Life in the Berkshires | Spring 2025 HEALTH & WELLNESS ISSUE
Warm Welcome The owners of Doctor Sax House have created a chic gathering space in Lenox.
MIND & BODY Local pros share their wellness wisdom
GETAWAYS Where to stay in 2025!
Cheers! Delicious (zero-proof) drinks
Award-Winning Wellness in Your Own Backyard Experience world-class wellness and expert insights for your physical, mental & spiritual well-being.
canyonranch.com/lenox
from the publisher and editor
CONNECTIONS COUNT. Our relationships
MICHELLE THORPE PETRICCA Publisher mpetricca@berkshireeagle.com
AMY CONWAY Editor aconway@berkshireeagle.com
P.S. Speaking of making plans, we are working on a special event of our own: The B’s Passport to Summer. Consider this your all-access pass to Summer 2025–you’ll get the inside scoop on everything happening in the Berkshires and can even book your spots with our concierge ticketing service. Join us at The Belvedere in Lenox on May 22, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Reserve your spot! tinyurl.com/B-Passport
2
THE B • Spring 2025
A E R I A L YO G A : A B I G A I L F E N TO N ; B O O K : T R I C I A M C C O R M A C K
are more important than ever—studies show that maintaining close ties with family, friends, and your community overall can lead to a longer, healthier life. Is it just us, or does it seem like those connections come easier in the Berkshires? When you’re new to the area (and we’ve both been there!), people pull you in, get you involved. They want to share what they love about the Berkshires. We may be a diverse group but we are also kindred spirits, and we gather at our Aerial yoga at Canyon Ranch— “community centers,” all up and down the county. inversions are They are our museums, theaters, music venues, historic homes, good for you! restaurants—the list goes on. It’s remarkably easy to strike up a conversation over the salad greens at Guido’s, while on a hike up Monument Mountain, or with the person on the next pickleball court at Bousquet Sport. Doctor Sax House is one of our newest such places—that’s why we put it on the cover of our health and wellness issue. Owners Kelly and Bryan Binder are themselves new in town—but talk about kindred spirits. Since opening their Lenox boutique hotel, with its welcoming loungelike spaces, they have made it into a venue for community events and a gathering spot. Like MASS MoCA, The Mount, or your favorite café, it’s a place to make connections. Actually, let’s just call them friends. We have a lot to look forward to this spring. You’ll find our listings of exhibits, festivals, and events on page 12–take a look and why not make plans to go with friends or family to see the baby animals at Hancock Here’s the book that inspired our cover couple. Shaker Village or an exhibition at the Clark? We’ll see you there.
Light Therapy A zero-gravity bed uses red and infrared light to help reduce pain and discomfort.
Infrared Sauna Pod This whole-body wellness pod is a dry heat sauna with vibration massage and Himalayan ionic salt-air infusion with face cooling.
Neuro-Stimulation For mental and physical restoration and optimization, pulsed pressure waves help rebalance the nervous systems.
Life on the (Canyon) Ranch Canyon Ranch’s offerings in Lenox range from ancient healing techniques to the latest hightech treatments. On a recent visit, we were lucky Compression and Percussion Air compression and percussion enough to try both. Yoga (aerial in this case) was treatments can help speed accompanied by a sound bath, in which senior recovery, improve training, and spiritual wellness advisor Dan Marko used maximize performance singing bowls and other instruments to create an immersive sound-therapy experience. Flash forward a couple thousand years to the CR Vitality Experience— this new offering was designed by scientists and doctors to help improve energy, recovery, sleep, and more. Sessions in the Vitality Studio at Canyon Ranch can be added on to an overnight stay or day pass. Special offer for members of Bousquet Sport—book the CR Vitality Experience on its own for $80! P H OTO S : A B I G A I L F E N TO N
Join Us for Dinner! Canyon Ranch + The B Guest chef Jon Sterrett—soon to open his own Lenox restaurant— and CR executive chef Julien Ardouin are crafting a special spring dinner, and you’re invited! April 17, $150 per person.
T W McClell and & Daughter s Fine Jewelry 597 South Main St. Great Barrington Thur s - Sat, 11 - 5 & by appointment t wmcclell and.com ig @t wmcclell and 413-645-3399
Spring 2025
Features
50
41
Happy & Healthy Local experts share their wellness wisdom.
57
50
Mixing Things Up Dave Mixer’s Mill Town gives back to the Berkshires in big ways.
57
The Feigenbaum Formula The generosity and brilliance of two brothers has a lasting legacy. PICKLEBALL, COCKTAIL, COUPLE, YARN: ABI GAI L FENTON; BROTHERS: COURTESY OF THE F EIGENBAUM FOUNDATION
60
Raising the Bar
60
Cheers to mocktails—these nonalcoholic drinks are for everyone.
66
Yarn to Dye For
74
66
Plus!
Getaways
The fiber arts are thriving in the Berkshires—meet the maker of gorgeous ombré yarn.
74
Grace Notes A musician and a doctor find harmony at a stunning home in Lenox.
Resort, hotel, inn, or B&B? We’ve got it all. See page 81
In every issue: The Local Life 11 | Voices & Views 27 | Field Guide 81 | Last Look 88 On the cover: Bryan and Kelly Binder, Doctor Sax House, Lenox P H OTO BY T R I C I A M C C O R M A C K ; H A I R & M A K E U P BY D A N I E L A P I G N AT E L L I
Lisa Vollmer Photography
VOL. 3, ISSUE 1 Spring 2025 PUBLISHER
EDITOR IN CHIEF
mpetricca@berkshireeagle.com
aconway@berkshireeagle.com
DESIGN DIRECTOR
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Michelle Thorpe Petricca
Julie Hammill
julie@hammilldesign.com COPY EDITOR
Amy Krzanik CONTRIBUTING COLUMNISTS
Sari Botton Alana Chernila Jane Larkworthy Pops Peterson
Amy Conway
William Li
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ben Garver Gillian Jones-Heck Stephanie Zollshan
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Lily Goldberg
The B is a publication of New England Newspapers Inc.
Now featuring:
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
Fredric D. Rutberg | frutberg@berkshireeagle.com EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Kevin Moran | kmoran@berkshireeagle.com CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER
Gary Lavariere | glavariere@berkshireeagle.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR
John Supple | jsupple@berkshireeagle.com OPERATIONS MANAGER
Chuck Danforth | cdanforth@berkshireeagle.com DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING SALES
Cheryl Gajewski | cmcclusky@berkshireeagle.com
Spring-flowering Trees, Fruiting Shrubs, Native Perennials & More
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Amy Filiault | afiliault@berkshireeagle.com ADVERTISING SALES COORDINATOR
Sue Raimer | sraimer@berkshireeagle.com CONTENT MARKETING SPECIALIST
Anthony Duval | aduval@talonmediaagency.com MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS
Jo Duran | jduran@berkshireeagle.com Jessica Lorono | jlorono@berkshireeagle.com Eileen Marran | emarran@berkshireeagle.com Tristany Saldo | tsaldo@berkshireeagle.com SHOPPERS GUIDE & THE B SALES MANAGER
Robert Jette | rjette@shoppersguideinc.com
For subscription issues, call 800-245-0254
Ward’s Nursery & Garden Center
Open Daily
Great Barrington MA - 413-528-0166 Seasonal plants year-round: Learn more at wardsnursery.com
contributors: The B's Saints & Eccentrics
ANN VOLKWEIN (“Grace Notes”) is a bestselling cookbook author and recipe developer based in Stockbridge. She is the author of the “Arthur Avenue Cookbook” and “Chinatown New York.” Her most recent collaborations include “Tasting History” with Max Miller, “My Mexican Mesa” with Jenny Martinez, and “Salt Hank” with Henry LaPorte. LILY GOLDBERG (contributing editor) is a writer and music-maker from New York City. A graduate of Williams College, she’s worked at MASS MoCA, The Clark, and The Berkshire Eagle. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Times-Union, No Depression, PAPER, The Brooklyn Rail, and more. KATE ABBOTT (“Community Centered”) explores the Berkshires as a freelance writer, editor, and oral historian. She writes for publications from the Boston Globe to the Eagle and the Hill Country Observer, and she runs the website By the Way Berkshires, btwberkshires.com. ROBBI HARTT (“Happy & Healthy, Mind & Body”) taught English and directed the writing center at Greens Farms Academy (Westport, Connecticut) for 20 years, and now lives in Mill River, where she and her husband created a respite for families dealing with pediatric cancer. She writes regularly for local publications. NEIL TURITZ (“Mixing Things Up”) moved to the Berkshires from New York City, along with his wife. They have since welcomed a son. Turitz is a screenwriter, author, filmmaker, journalist, and creator of “6 Word Reviews.” @6wordreviews
8
THE B • Spring 2025
LARA TUPPER (“Get Your Fest On”) is an award-winning author, teacher, and vocalist based in the Berkshires. A faculty member for 10 years at Kripalu Center, she now leads writing workshops via Swift Ink Stories. laratupper.com ABIGAIL FENTON (“Mixing Things Up,” “Raising the Bar,” “Grace Notes”) is an international photographer rooted in the Berkshires. Specializing in lifestyle and wedding photography, she expertly captures the essence of human experience. In her personal work, Abigail primarily works with film photography. abigailfenton.com TRICIA MCCORMACK (“Style and Substance”) is the owner/lead photographer of Berkshire’s premier photography team. An 8-time consecutive winner of Best of the Berkshires, Tricia’s work has recently been featured in Forbes, Conde Nast, The Boston Globe and the New York Times. Tricia resides in Lenox with her husband and two teenage sons. triciamccormack.com ASHLEY WEEKS CART (“Yarn to Dye For”) is a Berkshire-based artist and educator specializing in outdoor family and portrait photography. Her personal art practice meditates on parenthood and grief and the interconnected worlds of both. She lives and works in Williamstown. ashleyweekscart.com BEN GARVER is an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been published by nearly every major news outlet in the country. He has been a staff photojournalist for The Berkshire Eagle for almost 30 years. An avid hiker and biker, he rarely leaves home without a camera and we can all be thankful for that.
Big thanks to our interns! Williams students ZOE LEINDECKER (left) and TEBIN KIM (right) contributed to this issue.
P H OTO S : C O U R T E SY O F T H E C O N T R I B U TO R S
CHRISTOPHER MARCISZ (“The Feigenbaum Formula”) is a writer who has lived (mostly) in the Berkshires for the past 20 years. As a staff writer for The Eagle he covered North County, and now writes about the arts here and abroad. He is passionate about traveling, cooking, and pickup ice hockey.
WE ’ VE J OI N E D COM PASS! Plus we’re still here to help you buy in the Berkshires. By joining Compass, you’ll now have the advantage of access to cutting-edge tools and a national referral network of the nation’s best agents.
REPRESENTING BUYERS AND SELLERS OF REAL ESTATE IN MA, NY, & CT SINCE 2007.
bpa@compass.com • 413.528.6800 • compass.com Berkshire Property Agents Team is a team of real estate agents affiliated with Compass, a licensed real estate broker and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. Berkshire Property Team at Compass is affiliated with the Compass office located at 1330 Boylston St Floor 2, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467.
Modern Moderndesign. design. Advanced Advancedperformance. performance. AtAt Herrington's, Herrington's, wewe partner partner with with Marvin Marvin toto capture capture the the look look and and feel feel ofof true true modern modern design. design. Marvin Marvin Modern Modern windows windows and and doors doors feature feature HighHighDensity Density Fiberglass Fiberglass forfor maximum maximum material material strength, strength, superior superior thermal thermal performance, performance, and and expansive expansive glass glass toto help help you you achieve achieve your your vision. vision. Contact Contact usus today today forfor your your Modern Modern window window and and door door project. project. ©2025 ©2025 Marvin Marvin Lumber Lumber and and Cedar Cedar Co., Co., LLC. LLC.
® ® We Weshare shareyour yourpassion. passion.
Hillsdale, Hillsdale, NY: NY: 518.325.3131· 518.325.3131· Lakeville, Lakeville, CT: CT: 860.435.2561 860.435.2561 Hudson, Hudson, NY: NY: 518.828.9431· 518.828.9431· Chatham, Chatham, NY: NY: 518.392.9201· 518.392.9201·Sheffield, Sheffield, MA: MA: 413.229.8777 413.229.8777
herringtons.com· herringtons.com· 800.453.1311· 800.453.1311· WINDOW WINDOW && DOOR DOOR SPECIALISTS SPECIALISTS
The
Local Life Exploring Our Towns for the Best in the Berkshires
A R T: C L A U D E LO R R A I N , L A N D S C A P E W I T H T H E V OYA G E O F J A C O B , 1 6 7 7, O I L O N C A N VA S . C L A R K A R T I N S T I T U T E , 1 9 5 5 . 4 2
Pastoral on Paper The Clark Williamstown “Landscape with the Voyage of Jacob” by Claude Lorrain, 1677, is just one of the works in this exhibit opening March 8. For more spring events, turn the page.
Spring 2025 • THE B
11
the local life: Around Town Happenings
Spring Flings There’s lots to do and see this season—mark your calendars with these events. “Pastoral on Paper” The Clark, Williamstown, March 8-June 15 This exhibition presents 17th- and 18th-century European books, drawings, and prints of idealized landscapes. clarkart.edu
4th Annual Sourdough Bread Competition Dewey Hall, Sheffield, March 14 Celebrate craftsmanship and flavor as bakers showcase their best loaves. deweyhall.org
ThunderFest Adams Visitor Center, Adams, March 22 (rain date: March 23) This outdoor festival is designed to shake off the winter blues with live music, local food, and community fun for kids and adults. exploreadams.com
Cast your vote at the Sourdough Bread Contest, Dewey Hall, Sheffield.
The Bulb Show at Berkshire Botanical Garden Stockbridge, through March 23 Witness the iconic beauty of spring as vibrant flowers bloom by the thousands in every color imaginable. berkshirebotanical.org
“Cultural Apothecary”
“All for Laughs: The Artists of the Famous Cartoonist Course” Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, through June 15 This lighthearted exhibition showcases the craft and humor of cartooning with instructional drawings by iconic 20th-century humorists. nrm.org
The Daffodil and Tulip Festival at Naumkeag, Stockbridge
12
THE B • Spring 2025
T U L I P S : D AV I D E D G E C O M B ; B R E A D : D E W E Y H A L L
MASS MoCA, North Adams, now open Reflect on modern anxieties through an exhibition by Alison Pebworth that blends art with cultural critique. massmoca.org
Mother’s Day at the Clark Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, May 11 Wander galleries, explore the outdoors, and enjoy special programming. clarkart.edu ArtWeek Berkshires May 16-26 Explore the rich artistic talent of the region through a week of hands-on and behind-thescenes events. berkshires.org/ artweek-berkshires
The Workshop Experience, based in and around Hillsdale, New York, includes open gardens, such as this magical Claverack property of garden designer Peter Bevacqua and Stephen King.
“The Archive of Lost Memories” MASS MoCA, North Adams, April 5-June 29 Randi Malkin Steinberger offers a collection of found images and objects reimagined with care and creativity. massmoca.org Baby Animals at Hancock Shaker Village Pittsfield, April 12-May 4 Enjoy the sights and sounds of spring with baby animals and a taste of farm life. hancockshakervillage.org
BerkChique Ventfort Hall, Lenox, May 2-4 Explore a treasure trove of curated fashion and unique finds at this pop-up boutique supporting local nonprofits. berkchique.org Berkshire Botanical Garden Spring Fest Stockbridge, May 4 Celebrate the season with classic May Day traditions, lively performances, and creative activities for the whole family. berkshirebotanical.org
CATA Gala Tina Packer Playhouse, Great Barrington, May 10-11 A celebration of creativity and human expression takes center stage for Community Access to the Arts’ inspiring annual performance. cataarts.org
H A N C O C K S H A K E R : B E N G A R V E R ; G A R D E N : P E T E R B E VA C Q U A
The Workshop Experience Hillsdale, New York, May 10-11 Join talented local creatives for experiential learning events in gardening, culinary arts, floristry, fiber arts, theatre, and more. theworkshopexperience.org
Annual Daffodil and Tulip Festival Naumkeag, Stockbridge, April 18-May 11 Walk through stunning gardens alive with vibrant spring blooms. thetrustees.org/naumkeag Pittsfield CityJazz Festival Downtown Pittsfield, April 24-May 4 Ten days of live jazz performances bringing energy and talent to the heart of the city. berkshiresjazz.org
Sculpture at The Mount, The Mount, Lenox, opens May 24 The annual exhibition of contemporary sculpture extends across 50 acres of forest, gardens, and meadows at Edith Wharton’s home. edithwharton.org Farmer’s Daughter Gravel Grinder Chatham, New York, May 18 This challenging yet rewarding bike ride through scenic trails supports Columbia County organizations. farmersdaughtergravelgrinder.com Berkshire International Film Festival Great Barrington, May 29-June 1 Enjoy a weekend of captivating film, thought-provoking live discussions, and parties! biffma.org Berkshire Yoga Festival Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, Hancock, June 12-15 Returning after a successful inaugural year, this fest will reconnect you with yourself and nature through yoga, meditation, and outdoor wellness events. berkshireyogafestival.com
—Compiled by Tebin Kim
Meet the piglets at Hancock Shaker Village.
Spring 2025 • THE B
13
the local life: Food & Drink
It’s the people, places and past that make the Berkshires beautiful. Discover it all with a subscription to The B! berkshireeagle.com/theb 800-245-0254
What’s Brewing
Community Centered More than a café, Wander Berkshires is dedicated to creativity and connection. When looking through a camera lens, photographer and photojournalist Jay Santangelo is able to slow down and focus on clear, bright moments in everyday life, finding light, shadows, and highlights. When Santangelo and their wife and daughter moved from Austin, Texas, to the Berkshires two years ago, they wanted to provide a gathering space that was welcoming for all, and that would allow others to experience similar moments of creation and introspection. Enter Wander Berkshires, a combination coffee shop, art space, and venue— with a darkroom on the way. The light-filled 3,000-square-foot space in Pittsfield can host a dance party or quiet talks in the café. As a trans owner, Santangelo imagines Wander as a safe space for queer and LGBTQ folk and the whole community. They offer nonalcoholic beverages, mocktails, teas, and tinctures. Events on tap: pop-up dinners, film screenings, storytelling, breathwork, sound journeys, and sober dance parties. The darkroom is scheduled for this spring and Santangelo plans to host photography workshops for local teens. When they taught similar classes in Hunts Point in the Bronx, they cherished the sense of power their students felt in choosing how to see and reveal the world around them, and how they wanted to see themselves. “They would bring in their film and develop it,” Santangelo said, “and they would say ‘It’s beautiful,’ and I’d say ‘That’s your life.’” —Kate Abbott
Never miss an issue! Scan to subscribe!
P H OTO S : B E N G A R V E R
wanderberkshires.com
Among the plants at Ward’s in Great Barrington, Kevin Kelly of After Hours preps dinner.
Pop Ups
The Roving Restaurant This dinner was plant-forward in more ways than one: The creative multi-course winter menu from After Hours GB featured lots of veggies—and it took place in the greenhouse at Ward’s Nursery and Garden Center. It’s just one recent dinner from After Hours, founded and run by Kevin Kelly of Great Barrington; he works with local businesses to host fresh, community-minded dining experiences. This spring features a collab series with Berkshire Botanical Garden, and more. wardsnursery.com • afterhoursgb.cm
P H OTO S : C H R I S T I N A A L L I N G H A M
DESIGN FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING 413-637-8127 JHARWOODARCHITECT.COM
Native Habitat Restoration
the local life: Food & Drink
Returning Balance to Nature
Wetlands Woodlands Meadows Fields Invasive Plant Control Reforestation Field Clearing Forestry Mowing Wetland Restoration
(413) 358-7400 Licensed in MA . CT . NY . VT Over 40 Years of Experience
nativehabitatrestoration@gmail.com NativeHabitatRestoration.weebly.com
Pros’ Picks
Sober Sips When you want all the flavor, but none of the buzz. With zero-proof drinks catching on, we asked three local experts—wine and spirits purveyors, in fact—for their top product recs (for more on mocktails, see page 60).
Ashley Zurrin Assistant Manager, Spirited, Lenox spirited-wines.com Lautus Sauvignon Blanc This de-alcoholised Sauvignon Blanc is one of my favorite N/A wines. It is bright and tropical but very well balanced by acidity, making it the perfect elegant white to have with a meal or on its own. St. Agrestis Phony Negroni The botanicals in this are so beautiful, natural, and organic. It’s their take on a traditional Negroni, with a perfect bit of bitterness and bubbles, pre-mixed and ready to drink.
Lily Nejaime Store Manager, Nejaime’s Wine Cellars, Lenox & Stockbridge nejaimeswine.com De Soi Spritz Italiano This has a well-balanced, crisp profile that mimics the traditional spritz. It’s the ideal drink for those seeking a lively, sophisticated alternative that’s celebratory and refreshing. Unified Ferments Jasmine Green Crafted using high-quality jasmine green tea; the natural fermentation process enhances the complex flavors making it smooth and layered. (Note: due to the fermentation process, this contains small amounts of alcohol.)
Michael Brunelle Wine, Beer & Spirits Sales Manager, Big Y Foods, bigy.com Lyre’s Dark ’N Spicy I’m a fan of the Lyre’s entire range of zero-proof offerings. Specifically, I like their ready-to-serve Dark ’N Spicy. It’s a riff on the classic Dark and Stormy with a bit of heat that mimics the alcohol nicely. Guinness Zero There are so many good non-alcoholic craft beers, but I still go back to Guinness Zero. It’s rich, creamy, and malty just like the original—you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart!
THE BERKS PREMIER H & FITNESS INDOOR & OUTDOOR COURTS, GOLF SIMULATORS, PILATES,
BOUSQUETSPORT.C 100 DAN FOX DR. PITTSFIELD, MA • 4
H A N C O C K
S H A K E R
baby APRIL12 through May 4
PRESENTED BY
20 historic buildings • farm animals • Shaker artifacts • art exhibitions • gardens • hiking trails • cafe • shopping
Pittsfield, MA | hancockshakervillage.org | 413.443.0188
V I L L A G E
the local life: Trending County Couture Enjoying our accessible gardens!
Create access and build equity for people of all abilities through your support of BFAIR. As a human services nonprofit, BFAIR provides 24/7 365 care to people with developmental disabilities, autism, and acquired brain injury. Support of BFAIR will promote independence, create accessibility, and enhance resources for the over 400 program participants and residents in Berkshire, Hampden, and Hampshire County. www.bfair.org
SKATE STYLE This streetwear comes straight from the Berkshires. The streetwear silhouettes of SexHippies clothes evoke urban rather than rural style—but the brand comes from the Pittsfield-born, Stockbridge-based designer Benjamin Baptiste. And more than a decade before Baptiste’s brand was seen on skaters in Tokyo, London, and Berlin, the logo for SexHippies—a peace sign superimposed with male and female gender symbols—originated on wa small farm in the Berkshires. Baptiste once had a summer job harvesting greens at Equinox Farm in Sheffield; as an inside joke among the crew, he first scrawled the SexHippies logo on the large plastic tubs they used to collect arugula. “It wasn’t necessarily a graphic or an idea that made sense to try to sell,” said Baptiste, “but it was something I really wanted to see happen.” Happen it did. Since launching SexHippies in 2020, Baptiste has dropped seven seasonal collections with the brand, featuring skatewear staples like handknit beanies,
1-800-70-TENTS classicaltents.com Photo by Oresti Tsonopoulos
P H OTO S : B E N J A M I N B A P T I S T E
COVERING THE BERKSHIRES IN STYLE
i Home i Lifestyle i Objets d’Art i at The Red Lion Inn Open 7 days a week
@theshop.aroundthecorner
For his latest lookbook, Baptiste photographed the clothes at No Comply in Great Barrington.
screen-printed tees, and carpenter jeans. More than 30 stores across three continents currently stock the brand. “I feel like most people don’t have any idea that this brand from the Berkshires has a worldwide audience,” said Baptiste. Baptiste grew up skating in downtown Pittsfield, and earned his stripes in streetwear as a freelance accessory consultant for world-renowned skate brand Supreme. But he credits his experience as a brand manager for Guido’s Fresh Marketplace— the Berkshires grocery store that his stepfather, Chris Masiero, founded and his sister, Anna Masiero, now co-owns—with helping him take SexHippies to the next level. “I started taking these new skills that I learned at Guido’s and applying them to SexHippies,” said Baptiste. “Before I knew it, I’d gotten a couple of accounts in Japan, and things started picking up.” Another 20-piece SexHippies collection dropped in late January, and Baptiste is especially excited about the brand’s second-ever piece of outerwear, a reversible jacket inspired by the lining of military coats that features a jacquard knit pattern. The name SexHippies might raise some eyebrows, but Baptiste is happy the brand has taken off with believers. “I have a brand that is a little on the young side for this area, but at the same time, this area is changing,” he observed. And, he noted, “The Berkshires is one of those places that really likes to get behind things that are local.” —Lily Goldberg sexhippies.com
413.298.1623
John MacDonald, Winter Golds at Sheep Hill, oil on linen, 12” x 16”
71 Spring Street, Williamstown, MA 01267 413.884.6926 | www.greylockgallery.com
Is a loved one, or a dear friend finding living alone a little difficult? At Geer Village Senior Community we can help.
Spotlight Scan to learn more
Geer offers the highest quality care within a homelike environment. Learn more at www.geercares.org or call for a tour: (860) 824-2600. 77 - 99 S. Canaan Rd. | North Canaan CT 06018 | www.geercares.org
BERKSHIRE YOGA FESTIVAL + THE B! 4 days • 190 sessions 50+ vendors plus
15% OFF
for readers of The B!
June 12 to 15 | Jiminy Peak, Hancock Tickets: berkshireyogafestival.com enter code “B” at checkout for discount
Caring for the Community for Fify Years CHP Berkshires has evolved with the needs of Berkshire residents. In 1975, physician Dr. Thomas Whitfield noticed a gap in healthcare for the area’s rural, isolated families—and he took action. He founded Children’s Health Program, with a mission to provide care to those children and support to their parents. Five decades later, CHP Berkshires (now Community Health Program) has nine practice locations providing medical, dental, and nutrition services for adults as well as children. Operating as one of the nation’s Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers, CHP Berkshires cares for more than 30,000 patients each year. “From its earliest days, CHP has approached healthcare differently, with a wide lens that looks beyond the exam room,” said Bethany Kieley, its Chief Executive Officer. Here are just a few of the programs that set CHP apart.
P H OTO : S T E P H A N I E Z O L L S H A N
Geer Village is the perfect place for assisted living and memory care. We offer a unique approach to the many stages of memory care. Our services are designed to meet the special needs of residents diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia.
the local life: Doing Good
Enhance your natural beauty. Define what is uniquely you
Family Services Family services, including play groups, were part of the founding mission of CHP Berkshires. A half-century later, the organization still offers a robust range of programs and services for children and families in Berkshire County, including fresh food distribution, referrals for housing, free diapers, and school readiness mentorship programs.
Mobile Care Two CHP mobile health vans traverse the county, making stops to offer checkups, vaccines, urgent care services, and more. CHP’s mobile health program has leveled up in the decades since the organization’s founding—when Dr. Whitfield began the mobile health program, he drove a station wagon.
Group Health
• Dermal Fillers • Sculptra • Hydrafacial • Sciton BBL • Dermaplaning
• Kybella • Microneedling • Lip Fillers • Laser hair removal • Sciton MOXI
• Sciton HALO • Sciton BareHR • Custom Facials • Chemical Peels
Thank you for voting for us!!
The Central Block Building 75 North Street Suite 170B, Pittsfield, Ma. 01201 • 413.441.8453 Instagram / Facebook @ Silversolutionsmedspa Website www.silversolutionsmedspa.com
Inndelible character
No one should go through life alone— and for some medical patients, sharing common experiences in a group medical setting can be a road to healing. CHP offers patients the option to engage in group health visits covering areas like postpartum care and mindfulness.
Size Inclusive Care
P H OTO : G I L L I A N J O N E S - H E C K
People in larger bodies often experience weight stigma—assumptions that others, including healthcare providers, make about their lifestyle, eating habits, or overall health. CHP’s Size Inclusive Care team is trained to provide a supportive healthcare environment for all.
—Lily Goldberg
Come experience the iconic elegance of our New England landmark.
redlioninn.com | 413.298.5545
“It feels like I’m back in so many ways.” - Mike, knee replacement patient
Don’t let pain hold you back from doing what you love. We specialize in joint replacements as your joint partners in care. Call today, 413-499-6600
Learn how we helped Mike get back in the game.
Point your smartphone camera at the QR Code to visit our website. BerkshireHealthSystems.org/Orthopedics
the local life: Community
Meaningful Mentors
THE POWER OF THEATER A program for teens lets them find their voices and share their stories. Barrington Stage Company is known for its world-class performances—but did you know that some of its most moving work is by local teens? During the six-month Playwright Mentoring Project—now in its twenty-fifth year!—students work together, in Pittsfield and North Adams, to create something uniquely their own. These young people work closely with professional staff and peer mentors to “help them navigate difficult situations in their life using theater as a tool,” said program director Jane O’Leary. The result: deeply personal, original shows that reflect the worlds these playwrights inhabit. And members of the community can attend performances of these works and participate in talkbacks with the playwrights: PMP Fest, St. Germain Stage, April 1 and 5; ’62 Center, April 3. —Zoe Leindecker barringtonstageco.org
Family Camping in the Berkshires Camp at the base of Mount Greylock... close to all the Berkshires has to offer Call for group reservations. Heated pool, playground, live music
Eat and Greet
A Delicious Tradition Join the Williams College community for their famous Log Lunch. From attorneys fighting for the environment in federal court to prison guards promoting sustainable gardening, the Log Lunch has seen it all. This iconic Williamstown tradition—in which Williams College students take over a local restaurant to gather and learn over a homemade meal—dates to 1972. Each Friday at noon, from September to May, dozens of people attend: students, faculty, and members of the local community. Program director Sarah Gardner secures guest speakers for the lunches; they come from various backgrounds and typically present ways of sustainable living and working in the Berkshires. The tight-knit team of student cooks meticulously collect and plan recipes, work with local farms and other vendors, and arrive as early as 7 a.m. to start preparing the food. The result? A delicious, locally sourced vegetarian meal. Dishes have included butternut squash curry, lemon zucchini pasta, and gingersnap crust pumpkin pie, to name a few. —Zoe Leindecker P H OTO : G I L L I A N J O N E S - H E C K
Attendees must RSVP ahead of time and pay $4 at the door of The Log at Ramunto’s, 78 Spring Street. Scan code for reservations and information about upcoming guest speakers.
www.mtgreylockcampsitepark.com info@mtgreylockcampsitepark.com 413-447-9419 Open April through October Call to reserve your 2025 campsite today!
Animal Inn of the Berkshires
Best
Boarding Best
Doggy Daycare Best
Grooming In the Berkshires
120 Hubbard Ave., Pittsfield, MA
(413) 442-3472 • animalinnoftheberkshires.com
the local life: Health & Wellness
THE ART OF AESTHETIC MEDICINE Nina Silver wants you to know about this treatment. “Needles are my legacy,” joked Nina Silver, RN, owner of Silver Solutions MedSpa in Pittsfield. She explored knitting, crocheting, and sewing from a young age—in fact, in addition to training as a nurse/nurse educator, she studied fiber arts at Parsons School of Design in New York City. After working in healthcare and wellness for years (notably, at Canyon Ranch), she opened Silver Solutions in 2019. “I look at aesthetic medicine as art with a different medium—sculpting and painting with neurotoxins, dermal fillers, and laser light,” she said. One of her most underrated treatments, she said, is microneedling. Also known as Collagen Induction Therapy, it uses needles to create hundreds of micro-channels in your skin. In response to these tiny injuries, your body produces collagen to repair itself, allowing skin to regain a more youthful texture and glow. No harsh chemicals, high results, low downtime. Silver recommends quarterly treatments with a good skin care routine. Unlike laser treatments, which can increase sun damage during the summer, microneedling can be performed year round. “We love our Berkshire summers and teach all our clients to be sun-safe—use a good sunscreen, reapply every two hours, and wear a hat!” —Robbi Hartt
REFRESH & RECHARGE AT CAFÉ RENA
SPECIAL OFFER FOR READERS OF THE B! Book The B’s Go and Glow Package and receive a skin consultation and VISIA scan, two deluxe hydrafacials, four “plain” microneedling sessions (add on microneedling with serum or Vampire Facial at 10% off), 20% off ZO Skin Health and Environ Skincare, and a free custom facial. Value: $2,370 (without add-ons); Price: $2,000 (without add-ons). To purchase, use code TheB online or call 413-441-8453. Must be booked by April 4, 2025.
silversolutionsmedspa.com
BELLA FLORA MAZZEO’S MEAT & SEAFOOD THE CHEF’S SHOP Located along Route 7
BUILDING SOLUTIONS DESIGN BUILD - GENERAL CONTRACTORS GREAT BARRINGTON | 413. 528.4935 CBSBERKSHIRES.COM
Interiors: Carly Jane Design
Voices & Views These Stories Can Only Come from the Berkshires
Tarot with Sheilaa L Hite Great Barrington To read more, turn the page.
PH OTO: BEN GARV ER
Spring 2025 • THE B
27
964 Main Street (Rt7), Great Barrington, MA Open 7 days/week, 10-5 413-644-8848 theberkshiregalleries.com
theberkshiregalleries
Get tickets at BarringtonStageCo.Org
voices & views: Pops’ Corner
In the Cards When our writer was looking for guidance, he found intuitive Sheilaa L Hite. She won his trust—and that of other seekers from around the world. By Pops Peterson • Photographs by Ben Garver I was apprehensive, almost fearful, to have my first tarot card reading by Sheilaa L Hite at Crystal Essence in Great Barrington. I’d recently abandoned my life in Manhattan to run my new business, SEVEN salon.spa, and I was in a funk. The beauty business was a lonely and foreign world for me, having spent my previous life as a freelance writer, singer, and web guru. I knew Sheilaa couldn’t cast a magic spell and fix my depression with the cards. I only hoped she would convince me her gift was real, and that her intuition would offer me some relief. As I took a seat at her table, I was sizing her up. A mane of cascading curly black
braids framed her pretty face and bright red lips, and her large brown eyes were checking me out, as well. She didn’t look happy. “You’re on a small raft, adrift at sea,” she declared, reading her eight-card spread taken from two decks of my choosing. In my hands she had also placed three 12-sided, transparent dice, which I was instructed to roll after envisioning a color and a number. “You feel alone and totally out of your element.” Her thoughtful, accurate assessment wasn’t sugar coating anything, so she won my trust. And by the end of the hour-long session, she did offer me the hope I longed
for. She predicted my neglected talents for music and performing would come together in an exciting way in the spring, and the veil of depression would also be lifted by then. After the three-month wait, not only was my gloom gone, but I unexpectedly found myself featured as a singer in my first national TV commercial! In the 17 years since that encounter, my love and admiration for Sheilaa have steadily grown. I marvel at how she continues to thrive in a career with no guarantees, help, or guidance other than what she gleans from the spirits. Her practice in tarot and astrology has grown to include authoring
Spring 2025 • THE B
29
voices & views: Pops’ Corner books, a monthly blog, YouTube and Instagram content, and a sideline as a tour guide, taking groups on spiritual journeys to discover Paris and the Pyramids. But how does one embark on such an esoteric path? It seems Sheilaa was born for this role. “At birth, my grandmother told my mother and father that I would be a special child,” said Sheilaa when we met recently in her apartment in Lenox. “I was to be dressed in certain colors and listened to carefully. When the cadence in my voice
Tune Up Your Intuition You don’t have to be a medium to trust your gut. Here are a few simple exercises from Sheilaa to help you get started.
changed, my parents were supposed to follow what I said.” Sheilaa’s late parents did indeed follow her sometimes random commands, changing their daily schedules or routes or avoiding situations, which Sheilaa assumes may have prevented accidents or worse fates. Those parents were also conservative professionals, her father a union organizer turned marriage counselor and her mother a nurse turned psychologist, living in Hyde Park, a mixed, middleclass neighborhood in Chicago. And while they routinely obeyed her voice from beyond as well as her dreams, they were vehemently opposed to her pursuing a career based on these same intuitive abilities. “They wanted me to get ‘a real job.’ So I learned I had to live my life without their approval. When this worked, it amazed them!”
Here’s an intuitive “heads up” for the coming months: Since 2025 is a numerological “9” year, as well as the Year of the Snake in Chinese astrology, and the planet Pluto has moved into the visionary sign of Aquarius, we’ll have a lot of opportunities and help from unexpected sources and circumstances that will assist us in reinventing ourselves and finally creating the hopes, wishes, and dreams that had to take a back seat to the old status quo of the past.
Notice recurring thoughts of someone or something. Very often you’re receiving a message that you’ll be interacting with them soon. Write down your dreams. Many important personal messages are given to us in our dreams. The more attention you pay to them, the more you’ll understand your own intuitive “code.” Try “quiet casting.” It’s like casting a fishing net into a lake. Sit quietly and let the thoughts float or drift through your mind and see what information falls into your intuitive “net.” Pay attention to synchronicity. Synchronicity is what happens when a combination of seemingly unrelated events come together in such a way that the combined events spell out a personal message to you. Listen to your body. Notice whether you feel comfortable and safe or anxious and fearful in a situation or around certain people. Please pay attention to those feelings and act accordingly!
What amazes me about Sheilaa is that I always feel better after I meet with her. When I’m struggling with a career decision, or worried about a personal situation, I never regret consulting Sheilaa’s cards. “I love my work,” said Sheilaa. “I love that I’ve been chosen to do it and I love that I’m good at it. Helping people to be happy and feel empowered makes me happy. Life is a grand adventure, and we are meant to enjoy and grow from the experience.” B Pops Peterson is the owner of SEVEN salon.spa in Stockbridge and an award-winning artist.
30
THE B • Spring 2025
Sheilaa’s Astrological Forecast
As this spring sets the stage for the transformation and renewal that these times call for, there will be a fair amount of turmoil (there always is with any kind of change), but that turmoil is the useful kind—it’s like the necessary combining of ingredients in a mixing bowl. The key to moving through it all successfully is to approach the experience as an enriching opportunity, to not take anything personally, and to acknowledge and honor yourself.
sheilaahite.com
ART IN ALL FORMS
25TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON | North Adams, Mass. | massmoca.org Video still from Sometimes your body changes and you don’t remember your dreams, 2024. Two-channel video. Video filmed by Evan Benally Atwood. Sound composed and edited by Jeffrey Gibson and Patrick ‘Reachout’ Coll.
voices & views: What Moves You
My Real Estate, Myself In my 50s, as I became more fully “me,” I found the best place to nurture that evolution.
Once upon a time, from my mid-20s through my late 30s, I believed I’d never leave New York City. For better and worse, I considered myself a lifer—even through times in the ’90s and early aughts when I felt lonely as a single woman and trapped in my tiny rent-stabilized tenement. I would have laughed at you if you’d told me that just a few years later, in 2005, I’d up and leave the densely populated East Village for Rosendale, a rural, funky river town in New York’s mid-Hudson Valley, with the man I’d met on a dating site. A miserable year spent fighting a landlord in housing court had soured us on the city we loved. Suddenly, small-town life, a new adventure for a couple of city mice, seemed appealing. In our 40s, we loved our quarter-acre in sleepy little Rosendale. We lived a creative life in an artsy town. We had designs on someday moving to an even more rural spot, further out from civilization. But then something surprising happened: After nine years, Rosendale had gotten very small on me. I felt desperate for more people, more culture, more bars and restaurants and art galleries I could walk to. I needed a big change. So much of my experience from my late 40s through my late 50s had been about getting to truly know myself, shedding false selves, and becoming The Real Me. I realized that, for most of my time in Rosendale, I’d been suppressing a key part of myself—the part of me that thrives in the hustle and bustle of a city, a part that needed to be nurtured again. I’ve learned this midlife sort of reversemetamorphosis is hardly rare. Through editing and publishing Oldster Magazine since 2021, I encounter a lot of people going through transitions. So many of the men
32
THE B • Spring 2025
“I wanted to live in an environment that once again fed my inner city mouse.” and women who contribute to Oldster tell me that, later in life, they feel freer to tap into the truth of who they are in a way they might not have had the courage to before. For a variety of reasons, they stop caring about whether people judge them, or disapprove of their choices. They want to live the rest of their lives in a way that authentically suits them. I was no different. For me, that meant that I wanted to live in an environment that once again fed my inner city mouse— a bigger part of me than I’d remembered. However, I didn’t want to turn my back on the friends I’d made, and the communities I’d become part of upstate. I also didn’t want to leave behind all the incredible nature I’d come to love. What I needed was an upstate city, a small, affordable metropolis central
to others, and still only just over two hours north of Manhattan. I found all that just eight miles north in Kingston, New York, population 24,000. It turned out my husband wanted a change, too, and so we moved—first, in 2014, to a rental loft in the heart of Uptown, also known as The Stockade, then, in 2018, to a house we bought in the burgeoning Midtown Arts District. (Thank goodness we found our home before the pandemic gold rush that began in 2020 and has never stopped.) In this fairly walkable city—which, during the American Revolution was New York State’s first capitol—I’ve found a greater density of people, more life and creativity going on around us, but also close proximity to mountains, forests, and swimming holes. I’m near the rich culture on tap in the Berkshires, Catskills, and Capitol Region. We love to take relatively short drives, or even overnight trips, to the newly hipsterfied towns in the Borscht Belt. We also enjoy going to hear music at The Egg and The
P H OTO S : B R I A N LO G A N P H OTO G R A P H Y / S H U T T E R S TO C K
By Sari Botton
(413) 997-4444 BerkshireTheatreGroup.org
SATURDAY, 3/15 • 7:30PM
SATURDAY, 4/5 • 7:30PM
THE DRIFTERS, THE PLATTERS & CORNELL GUNTER’S COASTERS
& Asad Mecci (World Renowned Hypnotist)
APRIL 25–27
FRIDAY, 5/2 • 7:30PM
at The Colonial Theatre
at The Colonial Theatre
at The Colonial Theatre
starring Colin Mochrie (of Whose Line Is It Anyway?)
at The Colonial Theatre
Getting to Know Kingston Over just the past few years, the city of Kingston has grown even more vibrant. The arts scene is very much alive, with several new murals appearing on old buildings each October during the O+ Festival, a weekend when artists and musicians trade their work for care from doctors, dentists, and others in the community. (O+, pronounced O positive, now has a year-round medical clinic in Kingston.) Great new bars and restaurants keep popping up in Midtown, like Mirador, a wonderful Andalucian wine and tapas bar that has been featured in Esquire Magazine, West Kill Supply, an outpost of West Kill Brewing, and Kingston Standard, another brewery which has good pizza and beer. In Uptown, Chleo Wine Bar is another great addition, and offers excellent small plates. Lola Pizza has wood-fired pies and great ambiance. And some old standbys remain unbeatable: Le Canard Enchaine, a longstanding French establishment, is still one of the best restaurants in town, and Stockade Tavern, with its retro cocktails, remains one of the hottest bars, some 14 years after opening.
Berkshire Theatre Group’s Production of
COMEDIAN
HENRY CHO THE EMPTY NEST TOUR 2025 GET READY FOR A NIGHT OF NON-STOP LAUGHTER
The Colonial Theatre • 111 South Street • Pittsfield, MA
NEJAIME’S WINE CELLARS Drinks for Every Lifestyle
Linda in Albany, or the Ancram Opera House, or Basilica in Hudson; to take in art at MASS MoCA, in North Adams; to hear The Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood; and to take yoga classes and workshops at Kripalu. If I had any question that I belong here, in 2015 I stumbled on some information on Ancestry.com that suggests I really do—and that I’m actually something of an O.G. I learned from a distant cousin I’ve never met that my ancestors were here in this city from the 1860s to the 1920s, before moving down to the Bronx, and that some of them, including my great-great-great grandparents, are buried here. I now regularly take walks to visit them at Wiltwyck Rural Cemetery, just a mile from my house. B Sari Botton is the author of “And You May Find Yourself...Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo” and editor of two bestselling anthologies of essays about writers leaving New York. She also publishes Oldster Magazine, Memoir Land, and Adventures in “Journalism.”
Wine • Liquor q • Beer • Artisan Cheeses • Specialty Foods • 3 Elm St, Stockbridge • 60 Main St, Lenox Village 413-298-3454 413-637-2221
Open 7 Days, nejaimeswine.com
voices & views: On a Lark
Less Is More A beauty expert pares down— from a natural look to a true minimalist approach— as she discovers what really matters. By Jane Larkworthy
Enjoy transformative wellbeing in your own backyard. Exclusive overnight and day packages for Berkshire residents.
M I R AVA L B E R KS H I R E S . COM 844.286.3061 or consult your travel professional DISCOVER MORE
@miravalberkshires
When I reached the age where I was allowed to wear makeup, I quickly saw it as an inconvenience, and a daunting one at that. Cosmetics weren’t cheap, applying them was time consuming, and, with no artistic skills to speak of, I was pretty helpless at using them. A fish out of water. That would aptly describe yours truly when I landed my first job as the new assistant at Glamour magazine’s beauty department. It was 1984, decades before the tricks of highlighting, contouring, and strobing hit the makeup vernacular. Nevertheless, I was still clueless, barely able to differentiate a mascara wand from a straightening iron. One of my jobs was tidying up the beauty closet. Cue “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka—just replace the chocolate waterfalls with mountains of powders, shampoos, serums, and fragrances. With this gift of basically having every beauty product at my disposal, I was going to figure out “the natural look.” Funnily enough, beauty editors have traditionally not worn much makeup. Given my lack of talent at product application, it was a no-brainer to keep things simple. And thanks to tinted moisturizers offering a sheerer alternative to cakey foundation, and silicone serums that smoothed out my frizz, the future was clear: beauty was becoming more transparent all around. No longer was its motto to cover and conceal, or tame into submission. It was, to borrow from Nice’n Easy, “You. Only better.”
So long as I got my weekly blowouts and my skin was slathered in lotions, serums, and plenty of occlusive moisturizers, the cat eye and the lip liner and the glittery shadow and the other superfluous steps could be skipped. By the time the pandemic hit, I was living in the Berkshires and, along with packing the Louboutins and uncomfortable dresses in storage, I scaled my beauty routine back even more, ditching the blow dryer and encouraging the gray to come out and meet everybody. After all, what better background for a salt and pepper ponytail than a muddy hike? And that wasn’t even the best part; bolts of yellowy-white blond spread out over and under the gray, making my hair appear lighter than it had ever been. Go figure. Maybe I was on to something. Scanning the rows and rows of antiaging bottles and jars and tubes, it was time to reassess the lineup. I kept what seemed to work (calming the redness, bestowing a little suppleness, protecting from the sun) and shared the remains with friends. I felt…lighter, not to mention more expedient in getting out the door. But that doesn’t mean I care less about what goes on my face. I care more—I’m not relying on them to keep up appearances but to make my face (and hair and body) feel protected and well hydrated. Dare I say glowing? Now, excuse me. I’ve got a trail to hike. B Jane Larkworthy was a beauty editor for decades and is currently a brand consultant. She curates beauty and wellness at Scout House in Great Barrington and lives with her husband in New Marlborough.
LIGHTEN UP! These trusty goods should both decrease and improve your beauty routine.
1
Glossier Cloud Paint Blush The tiniest dab’ll get your cheeks looking like you’ve just ripped through the bumps at Catamount, even if sipping cocoa in the lodge is more your speed. $22 | glossier.com
1
2
Blu Green Daily Shampoo Like Razzles (remember Razzles?), but for your hair, each tablet melts in your palm with a little water, then produces a hearty lather with no sulfates, much less a plastic bottle. $32 | bluandgreen.com
2
3
Oak Essentials Cloud Foaming Bath Oil The newest member of founder Jenni Kayne’s skin care offshoot, this oil transforms into calming lavender and sage scented bubbles. $52 | oakessentials.com
4
Sarah Creal Back of the Cab Volumizing Longwear Tubing Mascara Its sleek, easy-to-use thin wand warrants its name, while delivering clean, subtly longer lashes. $40 | sarahcrealbeauty.com
3
4
5
Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm Softening and with a hint of color, this hydrating balm is for the staunch anti-lipstick camp. $24 | summerfridays.com
6
5
Iris & Romeo Skin Cocoon Barrier Glow Serum Every product this brand creates is clean and efficient, including this softening liquid that preps skin for moisturizer, $58 | irisandromeo.com
6
7
7
ILIA Beauty Barrier Build Skin Protectant Cream This whipped formula calms, protects, and reinforces skin’s barrier function— massaging it in is what I imagine liquid cashmere feels like if there were such a thing. $64 | iliabeauty.com
Spring 2025 • THE B
35
w
Whitneys Farm
e work to meet all your landscaping needs. Walk with us and hand select the best plants for your landscape. A one-year guarantee is offered for all plant material installed by Whitney’s Farm. Delivery is available
Landscaping
Farm Market
Garden Center We offer the following services:
Tree Installation (container and balled & burlaped) | Shrub Installation | Landscape Design Evergreen / Privacy Hedge Flowering Shrub Installation | Perennial Garden Installation | Mulching Stump Grinding | Heavy Brush Mowing | Sod & Lawn Installation | Patios/Walkways Retaining Wall lnstallation Pond & Water Features Stone Full Selection of Landscape Supplies including mulch, decorative stone, compost, & topsoil
Shop Our Garden Center
Grass Seed | Lawn Fertilizer | Top Soil | Garden Seeds | Bulbs | Potting Soil | Plant Fertilizer Pest & Disease Control Products | Organic Garden Solutions | Decorative Planters and so much more…
1775 S. State Rd. - Rt. 8 • Cheshire, MA 01225 • (413) 442-4749 • whitneysfarm.com WE ARE A FULLY INSURED COMPANY
voices & views: Digging Deep
Passion Projects As it turns out, embracing a hobby can help you tune into your desires in some surprising ways. By Alana Chernila
P H OTO : A D O B E S TO C K
“How do you feel about singing?” This is where I begin when I’m with a client or a friend and the conversation turns to sex, then to the confession that they just don’t feel desire like they used to. Maybe their partner has more desire than they do. Or maybe it’s not about sex at all, but rather just a feeling of general numbness. Since I’ve begun working in the field of sex and intimacy, this has been the heart of so many of the conversations that come to me: I just want to WANT again. I’ve been there myself. And singing was my pathway in. So often, especially in the case of people who slide into caregiving, it’s easy to let go of our own desires. There was a time that, if you told me I could have anything I wanted in the whole world, I would have paused, troubled by the blank slate in my mind. A clean house? Assurance that my kids would always be healthy? For someone to tell me
what was for dinner? I was so endlessly useful, and I loved being that way. But that use—that necessity that I felt I had for everyone—replaced knowing what I truly wanted for myself. For years, I had talked about joining a choir. I sang in college, not particularly well, but with a joy verging on ecstacy. I loved the harmonies of old church music, of Mozart, of Bach. Year after year, I talked about how I would sing again, and I even settled on the chorus I would join, someday. But every time auditions came around, I argued my way out of it. I was so busy. It was silly to commit to driving across the county on a weeknight, sometimes even in the winter! There were too many other things on my list, and singing had no right to push itself to the top. It would never make me money or take care of my family. It wouldn’t organize the house, and I couldn’t make an argument for it contributing to my physical, mental,
or spiritual health. I wasn’t even a strong enough singer that I would necessarily improve the alto section. But still, I felt a seed of wanting, and pushed it away. In 2021 when Berkshire Lyric advertised auditions, I finally showed up. And I’ve been there ever since, useless in the best way, working hard to read the music, joyfully contributing to a moment that could go on without me, but doesn’t have to. This, it seems, is what people seem to call a hobby. And this hobby, this moment that I commit to and take entirely for myself, has helped to bring desire alive for me again. Why? Because in that front room of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Pittsfield, I’m not a wife or a mother or a worker. I’m just an alto wrestling with Brahms. I go there to be a beginner, to feel the accomplishment of a single measure that felt impossible weeks before. I go to experience the low satisfied hum of the group when we have it, when we all have it. Of course, I know there is plenty of use to my presence at the chorus. I’ve made friends, connected with music, and drawn inspiration into other areas of my life. I believe in the need for music in our community and our world, and when we gather at Tanglewood in June to sing some great masterwork (this year it will be Haydn), I feel deep in my cells that we are providing a service. But it was the lack of use that led me to the chorus, and it’s that sense of curiosity—of play, of jumping into something I’m not necessarily good at and never will be and who cares—that’s shifted my relationship to want.
“A sense of curiosity shifted my relationship to want.” So, how do we find our way back to our own desire? The model of “the emotional floor plan” comes from the neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, but I first learned of it from the great sex educator and author Dr. Emily Nagoski. In her book “Come Together,” Dr. Nagoski offers the emotional floor plan as a tool to help us map the relationship between
Spring 2025 • THE B
37
L uxury
E xpEriEncE RIDES, LIMOS & PARTY BUSES We do all types of transportation • Normal Transportation • Concerts • Airport rides • Weddings • Prom • Casinos • Sporting Events
Se Habla Español
413-347-2963
info@blackluxelimo.com BlackLuxeLimo.com Black Luxe Limousine @blackluxelimousine 555 East Street Suite 2, Pittsfield, MA 01201
BlackLuxeLimo.com
SPIRITED wine • liquor • beer • food
Open every day to share our love of the craft with you! We’ve updated our shop & added more space to grow
The BEST & most curated selection in Western MA!
Stop in to say hello or search our site.
www.spirited-wines.com 444 Pittsfield Road, Lenox, MA 01240 413.448.2274
VOTED BERKSHIRE’S BEST WINE SHOP FOR THE L AST 20+ YEARS!
voices & views: Digging Deep our own primary emotional states to understand where, for us, the erotic is most accessible. Some of these primary emotional states, like lust, play, and care, are more associated with pleasure. Others, like grief and fear, are less so. When we create a visual of our own floor plans, we put these primary states into different “rooms.” The arrangement of the rooms, and the distance between them, is entirely unique to each person. I’ve found that the exercise of the visual floor plan can help give context, not just for the contexts that turn us on, but for the spaces that offer doorways for those turn-ons. For example, I love to be useful and resourceful, and I’m proud of my competency in that area. But by creating my emotional floor plan, it became clear that the UTILITY room was really far away from the LUST room—so far away, in fact, that there are several gates, winding pathways, and hard-totraverse staircases between them. So, what did I do? I looked for ways out of my utility room, trying to identify the spaces that took me closer to the lust room. And when I found something that felt liberated from all that usefulness—an activity that didn’t make money, clean my house, provide care for my family, or even build up my physical or mental fitness—it changed my relationship to desire. It reminded me what it felt like to want something for no other reason than that it gave me pleasure. And that reminder, that practice, opened me up to the thought of what would turn me on—not just in sex, but in every facet of my day. Dinner decisions started to come from the desires of my tastebuds. I found myself heading out for a walk not because I felt that I should, but because I could feel the need for the deliciousness of the air in my lungs, the long stretch of my legs. Just a little bit of wanting led to more wanting, and before I knew it, the numbness I thought was just part of adulthood had shifted. For me it’s singing, but for you it might be horseback riding, or poetry, or embroidery. The beauty of a hobby is that there are usually very few barriers to entry. The very nature of it dictates that we don’t have to know anything to begin, or to accomplish some level of mastery. But I ask, with clients, with friends, with you, now: What is the thing for you that plants the seed of wanting? That doesn’t need you, but pulls you anyway? Where can you go to be useless in the most beautiful way? Go toward it. B Alana Chernila is a writer, coach, and communications specialist whose work spans food, relationships, and travel. She is the author of three cookbooks. As a relationship coach (alanaclaire.com), she helps individuals and couples reconnect with their desires and create deeper, more vibrant connections. She also serves as the marketing and communications director for Guido’s Fresh Marketplace.
Spring
Olivetti 2 Sue Muskat Knoll Great Barrington Gouache on panel, 16 x 20 inches Bernay Fine Art “Visual Verse: When Poetry Meets Paint” March 29-April 27 bernayfineart.com
Spring 2025 • THE B
39
Join The B for our first annual preview of the summer season!
PASSPORT TO SUMMER THURSDAY, MAY 22
5:30–7:30 PM THE BELVEDERE, LENOX sneak previews • special guests concierge ticketing • sips and bites
$35 PER PERSON ADVANCED TICKETING REQUIRED SCAN CODE FOR TICKETS AND INFORMATION
escape THE ORDINARY IN 2025
Meet yourself again. Learn something new. Rest like you mean it.
OMEGA Choose from more than 300 unique retreat experiences. Rhinebeck, NY (90 miles north of NYC)
eOmega.org | 877.944.2002
Local Wisdom
HAPPY & HEALTHY MIND & BODY With the abundance of resources and expertise right here in the Berkshires, nurturing your well-being is as easy as 1, 2, 3.
Spring 2025 • THE B
41
Find Your Fitness Routine with Matt Gnall, director at The Maker Gymnasium in Hudson Matt Gnall works with more gear than you can imagine—including vintage circus equipment—at The Maker Gymnasium, Hudson’s retro-chic and functional fitness center. But some of his best advice is surprisingly simple. Gnall helps clients establish and commit to their workout routines. Here are some tips to help you do the same. D Getting (and staying!) motivated to work out “Identifying your intrinsic motivation is key for starting any new exercise routine. For older adults, health and longevity are big incentives. Once you start feeling good in your body (increased stamina, flexibility, strength through range of motion), it gives you motivation to keep going.” D Establishing a steady workout routine “There’s a saying in fitness that ‘perfection gets in the way of progress.’” His advice? Just show up. “It also helps to eliminate as many barriers as possible—keeping dumbbells and kettlebells in your home makes sticking to your routine easier.” D Staying positive “Recognize that you’re doing something hard that is making you stronger and healthier,” he emphasized. Also: Break bigger goals into smaller segments until the finish line is within reach, and smile through the pain (which reduces the perceived effort of what you’re doing). If you can learn to attach meaning and joy to the routine, he said, the consistency is more likely to follow. —Robbi Hartt themakergymnasium.com
42
THE B • Spring 2025
Turn Hope Into Action with Dan Marko, senior spiritual wellness provider at Canyon Ranch We all have dreams and goals, both big and small. We may hope for change in our personal lives, our community, or the world. Emily Dickinson wrote “hope is the thing with feathers,” but Dan Marko, a senior spiritual wellness provider at Canyon Ranch and 10-year Berkshires resident, says hope is an active, actionable process. “Hope is not optimism,” he said. “It’s an activating force in consciousness.” He describes a trinity of hope, faith, and trust, all balancing and playing off one another. Hope is the awareness that something needs to change (“I want to feel calmer//I miss reading for pleasure”). Faith is the awareness of our capacity to change (“I can start doing breathing exercises//I can turn off the TV an hour earlier”). Trust is the awareness of resources and inner resilience (“I can download a mediation app//I can see if my library has a book discussion group”). How do you turn your hopes into reality? First, identify your goal or the challenge. If you want to stop arguing with your partner, for example, decide that you want to live more peaceably. Then begin taking steps, like making more time to listen, pausing before reacting, and scheduling a date night. Finally, believe that the work you’re doing will result in change in the relationship. Even if it takes longer than you’d like or doesn’t turn out exactly as you picture it, your effort and confidence will truly help your hopes take flight. —Sarah Rutledge canyonranch.com • danmarko.com ILLU STRATIONS L H UZA STUDIO/S HUTTERSTOC K
1
2
3 Love Your Skin with Calla Delsignore, FNP-C, founder, L’io Beauty & Wellness
PHOTO: L’IO B EAU TY & WELLNESS
Calla Delsignore has an innovative approach to consultations: When she first meets with new clients, she doesn’t ask that they list what they’d like to change about their appearance. Instead, she encourages them to share what they love about their looks. This subtle but crucial distinction underscores her mission to provide holistic, humanized treatments that emphasize health and vibrancy. Lifelong Berkshires resident Delsignore worked as a nurse practitioner for 15 years before moving into aesthetics. “I didn’t love certain elements of the traditional spa world,” she said, including anything labeled “anti-aging.” Instead, she highlights the importance of skin care. “You can give Botox to an alligator,” she said, “but it’ll still have alligator skin.” She suggests a simple, nourishing twice-a-day routine: a cleanser with exfoliation or hydration (depending on your skin type), serum(s), moisturizer. Mornings, finish with sunscreen. “Think of your serums as your treatment,” she said. Two must-have ingredients? Vitamins A and C. Vitamin A, usually known as retinol, increases cellular turnover, exfoliates, stimulates collagen and elastin, and prevents fine lines and wrinkles, whereas Vitamin C prevents free radical damage, brightens, and treats sunspots. You can
use separate serums or one that contains both. “I always tell people, you can make it as complicated or as simple as you want to make it.” Once you’ve developed a regimen, she said, you can assess and decide if you want to make any tweaks—always, she emphasizes, keeping selfcompassion top of mind. If you want plumper lips or less defined crow’s feet, Delsignore’s medspa in Great Barrington offers a full menu—including collagen induction therapy, customized facials, microcurrent therapy, chemical peels, wrinkle relaxers (Botox), and fillers—but the emphasis will always be on enhancing your natural beauty. —Sarah Rutledge liobeautyandwellness.com
Spring 2025 • THE B
43
4
Keep Moving—Free of Pain with Nicole DeLorey, L.Ac, C.SMA of Nicole DeLorey Acupuncture and Robert Inesta, DC, L.Ac, CCSP of Berkshire Functional Chiropractic & Acupuncture
“There are so many amazing practitioners here, but we haven’t met anyone who combines the specialties we do in one setting,” DeLorey said. “That’s rare even for New York City.” DeLorey established her practice there, working with elite performers and athletes, among others. She came to the work after needing help herself and feeling that Western medicine had failed her. “I sought out an acupuncturist and immediately got relief.” Inesta also had personal experience that took him down the healing path: He was training intensively (weightlifting and martial arts) when he developed severe nerve and back pain from a herniated disc. One surgery followed by more injury and another surgery led him to seek
PH OTO: NI COLE DELOREY AC UP UNCTURE
Nicole DeLorey and Robert Inesta are both committed to helping others find relief from pain and improve their quality of life. They do so using different, but complementary, techniques: She is an acupuncturist and he is a chiropractor who specializes in fascial manipulation (a manual soft tissue therapy method), among other modalities. Collaboration comes easily to them, as they operate out of the same Great Barrington location—and also happen to be married. They moved to the Berkshires in 2021, wanting to raise their daughter surrounded by nature.
44
THE B • Spring 2025
chiropractic care, manipulation of soft tissues, and exercise to speed his recovery. Forming a trusting relationship with the patient is key to their work. “The role of the doctor is to teach and empower people to be healthy while helping to remove restrictions and overcome obstacles,” said Inesta. His patients range from young athletes to middle-aged people who sit at computers all day to elderly people with autoimmune and chronic conditions. DeLorey started her work treating joint and muscle pain in performers and athletes but has expanded to identifying and addressing underlying causes in people suffering from pain, allergies, anxiety, and digestive issues. Here are their recommendations for setting good (and manageable!) health habits: D Keep moving throughout the day. Robert recommends dynamic stretching before working out and static stretching after. D Balance any action you do repetitively (like running or cycling) with different movements and stretching. Choose activities that include diversity of total body movement (jumping jacks, dancing, martial arts, Pilates) and bring you joy. D Be aware of how you are breathing and listen to your body. D Practice good posture and good mechanics. Pay special attention to tightness or imbalance in the hips, which can transfer stress to the lower back and knees. D Drink a glass of water and walk for 20 minutes when you first wake up— your spine and joints will thank you! D Be proactive—don’t wait for pain to intensify to get relief and support. D Get out in nature—light, fresh air, and beauty reduce cortisol and help you sleep better. —Robbi Hartt nicoledelorey.com berkshirefunctional.com
5 Practice Gratitude by Dr. Maria Sirois, author, psychologist, and teacher at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health When we focus the lens of our attention on the good, it increases in value to us and brings profound benefit. Those of us who approach life with a grateful eye—drinking in the beam of the sun as it sets over Laurel Lake or celebrating a hawk’s swoop over October Mountain—experience physiological calm, optimism, a sense of inspiration, and a reduction in negative thinking and emotions. The more grateful we are, the kinder we are to others: Gratitude softens the heart and triggers one of our greatest virtues, generosity. To bring a sustained sense of wellness in good times, or provide some respite and vitality in difficult times, the wisest of us practice gratitude often and with a regular cadence. Here are a few ways to do so. (For the two daily exercises below, commit to them for two weeks to a month and they may well become a habit you find worth keeping). D Daily Texting Text one thing you find beautiful to one person, or someone new, each day. D Best Moment of the Day Just before you close your eyes at night, recall the best moment of the day. Savor it, bring it into your heart, and let it be the last thought before sleep. D The Gratitude Letter Write a gratitude letter to one person, someone who made a profound positive difference in your life. This provides a sustained boost over weeks, even more so if you choose to share the letter with the person! D Seek and Share the Good For parents, educators, and mentors: We help others develop a more positive view of themselves and their world by sharing stories of those we admire. This can be a dinner table conversation, an assignment at school, or an art project.
Dr. Sirois’ new book, “The Generous Exchange: How Attention to Beauty, Goodness and Excellence Restores Us and Our World,” comes out this month.
mariasirois.com
Spring 2025 • THE B
45
with Cassandra Kennedy, creative expression specialist, Miraval Berkshires
“I have tons of people who come in, trying to warn me ahead of time: ‘I’m not creative. Have low expectations,’” said Cassandra Kennedy with a laugh. As an artist in residence and teacher at Miraval Berkshires, she helps people let go of that thought, in classes for pottery, painting, and more. “But you are,” she said. “The human animal is a creative animal.” Here are some ways to tap into that energy—and why it’s important. It’s about Presence In the beginning of class I tell folks, “You came in thinking that you’re going to learn about making pottery—but first we’re going to talk about being present.” Toward the end of class [when everyone is working on the pottery
46
THE B • Spring 2025
wheel], I check in and say, “How are you doing right now?” People will say, “I’m 100% focused on what I’m doing.” There it is, right there. How often are you just purely present in one thing? It’s about being able to experience that and then figure out how to recreate it. It can be through something very simple and very accessible, like a coloring book. You just have to be willing to dedicate 30 minutes to coloring, which will serve no other purpose than giving you a little bit of decompression time. It’s like you’re in a flow state. It’s about Patience—and Practice People expect to go into a pottery class and be amazing immediately. But you don’t expect to go into a yoga class and do a handstand on your first day. You don’t jump on a tightrope and run across it on the first day. It takes some time and some practice. And
your creativity is exactly the same. You might put a ton of work into something and it comes out of the kiln and you’re like, “That’s not what I wanted.” Just having to do that over and over again builds something in you. And the goal is not to find something that you’re good at, but to find something you enjoy. It’s about the Little Things Your creativity can be waking up and saying, “Instead of having a K-cup of coffee because it’s fast and easy, I want to spice it up a little bit. Maybe I want to have more of a ritual with my coffee because you know what, I’m going to enjoy it so much.” Just getting a little creative with a daily routine can bring a little extra spark of joy. —Amy Conway miravalresorts.com
PH OTO: MI RAVAL B ER KSHI RES RES ORT AND SPA
6
Explore Your Creativity
7 Balance Your Hormones with Christina deRis, NP, founder of Ayuda Wellness Clinic
Naomi Watts isn’t the only person determined to help women embrace menopause rather than fear it. Christina deRis takes an integrative, functional medicine approach, specializing in hormone optimization with bioidentical hormones. After working with Volunteers in Medicine and Berkshire Health Systems for years, deRis opened her own clinic in Great Barrington last July. Ayuda Wellness Clinic, named in honor of her Spanishspeaking mother is dedicated to patients who are looking for more than many traditional doctor’s visits can provide. “My original plan was to help people lose weight through diet, exercise, a personalized supplement plan, and other medications,” she explained. A large part of her practice, however, has become helping patients deal with hormonal changes and their impact—both women and men, by the way (some men experience andropause, often referred to as “male menopause,” an age-related drop in hormones.) “I’m able to conduct lab work, source custom treatment through compounding pharmacies, and relieve symptoms,” she said. Along with treating men during andropause, she helps women deal with mood swings, depression, weight gain, brain fog, memory changes, hot flashes, loss of sleep, tinnitus, musculo-skeletal pain, and loss of sex drive. “As we age, there is a gradual decline in some hormone levels that many people come to accept as their normal baseline way of feeling and functioning. By optimizing levels with bioidentical hormones, which are molecularly identical to the hormones we have in our bodies, patients can start to feel like themselves again.”
Hormone replacement aside, her advice for improving your health “during the pauses” and beyond? D Prioritize getting 8 hours of good sleep a night, aligned with your circadian rhythm. D Minimize screen time (TV and phone) and exposure to blue light an hour before bed (set an alarm, if necessary, to remind you). D Expose yourself to light for 15 minutes when you wake up in the morning. D Avoid processed foods and shift to a whole-food, nutrient-dense diet that’s rich in protein, healthy fats, and fiber. D Make exercise (especially strength training) a regular part of your routine. —Robbi Hartt Ayuda Wellness Clinic is located within the L’io Beauty & Wellness space. liobeautyandwellness.com
Spring 2025 • THE B
47
Get Your Fest On It’s a good time to amplify health and well-being, said Andrew Tanner, co-founder of Berkshire Yoga Festival. “Most people live nine hours a day with their minds on a screen and their body a distant memory. Yoga is a healing balm to return people to a natural state,” he said. And he can’t think of a better place to do it than right here: “The Berkshires are magical.” Tanner moved to the Berkshires because he and his wife wanted to raise their children here. A longtime teacher in the tradition of Korean Mountain Taoist Yoga, he has directed the Kripalu Schools of Yoga and Ayurveda and has been the Chief Yoga Ambassador for Yoga Alliance. Plus, “I’m good at throwing parties,” he said. “I don’t believe the sacred and secular should be separated. We tried to really bridge those two things at this festival. And that’s what makes it feel so wonderful and welcoming.” This “party”—the Northeast’s largest yoga festival—will take place in June at Jiminy Peak in Hancock. There will be 190 sessions with renowned faculty from around the world, including Seane Corn, Krishna Das, Raghunath, Hemalayaa, MC Yogi, Jill Miller, Nikki Myers, DJ Taz Rashid, Leslie Kaminoff, and Jillian Pransky.
48
THE B • Spring 2025
The diverse lineup will include lectures, meditations, bodywork sessions, and much more. Yoga classes may be vinyasa, kundalini, Taoist, or aerial, to name just a few styles. And at “The Future of Yoga,” Tanner will introduce The American Yoga Council and Yoga Lineage Project, a new organization and app designed to empower people to find the best yoga for them by illustrating the lineage of teachers and practitioners in America, much like a family tree. The organization will be devoted to improving the quality of yoga education and helping yoga professionals make a living doing what they love. The festival will also offer the Sensory Sanctuary, with quiet, calming activities; and Vendor Village, free for all to visit, with more than 50 vendors, including local favorites Bear Butter and Lakshmi’s Garden. Tanner is grateful for the local talent and volunteer team. The Berkshires, he believes, is a hub for health and wellness. And what’s best about the festival, he said, “is that you don’t need to be a yoga expert to attend, just interested in being inspired.” —Lara Tupper June 12-15 • berkshireyogafestival.com
Special discount for readers of The B! Enter code B for 15% off
PH OTOS: BERKSH IRE YOGA FESTI VAL
Immerse yourself in learning, connection, and joy at the second-annual Berkshire Yoga Festival.
SPRING CLEANING... FOR YOUR MIND & BODY
Best Burgers In The Berkshires Rotating Selection of 12 Beers on Tap North Adams, MA 01247
(413) 663-6547 freightyardpub.com
Catering the Berkshires for 35 years
(413) 228-3737 Berkshirecateringco.com
Gluten Free & Allergy Friendly Options (413) 412-1090 North Adams, MA 01247
trailhousekitchen.com
MIXING THINGS By Neil Turitz
UP
Recreation, jobs, housing— it takes a creative, multi-faceted approach to revitalize a community. And that’s what Dave Mixer and Mill Town Capital are bringing to Pittsfield. 50
THE B • Spring 2025
Dave Mixer saw an opportunity. After a successful business career and a life of philanthropy that took him all over the world, the Dalton native returned to the Berkshires nine years ago and took on a mission to make change. Pittsfield was suffering. An exodus of industry and human talent meant the downtown was in decline. That would be enough to scare most people off, but for Mixer, it was a chance to turn things around for a place he still loved. “I said, ‘All right, I’m going to do something in the Berkshires,’” he said in a recent conversation at Bousquet Sport. “I didn’t know what it was, but I started talking to people, driving from Williamstown down to the Connecticut border. Over time, I realized that Pittsfield is the heart and soul of the county, and the county doesn’t really work unless Pittsfield is working. That was the genesis of it all.”
PH OTO: AB IGAIL FENTON
In 2016, Mixer established Mill Town Capital and hired CEO Tim Burke; the first step was to refurbish Bousquet Mountain, the 200-acre ski area. They updated equipment, built a new lodge, and turned it back into the kind of attraction it hadn’t been for years, if ever. “If you grew up here, everybody went there, worked there, knew somebody there,” said Mixer. “It’s always been on the verge of falling apart, being held together by duct tape and bubble gum for decades. So we bought it and fixed it up and made it something.” Indeed. Even nonskiers come to the new restaurant, Drifters; the appeal of watching sports on TV or listening to live music is enough to draw an après ski crowd, whether they hit the slopes or not. In 2020, Mill Town purchased Berkshire West Athletic Club across the street from the ski mountain and turned it into Bousquet Sport. A major phase of work was just completed and the fitness center *
The talented team at Bousquet Sport, with Dave Mixer in the middle. They take Mill Town’s mission of “Live, Work, Play” to heart.
“Pittsfield is the heart and soul of the county, and the county doesn’t really work unless Pittsfield is working. That was the genesis of it all.”
Spring 2025 • THE B
51
offers top-of-the-line classes, golf simulators, indoor and outdoor tennis and pickleball courts, and locker rooms verging on luxurious. It has taken on a life of its own. Courts are packed at noon on a weekday. The parking lot is filled. It’s more than just an athletic club, it’s a social entity. “It’s not going to a gym, it’s going to Bousquet Sport,” said Mill Town Director of Marketing Margie Laurin. “It’s a community. It’s really an asset for companies like General Dynamics when they recruit young people.” Making the city a recreation destination is just one piece of the Pittsfield puzzle. When it became clear that companies like General Dynamics were having a hard time recruiting people, Mixer knew that if the city improved, then the people would come. A systemic change was clearly needed.
Back to the Berkshires Mixer grew up in Dalton, graduating from Wahconah Regional High School in 1970— his yearbook photo is at left. After attending Union College and Harvard Business School, he lived in Washington, D.C., and worked at AT&T in the early ’80s during the government breakup of the company. Mixer was in the wireless communications industry before establishing Columbia Capital with future Virginia senator Mark Warner and two other founding partners. In the late ’90s, he went out on his own, focusing on international investments, which led to companies in Russia and China and moving to Miami (all the while giving back to the community where and when he could). He and his wife had a primary home in Rhode Island, where his three grown children were raised, and in the summer of 2016, a problem with the pipes in that home led the couple back to the Berkshires.
52
THE B • Spring 2025
THIS PAGE AND MIXER (OPPOSITE): ABI GAI L FENTON; BOU SQUET MOU NTAIN: COURTESY OF MILL TOWN CAPITAL
Making the city a recreation destination is just one piece of the Pittsfield puzzle. “So we said, ‘All right, let’s see if we can focus on creating vibrant neighborhoods,’” Mixer recalled. They spent a lot of time in the Tyler Street area, renovating some of the apartment buildings and focusing on the area as one of the better opportunities to create a walkable, livable neighborhood. The national housing shortage is evident in Pittsfield, so the idea is to create more units. The problem is that, while the rents in Pittsfield are a third of what they are in Boston or New York, the costs of construction are similar. That means finding alternative strategies to make it work, looking at different financing structures, getting creative. It’s a work in progress.
“If you solve it in one small place, then you can solve it in other places,” Mixer said. “Pittsfield is a great potential test bed for bigger concepts. We hope to partner with the City and State on developing concepts as we continue to test ideas in the Berkshires, as opposed to Pittsfield or Mill Town trying to go alone on everything.” Transforming Pittsfield is the plan, and for lasting and continued change, Mixer points to the Newman’s Own brand as a perfect example. It has handed out many millions of dollars over the decades, but only because it has built a business that brings in enough revenue to keep it running. Mill Town is no different. Everything the company does is with an eye toward the philanthropic, so even though the company has assets that can make money, in the end, all those assets are directed back into the community in some form. “Dave really set the tone from the start, coming from that entrepreneurial mindset that keeps you open for anything,” Burke
Indoor tennis and pickleball, golf simulators, and cycling and other fitness classes are among the year-round offerings. Bousquet Mountain (opposite) has skiing in winter, naturally, and events in the summer.
said. “We’re not overly fixated on, ‘We have to do it this way, there’s no other way to do it.’ If someone brings a program to us, a collaboration, a business idea, or a company or philanthropic idea, we always talk about it to see if there’s a way we can participate, invest, contribute. There’s nothing that’s off the table.” It’s a great way to operate, Burke said, “because it encourages collaboration with other people, other businesses, and other nonprofits, too.” Mixer knows that, in the face of challenges, attitude is a big part of the battle. In case you doubt it, Laurin points out that “live, work, play” is the company’s mission statement. *
Spring 2025 • THE B
53
“I’m optimistic,” Mixer said. “People in Pittsfield have been burned. But the more you can make this a desirable place to live, work, play, the more likely it is you’re going to get economic growth, and companies will decide to be based here. If it happens more than once, then you know it’s working, and the more base work that you’re doing, the higher the likelihood that you’re going to be able to attract great talent.” Mixer points to his own company as an example. Mill Town has more than a dozen employees with hundreds more working for the various entities under its umbrella. Mixer and his team are playing the long game, and they know it. “We’re in the second inning,” he explained. “But we’re in the game. We want to make sure we’re sustaining what we have, and that we can keep doing good things, taking risks, and making investments that other people wouldn’t. Ideally, if you have these sustainable entities, you have money to keep doing impact investing, stuff that’s good for the community. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.” B Pickleball has a passionate following at Bousquet.
Common Ground Festival
Firm Foundations Mill Town’s charitable arms help enrich life in the Berkshires in so many ways. “Ultimately, everything we do supports the Berkshires,” said Dave Mixer, who has put more than $3.5 million of his own money into the Mill Town Foundation, the organization’s charitable arm. It was established in 2019 and supports the community with grants and partnerships for non-profit organizations such as Roots Rising, Morningside Community School, Barrington Stage Company, and Hancock Shaker Village. The Foundation also leads cultural programs such as Common Ground Festival and Wandering Dance Festival. “We have seen ages eight to 80 participate in our festivals,” said Andy Wrba, the Foundation’s program director. “People come from different walks of life and different communities come together.” With their programming expanding, Liliana Atanacio joined the team as a grant and program administrator last fall. She is known to many as the co-founder of Latinas413, which is dedicated to increasing representation of Latinas across Berkshire County. “Her impact in the Berkshires has been nothing short of heroic,” said Wrba. “I feel inspired to be here,” Atanacio said of her new role. “There is no limit to the solutions we can bring to the table, how we’re envisioning change in the Berkshires and in Pittsfield. It’s very empowering.” Most recently, Mixer launched the Mill Town Charitable Foundation, a new nonprofit that encourages the community to give directly, as well. “My resources will continue to be deployed locally and, although meaningful, my funds are limited compared to the needs for philanthropy and impactful investments in the Berkshires,” said Mixer. “It is our goal and hope that others will embrace the Mill Town mission and use the Foundation as a meaningful place for their philanthropic giving and initiatives. Our dream is that our work and funding is a catalyst that will be matched many times over by people who love the Berkshires.” —Neil Turitz
milltownfoundation.org
54
THE B • Spring 2025
PI CK LEBALL: BEN GARV ER; C OMMON GROUND: C OU RTESY OF MILL TOW N FOUNDATION
Mixer and his team are playing the long game, and they know it. “We’re in the second inning, but we’re in the game.”
LEEBANK.COM 413.243.0117 | LEE | STOCKBRIDGE | GREAT BARRINGTON | PITTSFIELD | LENOX
BE ONE OF THE FIRST TO EXPERIENCE
WELLNESS PRO What Makes OsteoStrong Wellness Pro Unique?
• Hyperthermic Infrared Technology Enhances blood flow, reduces inflammation, and supports pain relife.
• BIO-STACKED Modalities: Combines infrared heat, red light therapy, vibration massage, aromatherapy, and Himalayan Salt-enriched air.
• Non-Invasive & NonPharmacological: Safe and effective for all members, with no side effects.
413-931-3211 | greatbarrington@osteostrong.me G R E AT B A R R I N G T O N , M A S S A C H U S E T T S | 3 4 4 S T O C K B R I D G E R O A D
Unlock These Core Benefits • Pain Reduction • Fitness Recovery • Strength Improvement • Mental Congnition • Better Sleep • Anti - Aging
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE F EI GENBAUM FOU NDATI ON; THE FEI GENBAUM CENTER: GILLIAN JONES-HECK
THE FEIGENBAUM FORMULA How the Berkshire brothers engineered a legacy of quality and giving BY CHRISTOPHER MARCISZ
Spring 2025 • THE B
57
58
THE B • Spring 2025
Above: Don’s prized red Toronado, photographed by The Eagle’s Joel Librizzi, outside their office. Left and below: The brothers, pictured together in 1928 and 1948.
Raised on EDWARD avenueIN pittsfield during the depression, the brothersdeveloped an earlysense of hard work and thrift. thesis became “Total Quality Control,” a seminal book that went through multiple editions and translations. “Quality is neither a department, nor a technique, nor a philosophy,” Armand said in 2001. “It is a fundamental way of managing.” Don, five years younger, also attended Union and pursued engineering management, while Armand rose at GE to become worldwide director of
P H OTO S : C O U R T E SY O F T H E F E I G E N B A U M F O U N D AT I O N
he Feigenbaum brothers had a well-tuned sense of how to run a meeting. Armand, the eldest, sat at the head of the table, with younger brother Donald on his left, and Bernard “Bud” Riley, their longtime accountant, beside him. Attorney Emil George sat at the opposite end. Everyone wore a jacket and tie; abandoning the jacket was for the inner office only. Their 90-minute meetings in the early 2000s focused on ensuring The Feigenbaum Foundation’s continuity, with the brothers pressing George—one of the people they entrusted to carry on their work after they were gone—about contingency planning and avoiding mission drift. “They left nothing to chance,” George said. Today, George is the president of The Feigenbaum Foundation, which oversees millions of dollars in grants to local arts, education, and social service nonprofits each year. While the brothers’ names appear on donor rolls and buildings across the region, the foundation’s success 10 years after their passing was born in the methodical approach of their global consulting business. Centered on “Total Quality Management,” it was a system they theorized and implemented for companies around the world from the 1960s into the 21st century. It was their method for breaking down operations, determining where value was lost, and engaging everyone from top to bottom. Their plan was to apply the same rigor to supporting Berkshire nonprofits and their hometown’s cultural institutions. Raised on Edward Avenue in Pittsfield during the Depression, the brothers developed the habits of hard work and thrift early. Armand began as a toolmaker for General Electric in Schenectady and, with the company’s support, earned degrees at Union College and later MIT. His graduate
B O O K : T H E B E R K S H I R E E A G L E ; AWA R D A N D T E L E G R A M : C O U R T E SY O F T H E F E I G E N B A U M F O U N D AT I O N ; M C L A : S C OT T B A R R O W
Armand’s book, “Total Quality Control,” began as his doctoral thesis at MIT. It built his reputation in the field, and eventually led to him receiving the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President George W. Bush in 2008.
manufacturing and quality control. In 1968, they returned to Pittsfield to start their own consulting firm, General Systems Company. Their first client, secured on day one, was Volvo. Major corporations followed: Toyota, Toshiba, and Hitachi in Japan; Pirelli, Volkswagen, and Fiat in Europe; and American giants Citigroup, IBM, and Union Pacific. From their headquarters on Park Square, they built a $20 million a year business. A 1996 BusinessWeek profile noted their aversion to buzzwords and management fads, describing them as engineers solving problems through “roll-up-your-sleeves analysis of each step in a business process.” Armand’s maxim was simple: “Quality is what a customer says it is.” Armand traveled globally as the company’s evangelist, drumming up more business, while Don managed daily operations and became the local
face of the company, serving on various Berkshire institutional boards. Neither brother married; as adults, they lived together on Ann Drive. (In their basement, they had an extensive model train set. The core of it was the Lionel train set they had as kids in the 1930s, their most valued possession since money was tight during the Depression.) As they aged, they focused on their legacy and devoted more time to the charitable foundation they started in 1988. They made major gifts to Union College, where two buildings bear their names, and donated $5 million to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for the Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation. Since their passing—Don in 2013 and Armand in 2014—their careful planning has paid dividends. The foundation’s endowment has grown to more than $95 million, and the three-person board, including George and local business leaders Richard Lombardi and Michael Ferry, maintains a careful approach to ensure stability. They support nearly every arts institution in the region, from MASS MoCA to the Colonial Theatre, along with community events like the Pittsfield Fourth of July Parade. In 2023, they distributed approximately $4 million, against $12 million in requests. Armand’s 1994 reflection on leadership
perhaps best captures their philosophy: “A bad leader is somebody from whom the people turn away. A good leader is somebody whom the people turn towards. A great leader is someone of whom the people say, ‘we did it ourselves.’” B
For more information about the Feigenbaum Foundation and to apply for grants, visit feigenbaumfoundation.org
The Feigenbaum Center for Science and Innovation at MCLA was completed in 2013.
Spring 2025 • THE B
59
60
THE B • Spring 2025
p
Raising theBar Everyone can sip in style with the rise of delicious craft mocktails.
BY A MY CON WAY • P H OTO GR A P H E D BY AB I GAI L FE NTON
Spring 2025 • THE B
61
W
ith more and more of us opting out of alcohol—whether permanently, part-time, or every so often—there’s a welcome movement toward zero-proof drinks worthy of a night out, a fine dinner, or a get-together with friends. The sober (or sober-curious) crowd is diverse and growing. Those in recovery, designated drivers, and pregnant women aren’t the only ones who might like something to sip other than water or soda. Increasingly, people are embracing trends like Dry January and Sober October, looking to redefine their relationship with drinking, or cutting back in light of the awareness that no amount of alcohol— even that fabled daily glass of red wine—is actually good for you. Indeed, studies show that Gen Z is less steeped in alcohol culture, prioritizing a healthy lifestyle and consuming less than Boomers, Gen X, and some Millennials. Skipping the alcohol doesn’t have to mean missing out on a drink that’s creative, celebratory, and crafted to complement a flavorful dish. The drinks shown here are from The Red Lion Inn’s new mocktail menu. Mixologist Matt Szwyd may seek inspiration from a classic cocktail, or dream up new combinations of exotic syrups, acid elements, and other ingredients to make an eye-catching and tastebud-tempting mocktail. An intentional array of zero-proof drinks makes everyone feel welcome, said Alex Brown, who specializes in sober-friendly hospitality and travel, working with both businesses (through his consulting company, Recover Hospitality) and consumers (through his travel agency, CXN Travel). Brown, in recovery himself, has deep roots in the restaurant and hotel businesses. His extended family runs Main Street Hospitality, the firm that manages several Berkshire establishments, including The Red Lion Inn. And together with his mother, Jo Ann Fitzpatrick Brown, he owned Blantyre in Lenox. “My mother would go above and beyond to make sure that guests who weren’t drinking alcohol got a similar level of experience. We had a world-renowned wine cellar, but we also had a variety of very high quality non-alcoholic beverages. And we had five different types of sparkling water.” Catering to the sober set isn’t just an act of inclusivity. It’s good for business. “If you have a better experience, you tend to spend more,” said Brown. “I’ll pay more for quality presentation than I will for something in a water glass.” B
Alex Brown specializes in sober-friendly hospitality. He grew up in the business—his grandfather was Jack Fitzpatrick, owner of The Red Lion Inn, where we photographed these mocktails. Fitzpatrick’s portrait hangs behind Brown, left.
62
THE B • Spring 2025
The Spaghett 0.0 A zero-proof take on the trendy beer spritzer. Make Grenadine: Add 4 oz. pomegranate seeds to Simple Syrup* and cook over medium-low heat until syrup reduces and thickens to the consistency of maple syrup. For each drink: Combine ¾ oz. Grenadine and ½ oz. fresh lemon juice in a glass. Fill with Heineken 0.0. Stir and garnish with dehydrated lemon.
*Simple Syrup: Dissolve 2 cups sugar in 2 cups hot water. Let cool.
Butterfly Kiss
y
A vibrant sip that’s delicately fruity and floral.
Make Tea Syrup: Add ½ cup Harney & Sons Loose Leaf Indigo Punch tea leaves to Simple Syrup.* Steep at least 24 hours.
For each drink, combine 1½ oz. Tea Syrup, ½ oz. fresh lemon juice, and 4 oz. club soda, over ice. Stir and garnish with butterflied lemon peel.
Spring 2025 • THE B
63
Mixologist Matt Szwyd may seek inspiration from a classic cocktail, or dream up new combinations of exotic syrups, acid elements, and other ingredients to make an eye-catching and tastebud-tempting mocktail.”
*Simple Syrup: Dissolve 2 cups sugar in 2 cups hot water. Let cool.
64
THE B • Spring 2025
Solstice Spritz Lite This refresher gets tanginess from a shrub, a syrup made with vinegar and fruit. Make Lemon-Rosemary Shrub: While making Simple Syrup, add ¾ cup white vinegar. Let cool. Add 3 sprigs rosemary and 1 lemon, thinly sliced. Let steep at least 24 hours. For each drink, combine 2 oz. Lemon-Rosemary Shrub, 1 oz. cranberry juice, and 3 oz. club soda over ice. Stir and garnish with pomegranate seeds and rosemary sprig.
“Buzzless” Espresso Martini
The Lime and Leaf
Substitute decaf as desired—and add a little cream for a decadent touch.
Herbal and citrusy, this drink gets its silky texture and frothy head from egg white.
Make Cold Brew Syrup: Add 1 cup cold brew concentrate to Simple Syrup.*
Make Sage Syrup: Add 5 sprigs of fresh sage to Simple Syrup.* Steep at least 24 hours.
For each drink, shake 3 oz. Cold Brew Syrup, 1 shot expresso, and ¼ oz. vanilla extract with ice in a shaker. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with espresso beans.
For each drink, place 1 egg white in shaker (without ice), then add 2 oz. Sage Syrup and 2 oz. fresh lime juice. Shake for 15 seconds to emulsify. Add ice and shake 15 more seconds. Strain into glass and garnish with dehydrated lime.
Spring 2025 • THE B
65
YARN to DYE FOR B Y
L I LY
P H O T O G R A P H S
66
THE B • Spring 2025
B Y
G O L D B E R G A S H L E Y
W E E K S
C A R T
TINA WHITMORE BUILT A BERKSHIRES BUSINESS FOR KNITTERS NATIONWIDE. hen Tina Whitmore was seven, her grandmother’s housekeeper gave her some yarn and needles to keep her “out of everyone’s way.” Decades later, knitting isn’t a distraction for Whitmore—it’s her life’s passion. “I’ve been knitting for, let’s just say, over 50 years,” she said. Whitmore is the owner and “dyer-inchief” of Freia Fine Handpaint Yarns, a North Adams-based small business that produces hand-painted yarn from custom-spun fibers. The signature quality of Freia yarns is their seamless self-striping dye pattern, a feature that allows knitted projects to emerge off the needle into gradients of rich color. Whitmore developed the technique behind her effortless ombrés after realizing that most self-striping yarns changed color rapidly—she couldn’t find a more gradually changing option for knitting, so she decided to create it herself. She hardly thought the business would take off. “I called the company Freia, after my dog—I never actually expected it to become anything,” said Whitmore. Now stocked in 85 stores across the country and Canada, the yarn has become something big. *
Spring 2025 • THE B
67
“My business swallows me whole,” she laughed. Whitmore began the business out of her home on the San Francisco Bay. Having spent her childhood between the Bay Area and England, California felt like home to her—but those in her area didn’t quite understand what she was up to. “Everyone is in tech or the web, developing an app or something like that,” she said. At parties, when she explained her company, people looked at her like “an elephant with three heads.” In 2018, Whitmore decided to move East after a dear friend relocated to the area. She found studio space in the Norad Mill, a North Adams complex housing local businesses like Belltower Records and Tupelo Press. The Norad Mill was once itself a center for textile production, and Whitmore appreciates the history of handicrafts in the space. She also appreciates the view: “If I look out one window, I have Vermont. I look out the other window, I have New York, and I look out the other side, I have Massachusetts. How cool is that?” During her first few years operating in North Adams, Whitmore kept her studio as mainly a production space for dyeing and a storeroom, and only opened to the public on Saturdays. But, these days, visitors can make an appointment to visitthe shop most weekdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m.–2 p.m. to see the magic happen. “We have, I don’t know, 400 skeins of yarn hanging up at any given time,” she said. “It’s kind of fun for people when they come in, because they can see this giant, colorful forest of yarn.” Whitmore’s studio has a small retail corner—dubbed the “Atelier”—stocked with yarn and supplies. The space fills a gap in the Berkshires. After 31 years in Lenox, Colorful Stitches, a beloved knitting store, moved to Williamsburg, Virginia. Whitmore intends for her shop to give back to the Berkshires: 5% of all in-studio sales are donated to local organizations and fundraisers (past organizations have included *
68
THE B • Spring 2025
“IT’S KIND OF FUN FOR PEOPLE WHEN THEY COME IN, BECAUSE THEY CAN SEE THIS GIANT, COLORFUL FOREST OF YARN.”
Spring 2025 • THE B
69
70
THE B • Spring 2025
Berkshire Immigrant Center and the World Food Programme). Freia Handpaint Yarns is offering classes for the first time, as well. In January, Ashley Weeks Cart (who photographed this story and has taught knitting at Williams College), piloted a series of workshops including Knitting for Beginners, Knitting in the Round, and a class on fingerless gloves. “What an opportunity, if you’re learning how to knit, to go into a place that actually makes the yarn,” said Whitmore. Knitting can be frustrating for newcomers, but Whitmore says to exercise patience, and encourages new knitters to come to the shop for tips and tricks if they get stuck. “Don’t be frightened if you make a mistake, because that’s how you learn,” she said. “It’s two sticks and string—just rip it out and start again.” B Freia Fine Handpaint Yarn North Adams | freiafibers.com
Spring Fiber Festivals April 11-13: Fiber Witch Festival Salem, Massachusetts fiberwitchfestival.com April 26: CT Sheep, Wool & Fiber Festival North Haven, Connecticut ctsheep.com April 26: The Chancellor’s Sheep & Wool Showcase Clermont State Historic Site Germantown, New York friendsofclermont.org May 10-11: NH Sheep & Wool Festival Deerfield, New Hampshire nhswga.org May 24-25: Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair Cummington, Massachusetts masheepwool.org
FOR FIBER FANS Here are some of our favorite resources—they offer yarn, classes, knitwear, and more. And many local libraries in Berkshire County host weekly meet-ups for knitters. Colonial Alpacas Williamstown colonialalpacas.com Hilltop Farm Fiber Arts Lanesborough hilltopfarmfiberarts.com Fluff Alpaca Great Barrington fluffalpaca.com Hart GB Great Barrington hart-gb.square.site Lila’s Mountain Farm Great Barrington lilasmountainfarm.com Prado de Lana Farm Stockbridge pradodelana.com Nobletown Fiberworks Hillsdale, New York @nobletownfiberworks The Warm Ewe Chatham, New York thewarmewe.com CountryWool Hudson, New York countrywool.com
Spring 2025 • THE B
71
HOME GROWN WOOL PHOTOGRAPH BY MARY BERLE
ou can’t make yarn without shearing a few sheep—or in the case of Lila’s Mountain Farm, a few hundred. If you want to keep your crafts truly local, this is one good starting point. More than 200 sheep roam the grassy hills of this Great Barrington farm named for founder Lila Berle. Forty years after Lila began her flock, the land has now passed into the stewardship of her daughter Mary—a Berkshires-born educator who formerly served as the principal of Muddy Brook Elementary in Great Barrington, and as the chief educator of the Norman Rockwell Museum.
At Lila’s, sheep are bred for “soft, strong, and bouncy” wool. “It’s really special wool, sort of rare and unknown,” said Mary. “Because my mom grew this flock over 40 years with her own selection criteria, you can’t say, ‘Oh, that’s a Merino.’ It’s a totally unique Berkshire product.” Once the wool is sheared, it enters a hyperlocal supply chain: Green Mountain Spinnery, a worker-owned co-op in Putney, Vermont, processes the wool, and Muriel’s of Vermont, a mother-and-son garment business, knits the wool into sweaters. Local economic interdependence, said Mary, is “a defining piece for the farm. It’s the only way we want to do it.” B lilasmountainfarm.com
72
THE B • Spring 2025
SP ONSORE D CONTE NT
A SUMMER SANCTUARY CLOSE TO HOME:
CAMP HALFMOON
Nestled in the heart of Monterey, Massachusetts is Camp Halfmoon, a welcoming space where local kids can grow, build friendships and develop leadership skills—all while enjoying the beauty of summer nature right in their backyard. “Camp isn’t just about activities,” shares Yael Skikne, the camp’s director. “It’s about creating a sense of belonging, a second home where kids feel safe, supported and free to be themselves.”
A Community That Feels Like Family Camp Halfmoon welcomes campers ages 3 to 17, with a low camper-to-staff ratio of 1:6. Here, each child receives individual attention in an enriching environment that blends the best of local traditions with a global vision. While rooted in Jewish and Israeli traditions, Halfmoon is a melting pot of cultures and perspectives. “We celebrate our shared heritage while embracing the diversity of our campers,” says Skikne. “It’s not about uniformity; it’s about harmony.” Through activities like outdoor adventures, creative arts and team sports, campers connect with their peers and build lifelong friendships. The camp fosters an atmosphere of inclusivity where every child feels valued and heard.
A Break from Screens, A Return to Nature Parents can rest assured that their children will spend the summer engaged in meaningful, hands-on experiences. “Today’s kids are constantly plugged in,” Skikne explains. “Here at camp, they get the chance to step away from screens and rediscover the simple joys of childhood— running through the woods, swimming in the lake and laughing with friends.” One of the camp’s highlights is its ropes course, which challenges campers to push their limits, build resilience and gain confidence. Other favorites include kayaking, arts and crafts, theater, and soccer. Each day is filled with adventure, encouraging kids to step outside their comfort zones and try new things.
Building Leaders and Lifelong Skills Beyond the fun, Halfmoon is dedicated to fostering leadership and personal growth. Older campers can participate in the Leaders-in-Training (LIT) program, where they develop essential skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and communication. Many LITs go on to become junior counselors, passing on their knowledge and experience to younger campers.
“We see so much growth over the summer,” Skikne says. “Kids arrive shy or uncertain, and by the end of camp, they’re leading activities, making new friends and believing in themselves.”
A Summer of Connection and Joy For local families, Camp Halfmoon provides an incredible opportunity to give children a summer filled with joy, exploration and connection— without having to travel far. “The best gift you can give your child is time in nature, surrounded by a supportive community,” Skikne says. “At Halfmoon, they get to be kids again, free from the pressures of everyday life.” With programs designed to inspire confidence, friendships that last a lifetime and an environment where every child feels at home, Camp Halfmoon is truly a summer sanctuary for kids in our community.
JOIN US THIS SUMMER! Spaces are filling quickly for the upcoming summer sessions. To learn more or to register your child, visit our website or call our camp office today!
kimamahalfmoon.org
Spring 2025 • THE B
73
74
THE B • Spring 2025
grace notes A world-class cellist and ground-breaking psychiatrist find harmony at home in Lenox. BY ANN VOL K WE I N P HOTOGRAP HS BY AB I GAIL F ENTO N
At Foothill Farm, tucked under Baldhead Mountain in Lenox, an avant-garde cellist, Maya Beiser, and a renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Rami Kaminski, have created a sanctuary that invites the environment of the Berkshires in to play. It’s a captivating exchange between the light, the trees, and the gardens that provides a serene setting for creativity. The couple lived together mainly in New York City (where they raised their two children, now young adults). But, during COVID, Kaminski discovered he didn’t have to be tethered to the city. “I was born by the sea,” he said. “When we ended up here, I realized how much I like the nature. There’s something about this house; it’s almost like it was meant for us.” He has since attentively indulged in tending a robust vegetable garden, redesigning the terraced gardens, and gently nurturing potted fig trees. *
Spring 2025 • THE B
75
Beiser’s roots, on the other hand, are more connected to the land; she was raised by her French mother and Argentinean father on a kibbutz in Israel. Her attraction to the cello was her first step toward what became a completely original path. They only had violins in the kibbutz, and she had to campaign to get a cello. “We were in a very rich cultural environment that encouraged you to develop an individual expression on the one hand, but, on the other hand, everything had to be decided by the group. So, for me, I developed this incredible desire to just create my own world.” Celebrated violinist Isaac Stern discovered her when she was 12, and that soon led her off the commune and around the world. Her latest album, “Maya Beiser x Terry Riley in C,” was named a Top Ten Classical Album of 2024 by The New York Times, NPR, and the Boston Globe. There’s an undeniably individual intensity to Beiser’s presence, music, and refined aesthetic. While Kaminski tended to the gardens, Beiser’s eye turned toward the interior design. The former barn/ guest house, which they call The Art, is her recording studio. “We found this incredible place in 2021. I just went into
The home’s original section was a small 1838 farmhouse in the New England Federal style. Previous owner (and Broadway producer) Anita Waxman made the most dramatic changes in the ’90s with architect Tim Techler, including a large addition.
76
THE B • Spring 2025
“We reimagined it, but we didn’t design it,” said Beiser. Her first step was to strip and pickle the old wood floors until they glowed and paint all the walls Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White. A proper tabula rasa.
She kept the pops of vibrant color by tile artist Phillip Mayberry in the bath and spa rooms (what she calls “a bit of Versace.”) And she shifted the dining room to what was once the patio, placing the table on the trompe l’oeil tile “rug.”
that barn and thought, wow, you know I really could see myself recording the Bach Cello Suites here.” Beiser explains that, for a cellist, it’s the most iconic of classical music, and, if you’re a serious cellist, you eventually record those suites. “I didn’t know that I could find my own voice. But when we came here, I thought, this is the place where I can allow myself to just be surrounded by nature and find a new way to do it. And that’s what I ended up doing the first two years, just recording those suites.” The result is the album “Infinite Bach,” an acoustically layered, ethereal rendition of the six suites that explores the reverberations and harmonics of her barn studio. *
Spring 2025 • THE B
77
Drama and comfort Kaminski is the founder/director of The intersect here, with a Institute for Integrative Psychiatry and The whimsical serenity to Otherness Institute in New York, but his home the soft, sculptural sofas office is the former vicar’s room, the oldest part and scale of the modern fixtures. Maya and Rami of the house. Beiser stripped away layers of red often chat on the steps paint and gold trim to create his peaceful space, to the kitchen, which where, over the past few years he wrote his opens to the long, skylit upcoming book, “The Gift of Not Belonging: How front hall, warmed by radiant-heat floors. Outsiders Thrive in a World of Joiners” (Little, Brown Spark, June 2025). The book highlights the life experience of people he terms otroverts: those among us who, while being empathetic and friendly, fail to fulfill society’s definition of fitting in, not out of shyness or as a result of marginalization, but out of an inability to feel like they belong. Rather than embracing their innate individualism, they often feel as though something is wrong with them. “You don’t need to belong in order to connect,” said Kaminski. Let that statement sink in, and grasp just how radical a notion this truly is in a world that rewards joiners, one that is focused on defining oneself on so many cultural, gender, and political levels. The question he posits is, is belonging a clear part of human nature? Aren’t we all in essence born as non-belongers?
78
THE B • Spring 2025
A spiral staircase leads from the lower living area of the barn to Maya’s studio, where a wall of windows, curved outward like the bow of a ship, allows the sunlight and rock garden below to permeate the recording space.
I just went into that barn and thought, I could really see myself recording the Bach Cello Suites here.”
The book’s message is imbued with tenderness, helping to define the gifts inherent in being an otrovert. As one of Kaminski’s clients observed, the book is both validating and a kind of guide. Not belonging can lend great freedom and fulfillment in life, and otroverts can have an outsize impact on the world, contributing unique and alternative perspectives outside of the modern communal brain. “Belonging is something that we are indoctrinated to believe,” said Kaminski. “The most important thing is to enjoy being yourself. Because you are the only one in the world that lives your life. And so, your responsibility to your life is enormous. You are allowed to define yourself for yourself.” Their home allows them to do just that: “We can exist in this space, each in our creative worlds,” said Beiser. B
Spring 2025 • THE B
79
EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING
CO M I N G Audi Lenox
2 02 5
BMW of Lenox
DAFFODIL & TULIP FESTIVAL THURSDAY–SUNDAY, APRIL 18–MAY 11 Stockbridge MA | thetrustees.org/naumkeag
Volkswagen of Lenox
Field Guide Where to Stay Around the Berkshires
Doctor Sax House Lenox Your hosts: Bryan and Kelly Binder (and daughter, Camille). For more, turn the page.
Spring 2025 • THE B
81
field guide: Getaways
Cool Vibe Alert
Style and Substance Doctor Sax House may be new to the scene, but with its chic setting and welcoming events, it’s catching on fast. By Lily Goldberg • Photographs by Tricia McCormack
With its black and white checkered floors, chic bar, elegant guest rooms, and beatnik namesake, Doctor Sax House—a new boutique hotel in Lenox named for a 1959 Jack Kerouac novel—offers a sophisticated stay for guests looking to relax in the Berkshires. But it isn’t just for out-of-towners and honeymooners. Hosting DJ sets, social circles, wine tastings, and more, owners Kelly and Bryan Binder have quickly turned Doctor Sax into a “local salon” that attracts creative and curious Berkshires residents all year round. “What we really believe in is the stewardship of this area,” said Kelly.
82
THE B • Spring 2025
“We feel very responsible for adding to it and making it better.” The Binders—previously residents of New York City and East Hampton, New York—relocated to Great Barrington in May 2024, four years after they set eyes on the property at 35 Walker Street. It was love at first sight. In November 2020, they closed on the historic house, and in 2022, they began to renovate it into the boutique property it is today. As frequent visitors to the area, the Binders knew that Lenox had “wonderful places to go to dinner,” what they felt
the town lacked was a casual space to hang out and chat. The property where Doctor Sax House now sits has a long history of socializing. The building was originally erected in 1874 as a cottage for a Gilded Age estate, and is perhaps best known for housing the Candlelight Inn, a lively landmark with a strong local following. Since the Candlelight closed in 2004, many longtime Lenox residents have been anxiously awaiting the property’s new life. “One of the first things we did was invite all of the members of the Lenox Chamber
business assistance | flexible loans | microgrants
of Commerce into the space,” said Kelly. The experience spurred a “cocktails and conversations” series—the kind of mingling Doctor Sax is all about. “There’s space where someone could be writing their next book, and then later that day, that same room could have a very lively party atmosphere,” said Bryan. Since opening in July, the Binders have continued to champion community at Doctor Sax: they’ve partnered with local organizations WAM and the Berkshire International Film Festival, hosted holiday events for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, and furnished their rooms with textiles and candles from local businesses. They’ve welcomed travelers from France and friends from down the street. And their hip approach has attracted an intergenerational crowd: at any given hour in the hotel’s cozy lobby lounge, you might see young travelers enjoying a laugh, chic older residents having a drink, or the Binders’ young daughter toddling about. “I think the Berkshires is honestly on its way to becoming an ageless place,” said Kelly. “It’s more about the attitude and the vibe that you’re showing up with.”
Who is Berkshire Agricultural Ventures? We’re a community nonprofit helping farmers in the Berkshire-Taconic region grow and thrive. Together, we’re supporting a stronger, more resilient food system.
Scan here to learn more, support us, and stay in touch!
SEASON 2025 TICKETS & FLEXpassEs ON SALE NOW!
The Doctor Is In Here are just a few of this spring’s events— for more, visit doctorsaxhouse.com March 15: Bring the Ruckus Live music, DJ Soren, craft cocktails, and an atmosphere worthy of a Scorsese classic. In collaboration with the Berkshire International Film Festival. April 12-14: Augusta in the Berkshires Elevated Southern fare, mint juleps, and screens showing the Masters in a low-key luxe vibe. April 27: Club Aloysius Official Opening This curated boutique blends one-of-a-kind vintage treasures with modern, elevated essentials. May 12: Mother’s Day Jazz Brunch Classic brunch with fresh flowers, mimosas, and jazz trio.
Left to Right: Javier David, L. James, Madeleine Rose Maggio, David Gow, Naire Poole, Sharmarke Yusuf and Evan Stevens, The Comedy of Errors, 2024. Photo by Nile Scott Studios.
Get Tickets: 413.637.3353
SHAKESPEARE.ORG
HL Propane
field guide: Getaways
Co. Inc.
Route 20, West Lebanon, NY • www.hlfuel.com Monday thru Friday 8 am to 4 pm
ALL PROPANE IS THE SAME
OURS IS CHEAPER!!
Vacay or Staycay? Whether you’re traveling in from afar or want to stay close to home, the region’s resorts, hotels, inns, and B&Bs will provide a relaxing escape—and access to everything that the Berkshires has to offer. Here are some to consider for your next getaway.
We Beat ___ ANY Competitor’s Price! Heating System Installation Automatic Delivery
CALL TOLL FREE 877-794-9066 OR 518-794-9066
MASSACHUSETTS A DA M S
The Trail thetrailinadams.com
East Rock Inn eastrockinn.com
Canterbury Farm canterbury-farms.com
The Little Lion thelittlelioninn.com
Brook Farm Inn brookfarm.com
CHE S HIR E
LA NE S B O RO U G H
Canyon Ranch canyonranch.com
NOW BOOKING events of all kinds! We're here to bring your dreams to reality! www.onlyinmydreamsevents.com info@onlyinmydreamsevents.com 413-528-0285
EG R E M O NT
LE E
Egremont Village Inn theegremontvillageinn.com
Black Swan Inn blackswaninnberkshires.com
VOTED BEST GIFT SHOP IN 2022 & EVENT PLANNER IN 2024!
F LO R IDA
Chambéry Inn chamberyinn.com
Please check our Google page for up to date hours 45 Main Street, South Egremont, MA 413-717-9008
33 Main thirtythreemain.com Apple Tree Inn appletreeinnlenox.com
Harbour House harbourhouseinn.com
Offering GIFTS both local and unique!
LE NOX
Granville House granvillehouseinn.com
B ECK E T
VOTED BEST WEDDING PLANNER 3 YEARS IN A ROW!
G R E AT BA R R INGTO N
Blue Vista Motor Lodge bluevistamotorlodge.com Spectacular Views l Outdoor Hot Tubs l Sauna SPONSORED
Pool
Pet Friendly
Lakehouse Guest Cottages berkshirelakehouse.com
Devonfield Inn devonfield.com
The Constance thelenoxcollection.com/ constance The Cornell Inn cornellbb.com The Dewey thelenoxcollection.com/dewey Doctor Sax House doctorsaxhouse.com
PHOTO: JUNE FARMS
Is planning your WEDDING OR EVENT causing you stress? Are you looking for the PERFECT GIFT for yourself or someone else?
Created to feel like a children’s storybook come to life, JUNE FARMS in West Sand Lake, New York, encompasses 12 unique cabins and doubles as a small farm, with Scottish Highland cows, giant Shire horses, pigs, dwarf goats, sheep, and more just waiting to meet you. Add-on experiences include opportunities for cow brushing, animal feeding, and guided farm tours. junefarmscabins.com
Gateways Inn gatewaysinn.com Hampton Terrace Inn hamptonterrace.com Life House Berkshires lifehousehotels.com/ hotels/lenox/berkshires Miraval Berkshires miravalresorts.com/ berkshires Stonover Farm stonoverfarm.com The Whitlock thelenoxcollection.com/ whitlock The Yankee Inn yankeeinn.com
N EW MARL B O RO U GH
Gedney Farm gedneyfarm.com
Gatherwild Ranch gatherwild.com
STO CK B R ID G E
NEW YORK
HI L L S DAL E
The Inn at Stockbridge stockbridgeinn.com
A M E NIA
Brooks Motel thebrooksny.com
N O RTH ADAMS
Red Lion Inn redlioninn.com
Hotel Downstreet hoteldownstreet.com Porches Inn at MASS MoCA porches.com TOURISTS Welcome touristswelcome.com PI TTSF I EL D
Hotel on North hotelonnorth.com RI C H MO N D
NEW ASHFORD
The Springs Motel springsmotel.co
SH EF F I EL D
Pet Friendly
Williams Inn williamsinn.com
The Old Inn on the Green oldinn.com
The Inn at Kenmore Hall theinnatkenmorehall.com
Pool
Wilder House wilderhouseberkshires.com
Race Brook Lodge rblodge.com
Stockbridge Country Inn stockbridgecountryinn.com W E ST STO CK B R ID G E
Shaker Mill Inn shakermillinn.com W ILLIA M STOW N
Guest House at Field Farm fieldfarm.org Mezze Guest House mezzerestaurant.com/ mezze-guesthouse
Troutbeck troutbeck.com CO PA K E
The Alander thealander.com E AST CHAT HA M
Hillsdale House hillsdalehouse1797.com Little Cat Lodge littlecatlodge.com
The Inn at Silver Maple Farm silvermaplefarm.com
HUDS ON
G E R M A NTOW N
Howard Hotel howardhotel.net
Central House the Inn centralhouseny.com
Amelia Hotel theameliahudson.com
G HE NT
Hudson Mariner Hotel hudsonmariner.com
The STAY at Liberty Farms thestayatlibertyfarms.com
Hudson Milliner Hotel thehudsonmilliner.com
Set among 300 acres of Williamstown field and forest protected by The Trustees of Reservations, the GUEST HOUSE AT FIELD FARM is a mid-century-modern bed-and-breakfast where guests can walk out the front door for a leisurely hike, ski, or snowshoe. fieldfarm.org
FI ELD FARM: DAV ID EDGECOMB
Spring 2025 • THE B
85
FURNISHED CONDO FOR RENT
field guide: Getaways Hudson Navigator Hotel hudsonnavigator.com
Bright, modern, fully-furnished 2+ bedroom, 2-bathroom luxury loft apartment overlooking the Green River. Walk to Spring Street, Williams, Clark Art. Chef’s kitchen, 75” TV, highspeed Internet, in-unit washer/dryer, 2 parking spaces in professionally managed building. Rent includes all utilities & extensive amenities with optional cleaning. Available for academic-year & possible summer rental.
Hudson Whaler Hotel hudsonwhaler.com The Maker themaker.com Nautical Nest nauticalnesthudson.com The Nest nesthudson.com Rivertown Lodge rivertownlodge.com The Wick thewickhotel.com Wm. Farmer and Sons wmfarmerandsons.com K IND E R HO O K
Old Dutch Inn theolddutchinn.com Pool
Arts, Culture, News & Must-Do’s
THE B’S FREE BIWEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER!
Stay in the know! Scan code to sign up.
R HINE B ECK
Omega Institute eomega.org
CONNECTICUT CO R NWA LL B R ID G E
Cornwall Inn cornwallinn.com FA LLS V ILLAG E
Falls Village Inn thefallsvillageinn.com K E NT
Kent Collection kentcollection.com LA K E V ILLE
Interlaken Inn interlakeninn.com Wake Robin Inn wakerobininn.com LITCHF IE LD
The Abner Hotel theabnerhotel.com
Litchfield Inn litchfieldinnct.com Lost Fox Inn lostfoxinn.com M O R R IS
Winvian Farm winvian.com NO R FOL K
Blackberry River Inn blackberryriverinn.com SA LIS B URY
White Hart Inn whitehartinn.com 9 Academy 9academyct.com WAS HINGTON
Mayflower Inn & Spa aubergeresorts.com/ mayflower
—Compiled by Zoe Leindecker
Pet Friendly
A historic former courthouse, THE ABNER HOTEL in Litchfield, Connecticut, opened last fall, along with its aptly named restaurant, The Courtroom, and rooftop bar, Verdict. Take your rest in former judges’ chambers and meet up with “clients” for a cocktail by the fireplace in The Parlor. Additional spaces, The Lockup and The Tower Room, can be rented for special events. theabnerhotel.com
PHOTO: THE ABNER HOTEL
WILLIAMSTOWN
THE ART OF
DESIGN MORRISON'S HOME IMPROVEMENT LENOX, MA 01240 | MORRISONSHOMEIMPROVEMENT.COM
Specialist, Inc.
last look: From the Archives
The Berkshires has long been a destination for summer society. Notable visitors of yore—including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, actress Lillian Russell, and John D. Rockefeller Sr.—often stayed at the Aspinwall Hotel in Lenox. Built in 1902 by lawyer, businessman, and Civil War officer Thomas H. Hubbard, the spacious property held Gilded Age dance parties in its vast ballroom; its rooms could sleep up to 400 guests. In the early 1930s, the hotel burned down and was never rebuilt. But visitors to Lenox can still visit the hotel's former driveway and trails: In 1956, the land was sold to the town for just $12,000, and the former site is known today as Kennedy Park. —Lily Goldberg
88
THE B • Spring 2025
P H OTO : C O U R T E SY O F T H E L E N OX L I B R A RY A S S O C I AT I O N
A Grand Past
Fresh Sustainable Seafood
All North Coast Seafoods seafood is caught, farmed or harvested using environmentally friendly methods that create more efficient processes with minimal impact on natural resources. SCAN TO LEARN MO MORE RE