the lodge that season, restore and invest $1.18 million over the life of the lease. At the time, the lodge had been closed — and gutted — while the roads to the summit were rebuilt.

“So we had two months to get it from a boarded-up building, which had been closed up for two years, into some form [of] functioning,” John Dudek said. “It was still the property of the state. And the state didn’t necessarily have to abide by code for one reason or another. Literally everything from the ground up had to be revamped and brought up to code, including all the plumbing, the gas and the electrical.”

The gas pipes and electrical systems in the kitchen had to be reworked. The lobby had no floor and there was no furniture. The ceilings of the dining room and the lobby were plaster but they covered asbestos insulation. Floors were replaced with maple flooring.

“We scrubbed the lodge down because any wooden building that’s boarded up for two years becomes very moldy very fast,” John Dudek said.

William Morris wallpaper from England was installed in the bedrooms. The lodge now has Stickley furniture that Parsons was able to obtain at discount from Kravet Inc., where he had worked.

While there are some items left on the list of initial asks from the state, including some missing mortar and the replacement of some exterior doors, most of the expectations have been met.

During the time the Bascom Lodge Group has run the lodge, the lodge hasn’t run a profit by design. John Dudek explained that it runs on a break-even model, paying salaries and reinvesting each year. Any profit, he said, would result in additional taxes.

WHAT THEY’LL MISS

Both John Dudek and Brad Parsons said they will miss the people they have met at the lodge, some of whom they count as friends.

John Dudek recalled when Mrs. Saul Love of New Ashford arrived for a tour through the building, pointing out differences and similarities to the look of the lodge from when she and her husband managed it in the late 1930s.

Then they came to the bathroom of the downstairs suite reserved for the proprietors, where the flooring had been replaced with herringbone marble tile in black and white.

“She opens the door to the bath-

said he hopes he can continue running Bascom Lodge for the remaining time on the lease.

room,” John Dudek said. “And she says, ‘Oh my God, you still have my floor.’

“We have a photograph of both of them standing in front of the lodge,” John Dudek said. “She was in a very typical country, cotton dress down to her ankles. And he looked like a mountain man.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Now, John Dudek, who is 67, and Brad Parsons, who is 68, are planning to spend more time in their garden in Cummington.

Peter Dudek, who is 71, has no plans to ramp up his time at Bascom Lodge after John and Parsons leave.

Having been on site more in the earlier years of the lease on renovations and cultural programming, Peter now centers his time at the lodge around weekends. Working as an artist, he does shows in New York City, where he also splits his time.

“And then there’s the monetary aspect,” Peter said. “In theory I was going to collect ‘X’ amount of money in the next 10 years.”

In describing the sort of partners he’d like, Peter said they need to bring money to the table, have experience in hospitality, and be ready to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of managing the lodge.

As he begins to talk with people who might know others interested in partnering, he’s feeling some urgency.

“I really don’t want to see everything that we’ve done — all the maintenance, all the improvements we’ve made — I don’t want to see that loss,” he said. “And so I want to find a partner … to keep things going as soon as possible.”

And if a partner doesn’t materialize?

“Well, who knows?” Peter Dudek said. “I’m looking to find partners. It’s like asking someone running for political office, ‘What are you going to do if you don’t win.’”

An early history of Bascom Lodge

1899: George Bauer, first superintendent of Mount Greylock, builds a wood frame dwelling to provide modest lodging atop the mountain. The “Summit House” sits west of the steel observation tower.

1901: Greylock Commissioners announce they will petition the state for a special appropriation to build a new summit house atop Mount Greylock. Plans call for a two-story stone structure that will be a pavilion and hotel combined with eight bedrooms on the second floor. The first floor will have a large reception area with a huge fireplace, a comfortable dining room and a kitchen. Plans call for it to be made of stone culled from the mountain.

January 1929: Berkshire County Commissioners again discuss petitioning the state for an appropriation for a more permanent Summit House. They plan to petition the state for $10,000, promising $10,000 to be raised in North Berkshire.

Sept. 2, 1929: The wood-frame Summit House is destroyed by fire. Three registers, with the names of 7,009 visitors, are lost in the fire.

Sept. 4, 1929: Sketches for a two-story stone summit house, designed by Pittsfield architect J. McArthur Vance, are considered by county commissioners. The plans are estimated to cost $30,000.

Sept. 25, 1929: State Rep. Ralph E. Otis, of Pittsfield, petitions the House of Representatives for $50,000 to build a new summit house.

Oct. 9, 1929: Berkshire County Selectmens Association endorses transfer of Mount Greylock Reservation into a state park in memory of veterans of World War I, and the Civil and Spanish-American wars. Plans include building a veterans memorial — a tower, some 75 feet high, with a beacon atop it.

January 1930: Gov. Frank Allen recommends a $100,000 project to build a veterans memorial tower on Mount Greylock to the state Legislature. A proposal for $50,000 for a new summit house is also before the state Legislature.

June 1930: Funds for summit house fail in state Legislature.

July 1930: State approves $100,000 for war memorial. Establishes commission. Insurance money collected by the state treasury for the Summit House fire sent to Berkshire County commissioners.

1931: State Legislature petitioned for $50,000 for summit house. Bill is delayed.

1932: $25,000 petition for summit house fails in state Legislature. State offers $6,000 for temporary housing structure. Greylock Commissioners instead intend to build a new Summit House in stages. Mount Greylock Veterans War Memorial Tower is under construction.

Greylock Commission names the summit house “Bascom Lodge” in honor of John Bascom, a professor at Williams College, who had helped create the Greylock Reservation and was a proponent of a permanent lodge atop the state’s highest peak.

July 1933: Mount Greylock Veterans War Memorial Tower is dedicated.

1934: Civilian Conservation Corps. rebuild roads to the summit and ski trails. Work begins on the first wing of Bascom Lodge. The lodge is made from schist and old-growth red spruce harvested from the mountain.

1935: The first part of Bascom Lodge is completed. In November, CCC works on the foundation for the main building.

1936: Work begins on the main building in April.

1937: CCC continues work on Bascom Lodge; widens roads to the summit.

1938: Work on Bascom Lodge is completed. Lodging is now available.

BEN GARVER

Peter Dudek, pictured here in 2010,

STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN

There are 12 years remaining on the 25-year lease with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation for Bascom Lodge. The state-owned property at the highest point in Massachusetts has enjoyed a revitalization following a total gutting and complete restoration.

People in the Berkshires

Berkshire Community College recently added eight new staff members, promoted another staffer, and instituted a title change.

Sheaden Callahan has joined the BCC Success team as Clerk IV. She graduated from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and has resided in the area since then. She previously serves as a registration and reception assistant for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at BCC.

Caitlin Davis has been named the assistant to the vice president of institutional advancement. A resident of North Adams, Davis brings previous executive assistant experience in various non-profits across Massachusetts, including work at the Trustees of Reservations and the Center for EcoTechnology.

Eleanore Goerlach has joined BCC’s Library and Learning Commons as Library Assistant III. She previously served as a database technician for the Old Colony Library Network. A lifelong resident of Lanesborough, Goerlach holds a bachelor of arts degree in English with a minor in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a master of library and information science from Simmons University.

Sharon Greb joins BCC as comptroller. With more than 20 years in professional accounting roles, she most recently worked for Alliance Rx Walgreens Pharmacy. She has also worked

as an accountant for Berkshire Roots and spent 18 years with Berkshire Health Systems. The Pittsfield resident is a graduate of both BCC and MCLA, where she majored in accounting.

Jonathan Herforth joins BCC’s Facilities Department as maintainer. A resident of Pittsfield, Herforth was previously employed as a security officer with Allied Universal at BCC and at Wayfair in Pittsfield.

Megan Lussier has been named director of admissions and recruitment. A native of Berkshire County, Lussier comes to BCC with almost 10 years of experience in higher education. Before joining BCC, she worked at MCLA in the Office of Admission, starting as an entry-level admission counselor then working her way to senior associate director. Lussier holds a master’s degree in higher education from Merrimack College and a bachelor of arts degree in communications from Westfield State University

Celine Marie Shaw has been named facilities maintainer. The Pittsfield native graduated cum laude from BCC with an associate degree in business careers. Shortly after graduation, her family grew, and she raised her five kids at home. She has worked at various area restaurants including Canyon Ranch;

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Cranwell, now Miraval Resort; Bistro Zinc ;and Rio Café, and has catered for various events and weddings. Shaw started her employment at BCC’s Burke’s Café as a prep cook.

Alicia Starsja has been named an academic counselor in BCC’s TRIO Program. Most recently, she was the TRIO Program Assistant at BCC. A Berkshire County resident, Starsja is an alum of BCC and the TRIO program She earned a certificate in human services and an associate social work transfer degree from BCC, a bachelor’s degree in social work and social sciences from the College of Our Lady of the Elms and a master’s degree in social work from Tulane University.

Ann Stevens has been promoted from employee services coordinator to HR operations and benefits manager. Stevens had served as employee services coordinator since September 2020.

Karrie Trautman is now serving as interim director of financial services. She was previously coordinator of one stop operations. She has been employed at BCC since June 2013.

Bard College at Simon’s Rock has added several new faculty and staff members for the fall 2023 semester.

Molly Albrecht has been named dean of students after serving in that role on an interim basis since January. Prior to joining Simon’s Rock, Albrecht served as the associate director and then the executive director of Bard Early College Hudson Valley responsible for co-leading the opening of the expansion into Dutchess County. She is also currently teaching in the BARD MAT program. She holds a MAT from SUNY New Paltz, a bachelor of arts degree in history from Fordham University and certification in social justice in educational leadership from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Albrecht, who lives in New York’s Hudson Valley, is currently pursuing a doctorate in Educational Leadership at Manhattanville College.

Kate Glavin has been named associ-

ate dean of studies for Bard Academy and First-Year Students. She holds a master’s degree in literature from the University of South Dakota as well as an MFA in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts Boston. She was most recently an assistant professor of liberal arts at Berklee College of Music and taught there for five years.

Carla Stephens has been named director of the Bard Queer Leadership Project, She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history and a doctorate in history from Temple University.

She also earned her M.S. in educational leadership at Montclair State University and became a founding faculty member at Bard High School Early College in Newark, N.J. in 2011.

Jack Burkart has joined the mathematics faculty. He received his doctorate in mathematics from Stony Brook University in May 2021. After that, Jack spent two years doing postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (now SLMath).

Kameryn J. Williams has also joined the mathematics faculty. Williams holds a doctorate in mathematics from the

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Callahan Davis

Greb

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Glavin

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People

FROM PAGE 21

graduate center at CUNY. a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Boise State University and traveled around the United States before landing at Simon’s Rock in 2023.

Kirsten Keels has been named program manager for the Center for Equity, Inclusion, Community, Council for Equity & Inclusion. Originally from Arkansas, Keels holds a bachelor of arts degree in music from Princeton University, and served as a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has named three new faculty members for the 2023-24 academic year.

Samuel Bruun has joined the psychology department as an assistant professor. He graduated with a doctorate from the University of Kentucky in 2020, where he taught courses relating to developmental psychology, neuroscience, statistics, and gender development.

Yavuz Ceylan has joined the chemistry department as an assistant professor. He obtained a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Gaziosmanpasa University in Turkey and a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from the University of North Texas in 2019. He served as a visiting assistant professor of chemistry at MCLA from 2021 to 2023.

James Page joins the business administration department as a visiting assistant professor. Page is a transformational leader and business professor of accounting who has a keen passion for the enhancement of student learning, development, and academic excellence.

Attorney Robert R. Noto has joined the law firm of Martin Hochberg & Cianflone of Pittsfield as an associate.

His areas of practice will include residential and commercial real estate transactions, zoning, estate planning, estate administration, civil litigation, consumer protection and debt collection, landlord tenant law and domestic relations. Noto graduated from Hartwick College with a bachelor of arts degree in political science in 2019, and graduated from Western New England University in 2021. Noto was admitted to both the New York and Massachusetts Bar in 2022.

Two paralegals at Martin Hochberg & Cianflone are currently attending law school.

Ari Drayman, who has been em ployed by the firm since 2017, is attending Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire. He graduated from Eastern Connecticut State University in 2022 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He intends to maintain his employment with the firm during breaks in school.

Autumn D. Pharmer is attending Western New England University School of Law. She has been with the firm since January 2022 and will continue to be employed by MHC as she pursues her law degree part-time. Pharmer graduated from The College of The Elms in 2021 with a bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice.

Autumn Delorey has been named marketing coordinator for the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board.

Delorey will continue MassHire’s work by developing and implementing a marketing strategy that engages students and un/ underemployed residents with opportunities in the health care, manufacturing, hospitality and/or STEM industries. She will also coordinate relevant training grants for the Berkshire region that develop a pipeline of future workers and expand career ladders.

Delorey is a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she received a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a concentration in public relations.

Longtime director, actor and teacher Judy Braha recently joined Great Barrington Public Theater in the newly created position of associate artistic director.

Braha brings strong, proven talent and diverse portfolio of experience, most recently directing 2021’s hit “Mr. Fullerton” and 2022’s “Things I Know to Be True,” and is currently working with Anne Undeland on her newest one-woman show, “Mozart’s Wife, The Lacrymosa” on the slate for the 2024 season.

Braha has been a career director, actor, teacher and artist for social justice for over four decades. She headed the MFA directing program at Boston University’s School of Theater and has directorial credits in theaters and universities throughout New England.

She also is a longtime member of the Society of Directors and Choreographers, and a founding board member of Stage Source, a New England theater resource committed to connecting theaters, artists and their communities.

Erin Forbush, the director of shelter and housing for ServiceNet in Pittsfield, recently received a Commonwealth Heroine Award from the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

She was one of 130 members of the 20th class of Commonwealth Heroines to be so honored.

ServiceNet runs the homeless shelter at the former St. Joseph Central High School in Pittsfield.

Forbush was nominated for the award by state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield.

She began her role in early September.

Johno Hinkell has been promoted to vice president market manager by Greylock Federal Credit Union for parts of the credit union’s Pittsfield area and Lanesborough market.

He replaced market manager Gloria Beraldi, who retired in late August.

Hinkell joined Greylock in February 2013 and most recently served as a branch manager in the credit union’s

branch on West Street in Pittsfield.

In this new role, Hinkell will oversee operations for Greylock’s Pittsfield branches on West Street, Elm Street, General Dynamics Mission Systems and Berkshire Medical Center.

He will work closely with each branch’s manager to ensure continued exceptional service to Greylock’s Members.

Hinkell, who lives in North Adams, is a graduate of Worcester State University and registered with the National Mortgage Licensing System. He is also an assistant coach for the Drury High School baseball team.

Angela Dixon, senior vice president and chief diversity officer at Berkshire Bank, has joined the board of directors of startup accelerator Lever Inc. At Berkshire, Dixon’s work centers on how the bank can reach diverse populations including BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities in a variety of ways to enhance their access to banking.

Before joining Berkshire Bank in 2021, Dixon owned and operated Dixon Consulting II LLC, a management consulting firm focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Talent Management. Working with the Community Foundation for the Capital Region, she developed a DEI program focused on nonprofit board diversity.

Dixon also served as the vice president of talent and inclusion at the Capital Region Chamber in New York, where she helped create the Inclusive Leadership Series, an educational program for business managers.

Dixon holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science and MBA from the University of Albany. She is also a senior certified human resources professional through the Society for Human Resource Management.

Shawn Mille has been appointed a program associate at Community Access to the Arts.

Mille will support CATA’s program director team, with particular focus on programs taking place off-site in partnership with schools, day programs, nursing homes and community centers. He joins program associate Courtney Maxwell.

This new staff position will help CATA deepen community partnerships and grow inclusive arts workshops and performances, giving people with disabilities across the Berkshires and Columbia County more opportunities to explore their talents and express themselves creatively.

Mille comes to CATA from the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, where he served as development and communications coordinator and previously as assistant medical records administrator. Prior to his work at Austen Riggs, Shawn worked at the Brien Center in Pittsfield as office manager.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Salem State University, serves as vice president of the board for the Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention and is a member of the group’s marketing/public relations and fundraising subcommittees.

Jonna Gaberman has joined CHP Berkshires as director of adult medicine, and will also serve as an adult primary care physician at CHP Neighborhood Health Center in Pittsfield. She brings extensive experience in community health care, population

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Stephen R. Covey, author

People

FROM PAGE 22

health, outpatient internal medicine, and the care of persons living with HIV, Hepatitis C, and substance use disorder.

Gaberman most recently worked with Baystate Mason Square Health Center in Springfield, where her position was partially funded through a Ryan White grant for the care of persons with HIV. She earned her medical degree from Harvard Medical School, and she also received her undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard University.

She also worked at Lowell Community Health Center, Southern Jamaica Plain Health Center, and Brigham Internal Medicine Associates. She spent one year studying as a community health intern at the People’s Health Center in Savar, Bangladesh.

For her post-doctoral training, Gaberman completed a fellowship in primary care outpatient medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where she served as chief resident in primary care. She completed her internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s, where she also completed a fellowship in HIV care.

She received the Arnold Dunne Award for Extraordinary Patient Care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

United Cerebral Palsy of Western Massachusetts, which is based in Pittsfield, has appointed Randy Kinnas the organization’s new CEO.

As CEO of UCP, Kinnas will be responsible for overseeing the organization’s long-term planning efforts, fostering partnerships with community stakeholders and developing innovative programs to empower individuals with disabilities to lead more independent lives.

The Pittsfield native most recently served as chief operating officer of the Alliance of Massachusetts YMCAs, where he demonstrated “exceptional leadership spearheading strategic and operational planning and successful advocacy initiatives that fostered growth under his guidance,” according to UCP’s outgoing interim CEO Howard Marshall.

Prior to that, Kinnas served as CEO of several YMCAs across Massachusetts, which included 19 years as CEO and executive director of the Pittsfield Family YMCA. In those positions, his leadership skills and merger initiatives resulted in geographic growth, expansion in program offerings, community outreach and member engagement.

Patti Messina has been appointed interim executive director of the Northern Berkshire United Way by the agency’s board of directors.

Messina will transition into this position from her current role as office manager and resource coordinator. She has been with the Northern Berkshire United Way for the past six years. Before that she he was an integral team member for other nonprofit organizations serving children and families.

“She is very involved in and committed to the Northern Berkshires,” said Board President Kelly McCarthy, in a news release. “Her personality, strong work ethic, and experience have moved the organization forward. NBUW will continue to thrive under her leadership.

Airen Wadsworth has joined Berkshire Money Management as front office coordinator in the firm’s Great Barrington office, which increases the total number of BMM’s South County employees to five. In this role, Wadsworth will be the

first person to welcome guests to BMM’s new office at 72 Stockbridge Road. He will also support the firm with scheduling, data entry, and other vital tasks.

A lifelong resident of Lee, Wadsworth received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2018. A motocross rider, Wadsworth also works with motocross athletes from around the world as the owner and CEO of Airtime Clothing.

BMM’s summer intern, Pittsfield High School graduate Marlon Binns, recently left the firm to return to the University of California, where he is studying business administration. Binns is interested in pursuing a career in either wealth management, investment banking, or financial consulting.

Michele Desrosiers has been named vice president, marketing and communications at WMHT Public Media in Albany. N.Y.

With more than 15 years of marketing and operations leadership in the nonprofit performing arts, corporate finance and technology sectors, she will spearhead efforts to build WMHT’s regional profile, increase its public awareness and presence, and drive community engagement and partnerships.

Most recently, Desrosiers served as vice president of engagement strategy for Goldman Sachs Ayco Personal Financial Management. She has also served as chief marketing officer at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, in Saratoga, N.Y. and as managing director of Capital Repertory Theatre.

Desrosiers holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California, and an MBA in marketing from National University in San Diego.

Saralinda

Lobrose of Plainfield, the supervisor for Hampshire County Healthy Family Company, has received the Children’s Trust’s Faces of Prevention Award.

The award honors and recognizes family support professionals across Massachusetts who go above and beyond to support families and prevent child abuse.

Lobrose oversees the Hampshire County Healthy Families program, a home-based family support and coaching program that supports young, firsttime parents and helps them create stable, nurturing environments for their children. The program matches parents with trained professionals who visit families’.

Lobrose has worked in early education and family support throughout much of their career, serving in multiple roles at Head Start, including as an education manager, and running her own family child care program. Lobrose has worked for Healthy Families for five years.

Environmental leader Jocelyn Forbush of Conway was recently named the first chief conservation officer in Mass Audubon’s 127-year-history. She will formally began her role in early September.

Previously an adviser for arts and culture grantmaking with Fidelity Foundation, Forbush will lead Mass Audubon’s efforts to protect and restore resilient landscapes, conserve wildlife, and drive

nature-based climate solutions across the commonwealth.

In the Berkshires, Mass Audubon runs Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox, Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary in Pittsfield and Lime Kiln Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Sheffield.

Prior to her role at Fidelity Foundation, Forbush spent 21 years with The Trustees of Reservations, where she held a number of positions including western regional director, vice president of program leadership, and acting president & CEO.

A formerly trained ecologist, Forbush has also worked with the Riverways Program of Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Quebec Labrador Foundation. She holds a master of forest science degree from the Yale School of Forestry; a master of music degree from McGill University in Montreal; and a bachelor of music degree from Northwestern University.

Christina Pappas has been named president and CEO of the Massachusetts Lodging Association.

Pappas and her firm, Open the Door, succeed long time association leader Paul Sacco, who served in the head role for over 16 years.

She has over 35 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Open the Door, is a Boston-based marketing and association management firm that works with both national and international clients.

Prior to founding Open the Door in 2001, Pappas served as director of international marketing for the Massachusetts Port Authority and director

of marketing for the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority.

The chief executive search was facilitated by Back 9 Consultants, whose partners have more than 50 years of association management experience in the hospitality industry.

Simona M. Mocuta and Olena Staveley-O’Carroll recently joined Associated Industries of Massachusetts’ board of economic advisers.

Mocuta is chief economist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston, and Staveley-O’Carroll is an associate professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.

Staveley-O’Carroll

The board of economic advisers oversees AIM’s monthly state Business Confidence Index and advises the organization on public policy issues that affect the economy.

Mocuta is the current chair of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association, serves as the lead author of the Weekly Economic Perspectives, and is a regular speaker at financial industry events.

Staveley-O’Carroll became associate professor of economics at Holy Cross in 2021. She was previously assistant professor of economics at Holy Cross from 2015–21 and assistant professor of economics at the University of Richmond from 2008–15.

Kinnas

Messina

Wadsworth

Binns

Desrosiers

Lobrose

Forbush

Pappas

Mocuta