WOW! What O’ Winter!
By Ann Claffie
March 2008
No doubt the winter season of 2007-08 will go down in history as one of the best! The amount of snow the Berkshires received has produced an incredibly fun winter. And even though March is here, area resorts continue to groom trails for ski racers and snowboarders.
For my family, I think the favorite winter sport is sledding. Surrounded by hills, it’s easy to choose a nearby slope for an afternoon of sledding and enjoying the great outdoors. Often the fun continues inside, finishing off the day with a cup of hot chocolate and freshly made popcorn.
Other than winter fun, I have my sight focused on the end of the month. Bing! Bang! Bong! Three terrific events will happen, one right after the other.
On March 28, my family will head to Great Barrington to see MOMIX at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. MOMIX, a company of dancer-illusionists under the direction of Moses Pendleton, creates settings for the audience to decide—is it illusion or reality? Dancer-illusionists fool the viewer’s eye using props, light, shadow, humor and the human body. MOMIX has been entertaining crowds over the past 20 years.
Yippee! March 29 is the grand opening of the Berkshire Museum's new gallery, the Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation. From science and business, to politics and education, to the arts and culture, the Feigenbaum Hall of Innovation, with its interactive exhibit, features local thinkers from all across time.
“Will I learn how to make things disappear, you know, for real?” son Robert asked me.
Gee, I’m not sure I answered him. (I always wanted to learn how to become invisible; maybe seeing the birth of other inventions will help me.)
On March 30, The Clark in Williamstownhosts Ralph’s Worldat 11 a.m. Created by songwriter Ralph Covert, this fun musical for kids all ages, including parents, is inviting for singing and dancing. Parents and grandparents will delight hearing familiar tunes with great fun for all.
Perhaps I’ve experienced so much winter fun this year because I managed to make it this far without a cold—until now. My head’s ready to pop at Mach speed, my voice has lowered several octaves— moving me to a baritone—and my nose rivals Niagara Falls! But, luckily I’m Irish and `tis an amazing thing that happens when the wee folk come calling on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17. We’re miraculously healed long enough to enjoy an Irish dinner – corned beef and cabbage, carrots, onions and celery, red potatoes and Irish soda bread. Already I can hear the lilting o’ the pipes and the singing; I see the pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow and—what?!
Oh. It’s just a Leprechaun playing tricks.
Once again, I almost forgot! March is maple syrup month and a favorite Berkshires tradition is to visit a maple sugaring house and sample the warm, sweet liquid. Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock, open weekends only through April, serves their freshly made maple syrup tapped from trees on the farm. Folks can walk into the sugar house to learn about making the syrup and meet the sugar maker tending to the massive stoves, creating great clouds of steam and sweet aromas of maple sap.
Sniff! Sniff! Ahh!
Of course, visitors eventually head to the Calf-A (café) inside the main barn for a delicious meal of homemade pancakes, waffles or cinnamon French toast and maple syrup.
About Ann Claffie
A Berkshires native, Ann grew up in Dalton as the oldest of five children who were encouraged to use their imaginations for fun and play. Today, married and living in Pittsfield, Ann and her husband enjoy family fun and adventure with their nine year old son. She has been on staff at the Berkshire Visitors Bureau for more than ten years.