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All Hail Halloween!
By Bess Hochstein
October 2008
It’s beginning to look a bit spooky here in the Berkshires, as the low sun casts long shadows, and night falls earlier each day. Street-corner scarecrows are popping up in West Stockbridge and Pittsfield, the latter of which is part of the city’s second annual HayMan! community art endeavor, funded by the Berkshire Bank Foundation, and facilitated with help from Cultural Pittsfield and the Storefront Artist Project. It won’t be long before wildly creative, Halloween-themed drawings by local students fill the storefronts in Great Barrington. Pumpkins are proliferating – as well as other gourds of all colors, shapes, and sizes -- at every local farm stand.
 We've been fortunate to have fantastic foliage weather as autumn progresses. Columbus Day Weekend brought absolutely peak leaf-peeping conditions – clear blue skies and temperatures reaching into the 70s for an undisrupted stretch of days. K & I have been taking a lot of hikes with Duffy & Hobbes, enjoying the colors, the fresh air, and the warm sun at our favorite spots, such as Kennedy Park and Tyringham Cobble, as well as an even lesser-traveled property of The Trustees of Reservations, McLennan’s. It was perfect weather for the Coaching Weekend, which brought crowds to see Victorian-era horse-drawn carriages with drivers and passengers in glorious period attire, making stops for luncheons and presentations at Shakespeare & Company, Norman Rockwell Museum, and The Mount.
While the outdoors has beckoned, we’ve also been drawn indoors by some special events. A recent Friday found me at a sold-out concert by folk singer Dar Williams at the Mahaiwe, and back again the following weekend, when I missed about two hours of prime sunshine to join a very different sold-out crowd for the live-in-HD broadcast of Salome from the Metropolitan Opera, which was a revelation. People dressed up and applauded, as if they were actually in the Manhattan audience. Also, the pre-show backstage antics were quite colorful. Ambushed by Deborah Voight while leaving her dressing room to perform, Finnish soprano Karita Mattila predicted she would kick some butt (she used a different word) on stage. The Mahaiwe has more great performances in store, including Close Encounters with Music’s seasonal kick-off, Crown Jewels: A Musical Tour Through Europe’s Princely Courts on October 18; acclaimed singer/songwriter Richard Thompson on October 25; and a beautiful kid’s program incorporating puppetry and collage work on October 26, Leo Lionni’s Swimmy & Other Stories, as interpreted by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia; as well as a bit of electoral levity on November 1 called Thalia Follies: At Last – An Election! from Symphony Space, featuring political parodies performed by Jane Curtin, James Scheffer, and others. 
Last Friday weekend I took my friend Diane to North Adams, first for dinner at Jae’s Inn, then to MASS MoCA to see Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. She didn’t realize she was in for an evening of men in tutus en pointe, dancing classics such as Swan Lake, and she laughed herself silly. The next day was non-stop – our regular visit to the Great Barrington Farmer’s Market; an opening reception at Lauren Clark Fine Art for a show of local artists; an expedition to the Pine Cone Hill tent sale at Aspinwell, where we bought an indoor/outdoor rung for our new screened-in deck at a bargain price; and another opening reception at Ferrin Gallery to see local artists’ interpretations of To Kill a Mockingbird where we met artist Emmett Leader, recently profiled in Berkshire Living, who explained his fascinating installation, Sukkot: Celebrating the Impermanent. On the way home we put in a call in to Bombay Bar & Grill to order takeout– a wise decision as the place was jam-packed when we arrived.
 I was also among the lucky ladies invited to the Morgan House for its inaugural high tea service, which I’m pleased to report was delightful and, according to my tea-savvy companion, perfectly authentic. We helped ourselves to three tiers of treats, including watercress and cucumber tea sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and strawberry preserves, and an assortment of palate-pleasing pastries. The spread was accompanied by an intriguing selection of teas, including sencha, assam, white vanilla grapefruit, and hot cinnamon spice. I can’t wait to take my mother, or a group of girlfriends!
Tuesday, October 21 I’ll be at Hancock Shaker Village to learn about green initiatives undertaken by municipalities – hopefully I’ll get some ideas we can implement in Tyringham. After that, I’ll head to Great Barrington for Member Appreciation Day at the Berkshire Co-op Market; we’ll get 10% off all purchases. Wednesday it’s off to Manhattan for MASS MoCA’s annual benefit, which should be a swell affair, featuring a performance by Yo La Tengo and an auction with fabulous lots, such as trips to the Sundance Film Festival or Chateau Haut-Bailly in Bordeaux, plus original artwork by influential painters, sculptors, and photographers such as Ed Ruscha, Edward Burtynsky, and Alexis Rockman. (If you can’t make it to the benefit, there’s still time to get an absentee bid form on the museum’s website.) I’ll be back in time for the Mahaiwe’s Richard Thompson concert on Friday October 25.
All of this leaves me little time to plan my Halloween costume, and I need a good one since we’re going to a costume party at Crissey Farm, the new, green function hall attached to Barrington Brewery. Maybe inspiration will strike when I finally get to Shakespeare & Company’s family-friendly adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s tale, The Canterville Ghost. I hear it’s more funny than scary; either way, it’s sure to get me in the mood for the spooky season.
About Bess Hochstein
Bess J.M. Hochstein came to the Berkshires as a second-homeowner before deciding to move here full time. Previously a communications executive, she's now a freelance writer living in Tyringham with her corgis Duffy and Hobbs and K. She writes for several publications, including Berkshire Living, the Boston Globe, New England Wine Gazette, and Healing Lifestyles & Spas magazine.
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