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Queer Men of the Berkshires
Queer Men of the Berkshires host 20+ events a month in the Berkshires (the whole thing north to south, not just Pittsfield!), Hudson Valley, and Pioneer Valley. They run on donations, work with a lot of local orgs, and offer queer kinship to a lot of rural folk. Go check them out!
Speaking of a lack of representation for the Berkshires, I wanted to shout out Sanctum @ Wander in Pittsfield. It's an awesome queer goth night we're trying to get eyes on. The next one is May 22nd, bug themed. There'll be vendors and a drag show. I wanna see more local bats and ghouls show up!!
BUG THEMED QUEER GOTH NIGHT!!!
Hey, I was the one who sent in the ask about the goth night at Wander, and I've been loving seeing so much support roll in, Jay and the whole place really are amazing, I always feel safe there.
I wanted to maybe shout out another awesome queer owned space: if there's any witches, pagans, or general earth lovers, Wild Soul River in Williamstown is amazing. Bjorn and Rebekka do so much for the community, they have a mutual aid exchange in the shop, host art galleries for local artists, and host a ton of witchy events including a monthly full moon circle where we drum and dance around a fire and share snacks and build community. They also just make great tea they grow themselves if you want to swing by for a cup.
That sounds lovely!!
Wild Soul River in Williamstown
Western Massachusetts Fall Fairs and Festivals 2025!
Cummington Fair
August 21st - 24th | $15 Admission
Three County Fair (Northampton)
Aug 29th - 1st | $13.50 Admission (Online, more $ at gate)
Known for: School Bus Demolition Derby
Franklin County Fair (Greenfield)
Sept 4th - 7th | $12 Admission
The Big E (West Springfield)
Sept 12th - 28th | $20 Admission at gate (Advanced tickets online)
Known for: Being Big As Fuck (18th largest fair in the country)
Belchertown Fair
Sept 19th - 21st | Free Admission
The North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival (Orange)
Sept 27th - 28th | $10 Admission (No one turned away for lack of funds)
Known for: garlic garlic garlic garlic garlic
Ashfield Fall Festival
Oct 11th - 12th | Free Admission
i promise i’m not trying to be a jerk, just throwing it out there that you’re kinda running a pioneer valley blog — not a western mass blog
the berkshires are the entire western half of western mass rather than simply a footnote to amherst y’know?
obviously it’s your blog and you do you, but maybe you can loop in the shire more often?
(and if not then you could be like pioneervalleyposting or hampshirecountyposting or something i dunno lol)
annnnnyway, here are some options for great ice cream in western-western mass! <3
High Lawn (best), Modern Milk Bar, Old Creamery Co-op, Cravins, SoCo, Pedrin’s, Berkshire Cone, Lanesboro Local, King Kone (closed now but supposedly re-opening?), Ayelada, Shivvers, Lucky’s, Dairy Cone
(pls ignore if this comes off as anything other than playful! i swear i’m just bad at tone, not trying to be catty or pedantic)
(I really appreciate the tone indicator <3)
So, the short answer here is that I really am doing my very best to loop in the Berkshires as much as possible. Its just hard!
First of all, I dont live in the Berkshires. At least half of what I know I learned from flyers on the wall or talking to people. Being geographically elsewhere means that I can't do any of that in person.
Also, as you mentioned, Tumblr's demographic is very Hampshire County. Whenever I as for input from my followers, I have to try my best to counteract that bias as much as I can. I try to emphasize things from the rest of this third of the state, but there are places I cant do that, like in my ask box. The ice cream poll is a great example of this, because that original post was up asking for ice cream recs for weeks before I put all those recs into the poll. The poll is mostly northern valley ice creams bc only northern valley people responded. Google is useless now, and insta was no help, so the responses on the original posts were the only ice cream places I could find at all to put in the poll.
I am making connections and building resources for myself to service the rest of Western Mass, but I am having way more success doing that for the rest of the valley (is the whole length of the river the valley?) than the Berkshires. I havent stopped trying to build those resources for the berkshires, and I wont stop any time soon!
Lastly, theres just more people and more stuff going on in the valley. Even if I got all the different places represented exactly equally, there'd just be less to talk about in the Berkshires.
That being said, I'd been meaning to give her her own post, but this seems as good a place as any. Another has entered the Western Mass Blog-o-sphere! Western Mass Bestie @ https://westernmassbestie.substack.com/ posts weekly lists of what to do in Western Mass that weekend, and she has the same problem in the opposite direction! She (probably) lives in the Berkshires, and her lists are super Berkshires focused. 10/10 recommend her blog!
NAACP Berkshires is also looking for Juneteenth vendors, particularly BIPOC vendors. You can request an application from naacpberkshirecounty at gmail dot com , plus more info here on Berkshire Black Economic Council’s IG (@ berkshirebec):
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYkWUghEcWM
Or just come and enjoy the celebration! Sunday, June 21, 12-6pm, Durant Park in Pittsfield
NAACP Berkshires Juneteenth Celebration
Instagram Post with Vending Info
turnerparkartspace
June 13, 3:00 PM – 10:00 PM West Stockbridge, MA TurnPark Summer Festival is an inspiring event in an outdoor sculpture park, where you can experience art firsthand and recharge in nature. Artists and performers explore and rethink old myths and create new ones through visual arts, music, and storytelling. What to expect: Performance art Immersive installations Wearable sculptures Comedy circus performance from Montreal Community art projects and workshops Delicious food and bonfire Music, dance, and meditative rituals!
Tickets and info
just adding my love for WANDER and Jay, and all the awesome events — I can’t put a screenshot of the calendar for May on anon but here’s a link:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXrJPJnFNdT
seriously if you’re in the Shire go give them some love! Jay does so so so much good for the community — when WANDER first opened they got in touch with me and a bunch of other small queer-owned businesses with offers for pop-ups and collabs, and just generally have been all around awesome with giving people a place to gather & fun things to do in a safe space
