Agenda

Auction and Wine, Beer & Spirit Tasting

Sept. 13: Wine tasting is a spirited, thirst-quenching and good-natured adventure. And when it is the annual Greater Chicopee Chamber of Commerce Auction & Wine, Beer & Spirit Tasting Event, it is also a fund-raiser for a not-for-profit community resource that supports local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and the overall development of the region. Chicopee Savings Bank is the presenting sponsor of this year’s event, to be held at the Log Cabin from 6 to 9 p.m. William Wagner, president of Chicopee Savings Bank, and John Baran, station manager of WWLP-22 News, will serve as emcees. The event will include gourmet food stations. and wine, beer, and spirit samples will be available from Berkshire Brewing, Commercial Distributing, Commonwealth Wines & Spirits, Opa-Opa, V1 Vodka, and Williams Distributing. The event will also feature a silent auction, and the Eric Bascom Jazz Trio will also provide music. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. The general public is invited. To reserve tickets, contact the chamber at (413) 594-2101 or www.chicopeechamber.org.

 

The Big E

Sept. 14-30: From live music and parades to sea lions and a circus, there’s something for everyone at the Big E. Country music artist Rodney Atkins will play a concert at the outdoor Comcast Arena Stage on Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. The Big E’s Mardi Gras Parade returns to the fair with eight custom-made floats specially designed and built by the Kern Companies of New Orleans. The Big E Super Circus features aerial daredevils the Marinofs, the wonder dogs of David Rosaire’s Perky Pekes, the equilibristic ability of Dany Daniels and Edina, comedy, and more. In addition, the Big E will feature a show with the Peking Acrobats, horse shows, the U.S. Freestyle Motocross National Championship series, hypnotist Catherine Hickland, the Sea Lion Splash show, and much more. Look for details and show times at www.thebige.com. Gates open each day at 8 a.m., and building exhibits are open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Avenue of States is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Storrowton Village is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Craft Common is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the Midway is open Sunday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

 

Reading and Book Signing

Sept. 17: Author and education advocate Jonathan Kozol will read from his latest book on at 7 p.m. in the Leslie Phillips Theater at Holyoke Community College. The event is free and open to the public. After the reading, Kozol will discuss and sign copies of Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-five Years Among the Poorest Children in America. He is an author and educational activist known for his non-fiction books on public education in inner-city schools, beginning with Death at an Early Age in 1967, which he wrote after working as a teacher in the Boston public-school system where he was fired for teaching a poem by Langston Hughes. The book won a National Book Award. In Fire in the Ashes, Kozol revisits the schools and children he first wrote about in his books Amazing Grace and Rachel and her Children. For more information, contact Liz Golen, HCC Student Activities coordinator, at (413) 552-2418 or [email protected].

 

‘All Souls’ Author

to Discuss Memoir

Sept. 21: As part of the Ovations series, sponsored by the Chicopee Savings Bank Endowment for Academic Excellence, the STCC Office of Academic Affairs, and the STCC Honors Program, Michael Patrick McDonald will discuss his coming-of-age memoir All Souls. There will be two performances, at 10:10 and 11:15 a.m., in Scibelli Hall. Both are free and open to the public. All Souls is an account of McDonald’s upbringing in South Boston during the turbulent 1970s. MacDonald, the ninth child in a family of 11, was raised by his mother. Four of his siblings died tragically, two of whom were associated with Whitey Bulger, the notorious crime czar of South Boston. Much of All Souls deals with the power Bulger held over South Boston and the tragic effects that had on MacDonald’s family. MacDonald will return to STCC, where he captivated the audience three years ago, to talk about Whitey Bulger and the legacy Bulger leaves behind. USA Today calls MacDonald “a born rabble-rouser whose emotional power numbs the reader’s reason.” For additional information about the Ovations series, contact Philip O’Donoghue at (413) 755-4233 or [email protected].

 

World Affairs Council Annual Meeting

Oct. 10: Hampshire College President Jonathan Lash will speak at the World Affairs Council of Western Mass. Annual Meeting & Dinner in the Mahogany Room of the Springfield Sheraton Hotel in downtown Springfield. More details will be forthcoming. Lash is an internationally recognized expert on practical solutions to global sustainability and development challenges. Before he became president of Hampshire College in 2011, he served as president of World Resources Institute (WRI), an environmental think tank with offices in eight countries and partners in more than 50 countries. WRI is an international leader on issues ranging from low-carbon development to sustainable transportation. From 1993 to 1999, Lash was co-chair of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, a group of government, business, labor, civil-rights, and environmental leaders appointed by Bill Clinton that developed visionary recommendations for strategies to promote sustainable development. He played a key role in the creation and success of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which in 2007 issued the highly influential “Call to Action” on global warming. Prior to WRI, Lash held posts as director of Vermont Law School’s Environmental Law Center, Vermont secretary of Natural Resources, and Vermont commissioner of Environmental Conservation, as well as a federal prosecutor. For more information on the event, call (413) 733-0110.

 

Western Mass.

Business Expo

Oct. 11: BusinessWest will again present the Western Mass. Business Expo. The event, which made its debut last fall at the MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield, will feature more than 180 exhibitors, seminars, special presentations, breakfast and lunch programs, and the year’s most extensive networking opportunity. Comcast Business Class will again be the presenting sponsor of the event. Details, including breakfast and lunch agendas, seminar topics, and featured speakers, will be printed in the pages of BusinessWest over the coming months. For more information or to purchase a booth, call (413) 781-8600, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.wmbexpo.com.

 

Novelist, Playwright

to Speak at STCC

Oct. 12: Andrea Hairston, novelist and playwright, will visit the region as part of the Ovations series, sponsored by the Chicopee Savings Bank Endowment for Academic Excellence, the STCC Office of Academic Affairs, and the STCC Honors Program. There will two performances, at 10:10 and 11:15 a.m., in Scibelli Hall. Both are free and open to the public. Hairston is the Artistic Director of Chrysalis Theatre. For more than 30 years, Hairston has created original music, dance, and mask productions. In 1997, Hairston turned her interest to science fiction and wrote a sci-fi theatre jam, Archangels of Funk. She also published her first sci-fi novel, Mindscape, which won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award. Tony Award winning playwright Pearl Cleage said, “Andrea Hairston’s Mindscape starts with a vision of the way things ought to be and then takes us along on the amazing journey that must be undertaken to make that vision a reality.” Hairston has spent her career exploring the links between arts and science. This multi-faceted presentation will feature readings, music, and performance. For additional information about the Ovations series, contact Philip O’Donoghue at (413) 755-4233 or [email protected].
An Evening of

Classical Music

Oct. 19: The New England Farm Workers’ Council, the North End Educational Development Fund, the Student Prince & Fort Restaurant, and the Puerto Rican/Latino Leadership Council will present “Diversecity,” an evening at Springfield’s Symphony Hall with the internationally renowned Puerto Rico Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring 70 musicians and guest singers. The symphony will be conducted by Maestro Rafael Enrique Irizarry III, with special guest Kevin Rhodes. The event, starting at 7:30 p.m. and hosted by Bax & O’Brien of Rock 102, is intended to bring local residents together in celebration of the strength, diversity, and cultural richness of this region and its people. Tickets may be purchased at symphonyhall.com or ticketmaster.com.

 

Writer, Essayist to Speak

Nov. 5: Anne Fadiman, a writer, essayist, and author whose first book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, won her a National Critics Book Circle Award, will visit the region as part of the Ovations series, sponsored by the Chicopee Savings Bank Endowment for Academic Excellence, the STCC Office of Academic Affairs, and the STCC Honors Program. There will two performances, at 10:10 and 11:15 a.m., in Scibelli Hall. Both are free and open to the public. The Washington Post called Fadiman’s book “an intriguing, spirit-lifting, extraordinary exploration.” The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down tells the story of Lia Lee, the daughter of Hmong immigrants from Laos, who was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1981. What follows is the story of a clash of cultures as well as an examination of the U.S. healthcare system. The book is often taught in university literary journalism courses across the country and serves as a casebook for cross-cultural sensitivity. Fadiman also is the author of Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader and At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays. She currently resides in Whately and is a professor of English and writing mentor at Yale University. For additional information about the Ovations series, contact Philip O’Donoghue at (413) 755-4233 or [email protected].

 

40 Under Forty Reunion

Nov. 8: BusinessWest will stage a reunion featuring the first six classes of its 40 Under Forty program. Details on the event will be forthcoming. What is known is that it will be staged at the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House in Holyoke, and will be open only to 40 Under Forty winners, sponsors, and their guests, as well as judges of the first six contests. For more information on the event, call (413) 781-8600, or e-mail [email protected].