What I remember about FreshGrass festivals in the last 10 years or so is all over the map. It’s a mild fall day and I’m in the courtyard playing Farewell to Whiskey …
Read articleLooking for something to do on Friday night? You can sit on a blanket in a high meadow, sharing blueberries while you’re waiting for a new play to begin. You can dance to live bluegrass and African blues.
By the Way Berkshires has a free weekly newsletter with a roundup of events and new stories and places we are discovering — if you want to take a look, just scroll down. The newsletters come out by email, so you’ll see it in your inbox on Wednesday evening or on Thursday morning, before I post them here.
This is a rich place, even in deep winter. Even in a pandemic. I’ve lived here 20 years, and I find new places and people every day. Doors are open when you know where to look. Let me show you some of the ones that stand out to me.
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The Housatonic River reflects overhanging branches in the golden hour in Stockbridge.
Albert Park and Shirley Chen cross swords in Man of God by Anna Ouyang Moench. Press photo courtesy of Williamstown Theatre Festival
Rose B. Simpson's ceramic sculptures look out from the meadow below the Taconic Crest in Counterculture at Field Farm. Photo by Kate Abbott
Young welders create new forms at Salem Art Works. Press photo courtesy of SAW
Brandon St Clair as Davon appears in ABCD at Barrington Stage Company. Press photo courtesy of the theater
Tunnel City Coffee in the Mass MoCA courtyard serves local ice cream from High Lawn Farm in Lee.
the Bistro Box in Great Barrington serves homemade roadside fare under the white pine trees.
L. James and Tamara Hickey as Beatrice and Benedick clasp hands in Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare & Co.
Photo by Jamie Kraus
Finding BTW Newsletters
If you’d like to see some of our By the Way roundups, you can check out the latest ones below … or find them on the home page with our weekly stories, or take a look at the whole library in our newsletter archive.
newsletter archiveBy the Way — what's happening #this weekend
Studios open and kilns and conversations – #berkshiresweekend
In the next week we can make paper out of old jeans, or see a potter lift the top off a raku kiln while the bowls inside are glowing like molten glass … Artsweek Berkshires is coming back.
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How many native wildflowers bloom in the fall? – #berkshireweekend
Walking through wildflowers taller than I am makes me want to laugh and lie back and watch the sky … they give perspective.
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Three days to chase the end of summer – #berkshireweekend
A long weekend of quiet days … what should we do? I may explore the Taconics, or the book festivals, or spiderwebs of art at PS21 and Hancock Shaker Village.
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Catching the golden hours of summer – #Berkshireweekend
Sweet corn and peaches … the flavors mean late summer. We have a good month more of warm weather, but we feel the year begin to turn when the golden rod shows in the meadows.
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You were only waiting for this moment to be free — #Berkshireweekend
In the heart of a Shaker garden, Pinaree Sanpitak has made an affirmation of life and force in a woman’s body and a Buddhist sacred space.
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Have you felt wet clay or paint in your hands? #this weekend
Dark streaks across the surface like water on sandstone or ink in manga. Tauba Auerbach says she will graze the wet paint on the canvas with a rounded tool to make these ‘quivering … emergent forms.’
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Field trips in an unexpected world #this weekend
It’s the season for field trips and picnics in the Berkshires … sourdough bread and iced coffee, or roadside stands with peach ice cream.
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Breathing space in the heat of summer #this weekend
We’re sharing iced coffee and a palm-sized blueberry pie — my old friend Teresa is here for the weekend, and we have been getting lost at Tanglewood.
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We’re talking about good vibrations #this weekend
The scythe feels surprisingly light when I lift it. It swings through the clover easily, and the movement feels natural, though I know I’ll get smoother with practice …
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