Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Monterey and Pittsfield.Parties reached a peak this Saturday, August 13 – at least two of them did in the Berkshires, where celebrants could scale a rural mountainside to sip pina coladas and daiquiris, or climb a steep set of stairs for an urban party high above the city streets, lubricated by cans of Narragansett beer. The Bidwell House Museum’s Caribbean garden party, high atop Mount Hunger, may have seemed an odd theme for a fete celebrating a New England landmark of the Colonial era. However, the bright sun, warm breezes, lush gardens, and endless views from the home of Kenneth and Malinka Jackson lent the fundraiser a distinctly tropical feel, abetted by guests in Hawaiian shirts and other island attire. A few miles north, a festive crowd (including Gordon Chandler and Karen Lee, above) gathered up on the roof of the Greystone building for the annual rooftop party to kick off the Word X Word Festival. The band Jack the Radio, in town for the festival from North Carolina, played long and hard, high above the city streets, through sunset and beyond.
In Monterey: antiques dealers Lorraine and Steve German with Bidwell House Museum executive director Barbara Palmer.
Executive recruiter Doug Shufelt and realtor Nancy Kalodner; Nancy Jones and Christine Goldfinger.
Jewelry designer Lisa Frankel with Kathryn Roberts and host Malinka Jackson; Karen Gundernsheimer and Louisa Weinrib.
Bidwell family descendants Paula Moats and Marie Bidwell Leuchs; entrepreneur Tonio Palmer, Eyal Shapiro, and Joy Flint.
Michael Weinrib, Paul Dodyk, and Werner Gundernsheimer.
Julie Neu and Peggy Matlow; Hannah Mulvey and Leigh Yates-Weisgal.
Jennifer Greenfield, Walter Ritter, and Diana Deacon; Sandy Pukel and Melanie Kern.
Gordon and Carole Hyatt; Samantha Abdulla, Dominique Steiner, and Dr. Ronald Goldfinger.
In Pittsfield: Simon's Rock professor and author Brendan Mathews, who curated the narrative fiction component of Word X Word, at the festival's rooftop kick-off party with participating novelists Stefan Block and Jami Attenberg, and readMedia CEO Colin Mathews.
Aaron Dunn and Studio 2 newbie project manager Rebecca Weinman; Barrington Stage power couple Jeff and Laura Roudabush, directors of production and marketing, respectively.
Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Jennifer Glockner with graphic designer Mary Garnish; artist Gabrielle Senza with CompuWorks founder and Word X Word board chair Alan Bauman.
Gallerista Leslie Ferrin with Carole Schultz; intellectual property attorney Paul Rapp and writer Jeremy Goodwin.
Caitlin and Mitch Nash with fellow Blue Q-er Katie Frisina and Ralph Frisina, VP and creative director at Winstanley Partners.
Val Whalingand philanthropic pediatrician Siobhan McNally, board chair at Circle of Health International, with Kelly Dolan; Studio 2's Heather Rose, medical illustrator Caity Delphia, and gardener Abigail Elwood.
Artist Colin Toomey, who has just joined the Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development, with stylist Tony Barnini; 1Berkshire CEO Stuart Chase and Megan Whilden, Pittsfield's director of cultural development.
Jenny Cianflone Benson with Peter Alvarez Salon esthetician Sarah Frenkel; Word X Word board member David Rosenthal and the Tenement Museum's Leslie Milton.
State senator Benjamin Downing Jr. with Dr. Peter Dillon, superintendent of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District; poets Taylor Mali and Marie-Elizabeth Mali.
The North Carolina band Jack the Radio kept the party lively.
Pittsfield real estate magnate George Whaling, entertainment programmer and booking agent Simon Shaw, and congressional candidate Andrea Nuciforo; WAM's Kristen van Ginhoven with Carrie Saldo, host of Connecting Point on WGBY.
Maria Mingalone, acting executive director of Berkshire Museum, with Dolla Sapeta, visiting artist from South Africa, and MASS MoCA director of retail operations Jodi Joseph; Bra & Girl's April Burch (aka Dr. Cleavage) with Dr. Nick Webb, assistant professor at Union College and WAM board president.
The view from on high. Word X Word 2011 continues through August 20.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
