Pittsfield has become the region's Street Fair Mecca. Megan Whilden, the city's director of cultural development, has mastered the art of organizing a monthly, massive block party. The third year of Third Thursdays, as the street fairs are called, begins on the eve of Memorial Day weekend, May 21. There is live music and dance, art openings, the debut of the Berkshire Made Artisan Market, and a host of restaurants and street vendors selling an international smorgasbord of cheap eats. Each festival has a different theme (see schedule below) and this month's is "Celebrating Youth." Third Thursdays are not only for Pittsfield residents. "I am making my husband come home from work early so that we can stroll the streets of Pittsfield with our son," says Lenox resident Carolann Patterson. "I love Third Thursday. I love Pittsfield and I love Megan Whilden for all the hard work it takes to pull a community together, and Pittsfield is a fun and generous community." Third Thursdays have been transformative events for Pittsfield as it reinvents itself. "Third Thursdays are really terrific, and you want to know why?," says Maria Mingalone, director of education at the Berkshire Museum. "They have brought life back into the downtown. Visible, tangible, vibrant life. There are literally thousands of people on the streets during these events enjoying the spectacle of it all—music, the arts, performance."
3rd Thursday: "Celebrating Youth"May 21; 5 - 8 PM Click here for vendor and performance mapSeason ScheduleJune 18: "It's Easy Being Green" July 16: "Beach Party" August 21: "Woodstock" September 18: "Jump In!" October 16: "Jazzing Up the Streets!" Related Posts:The Lantern Bar & Grill (May 14, 2009) A Sports Bar, the Press Box, Takes Over Burger's Old Space (March 12, 2009) Pittsfield's 3rd Thursday Lives Up to The Hype (July 17, 2008) Family Outing: How To Rescue a Rainy Saturday (April 17, 2008)
