Arts & Life
Three County Fair back for another ride: 35K expected to attend annual event that kicks off Friday
By MADDIE FABIAN
NORTHAMPTON — With a sunny forecast and a schedule packed with agricultural events, music, motor sport activities, food and local art, the 206th Three County Fair is set to kick off Friday and run through Labor Day on Monday.First been held in 1818,...
The artwork has landed: Art in the Orchard returns to Easthampton for its seventh season
By STEVE PFARRER
Along with its varieties of apples and other fruit, Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton now has some larger objects available, though just for viewing: artworks.Art in the Orchard (AitO), the biennial exhibit of outdoor sculpture and installations, has...
ARHS grad’s film shot in region to make debut
By Scott Merzbach
AMHERST — Playwright Annie Baker’s feature film directorial debut, featuring location shoots in Amherst, Hadley and Leverett in summer 2022, will be shown at the 61st annual New York City Film Festival this fall.The festival, running from Sept. 29 to...
Trailer for ‘The Holdovers,’ to be released this fall, features recognizable locations
By BELLA LEVAVI
With “The Holdovers” trailer giving them a sneak peak, Franklin County residents are likely to recognize many familiar locations when the film is released in November.Many scenes were filmed at Deerfield Academy and Northfield Mount Hermon School,...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: Daylilies provide maximum pleasure with minimal fuss
By MICKEY RATHBUN
When I was growing up in Virginia, the roadsides in summer were lined with orange daylilies. These are sometimes called “ditch lilies,” an unfortunate moniker for these tirelessly cheerful flowers that never flag in the face of relentless heat or...
‘A hobby that has no limits’: Hampshire County Radio club loses flying field after 60 years
By MADDIE FABIAN
Somewhere between 35 and 40 flyable model airplanes fill the basement, garage and two bedrooms in David Wartel’s Hadley home. And that doesn’t even account for the planes that are under repair.Wartel is just one of the 100 or so members of the...
A kayaker’s chronicle, part three: Cleaner river flows through state from Valley efforts
By ANNA LAIRD BARTO
Editor’s note: This is the last of a three-part series chronicling the current state of the Connecticut River as it runs through Massachusetts, in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to limit the Clean Water Act. In Part 3, writer Anna...
A change of the guard: Eric Carle Museum taps new executive director
By STEVE PFARRER
AMHERST — A significant change is afoot at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, where a new executive director is poised to come on board.Jennifer Schantz, who has an extensive background with a number of organizations in New York City, will...
Soaring toward success: 3,000 feet in the air, Valley teens learn leadership, responsibility in Civil Air Patrol’s cadet program
By CHRIS LARABEE
High above the Pioneer Valley and the rolling hills of the Berkshires on a hazy evening, rising Northampton High School senior James Bertone-Johnson made an announcement to the other two passengers.“I have controls.”At that moment, nearly 3,000 feet...
The Beat Goes On: David Wax Museum in Hatfield, Shakey Graves, Lucius and Roger Salloom at the Pines Theater, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
In recent years, David Wax Museum, which mixes Americana influences with pop music and traditional Mexican folk sounds, had spent a lot of time recording a new album, “You Must Change Your Life,” that the group — the husband and wife duo of David Wax...
North Square at the Mill District in Amherst continues to come to life
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — A cake shop and a coffee roastery opening at the North Square at the Mill District in the coming weeks are vital components for making the mixed-use development a more vibrant community and gathering spot in North Amherst.“We’re really...
Expanding perspective: Porter-Phelps property in Hadley wins designation as larger National Historic District
By STEVE PFARRER
In 1973, the Porter-Phelps-Huntington house in Hadley, which dates to 1752, won designation on the National Register of Historic Places, the federal program that supports and coordinates efforts to protect the nation’s historic and archeological...
A kayaker’s chronicle: Part two of three: Water’s out below Turners Falls dam; farmer explains exemptions to Clean Water Act
By ANNA LAIRD BARTO
Editor’s note: This is part two of a three-part series chronicling the current state of the Connecticut River as it runs through Massachusetts, in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to limit the Clean Water Act. In part two, writer Anna...
The Beat Goes On: Banjo master in Amherst, Diana Krall in Northampton, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
Long recognized as one of the modern masters of the banjo, Tony Trischka has been a big influence on different styles of progressive bluegrass and a guy who’s woven elements of other music — jazz, psychedelic pop, Great American Songbook tunes — into...
Book Bag: Can they find love at old folks’ home? ‘The Road Towards Home’ by Corinne Demas
By STEVE PFARRER
The Road Towards HomeBy Corinne DemasLake Union PublishingAmherst author Corinne Demas, a former professor of English at Mount Holyoke College, began her literary career writing primarily for adults, including some novels and short story...
More than ‘The Scream’: New exhibit at Clark Art Institute considers the artwork of Norway’s Edvard Munch
By STEVE PFARRER
Even if you don’t know much about art, at some point you’ve almost certainly seen Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” one of the most iconic artworks of the modern era: a strange, skeletal figure clutching its agonized face, its mouth an oval of horror,...
Sunderland psychologist, inspired by personal experience, is expert in field of religious trauma
By LIESEL NYGARD
It was during her freshman year of college that Marlene Winell’s faith in Jesus began slipping.As a child of missionaries, Winell had grown up dedicated to spreading the word of Christ, attending Christian rock concerts and witnessing baptisms on...
Trusting children’s inner artist: Hartsbrook School’s Creativity Camp launches inaugural season
By MERCY LINGLE
Senna Kahn, a rising third grader at the Hartsbrook School in Hadley, claims that when she draws she doesn’t “usually make things, I just let my hands guide me.”She reported this while coloring in a mandala that she had created under the guidance of...
A kayaker’s view of the Connecticut River’s run through the state: Part One
By ANNA LAIRD BARTO
Editor’s note: This is part one of a three-part series chronicling the current state of the Connecticut River as it runs through Massachusetts, in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to limit the Clean Water Act. In part one, writer Anna...
Book Bag: Debut novel by Dean Cycon tells the story of a fraught WWII homecoming for Holocaust survivors
By STEVE PFARRER
Finding Home (Hungary, 1945)By Dean Cycon; Koehler Books A common image from the end of World War II in Europe is that of cheering crowds of people welcoming Allied troops in towns and cities that had been liberated from the Nazis.A lesser-known and...
