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Daily News

NORTH ADAMS — During the month of love, FIRST Friday will present “I Heart North Adams” for February’s event, with the use of postcards with which people can create a Valentine and explain why they love North Adams.

During MASS MoCA’s free community day on Saturday, Jan. 28, the FIRST Friday committee will hand out postcards in which attendees can express their love for North Adams. Leading up to the Feb. 3 FIRST Friday event, the postcards will hang in various windows throughout downtown North Adams. The MCLA Volunteer Center will offer a free shuttle service for students who want to explore downtown during the event between 5 and 8 p.m. Pickups will occur at Hoosac Hall.

Businesses are encouraged to stay open late or host their own event to drive traffic downtown. Installation Space will host a dance-party fundraiser (pay what you can) with DJ DUBTC to purchase new equipment. The event runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Hearts Pace Tea & Healing Lounge will have live music and mocktails from 6 to 9 p.m.

For more information, visit nachamber.org/firstfridays.

Daily News

NORTH ADAMS — Community members and residents are invited to downtown North Adams today, Jan. 6, for the monthly FIRST Friday event. This month’s theme is “Fresh Start,” a time for residents, businesses, and visitors to reflect, prioritize, find new ways to stay physically active and mentally healthy, and come together as a community.

Downtown businesses will have extended hours, and many businesses and galleries will be hosting openings, closings, and other special events focused on starting fresh. The following events have been planned by downtown businesses and organizations: candlelit yoga at North Adams Yoga at 6 p.m., live music at Hearts Pace Tea & Healing Arts Lounge, a Future Labs Gallery reception at 6 p.m., a firepit and hot chocolate outside First Baptist Church hosted by the youth group, and a ‘gong bath’ performed by Howard Rosenberg from Anahata Schoolhouse Yoga and Wellness Center at 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30 p.m.; gong baths are a form of meditation where one ‘bathes’ in the healing vibrations of sound.

Daily News

NORTH ADAMS — Community members and residents are invited to North Adams’s first post-Halloween Pumpkin Smash today, Nov. 4, as part of the city’s monthly FIRST Fridays.

This month, Second Chance Composting is joining FIRST Fridays to help people compost Halloween pumpkins and raise awareness about composting. People are invited to bring unbleached and unpainted pumpkins downtown to smash into compost. The Pumpkin Smash will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. in the Center Street parking lot behind the Mohawk Theater.

“We are so excited for the first-ever Pumpkin Smash. Since we started Second Chance Composting earlier this year, we had been hoping to create a pumpkin-smashing event in North Adams,” said John Pitroff, the company’s owner. “I have great memories of the fall foliage parade as a kid and would like to be able to create some good memories for the people, especially the kids, in the city. This event incorporates everything that our business is about. We are all about working toward a greater purpose while making a living in the community, and being practical, fun, and educational along the way.”

Downtown businesses will have extended hours, and many businesses and galleries will be hosting openings, closings, and other special events. Students from MCLA will also be able to enjoy the evening’s festivities with a free shuttle service that will loop from Hoosac Hall to downtown every hour.

“It is Halloween season,” Pittroff said, “and we can literally turn the pumpkins into the living dead.”

Daily News

NORTH ADAMS — All North Adams residents and visitors are invited to dine together on Eagle Street for the Sept. 2 FIRST Fridays Community Picnic event. Guests are encouraged to pack a picnic or order takeout from local restaurants, and sit and dine right on Eagle Street, which will be closed to car traffic during the entirety of the event, from 5 to 9 p.m.

“I’ve had a vision of all of North Adams sitting down together at one long table on Eagle Street ever since attending a similar event on the Cape several years ago,” said Anna Farrington, owner of Installation Space and FIRST Fridays organizer. “This is a popular kind of event around the world, and I’m excited to bring this style of community-building experience to North Adams.”

Beer and wine will be served by Desperado’s Mexican Restaurant on the sidewalk next to the Eagle Street parklet, galleries and businesses will be open late, and DJ DUBTC will be spinning tunes all night. Earlier in the evening, the community will welcome a new store on Eagle Street, Berkshire Adventurer’s Guild, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Mayor Jennifer Macksey.

During the Community Picnic, the city of North Adams will launch a scavenger-hunt game that will include a mixture of digital puzzles and a physical scavenger hunt throughout downtown North Adams, beginning on Sept. 2 and concluding on Oct. 2. Participants will be given symbols to follow and solve the puzzles digitally. Those who complete the scavenger-hunt puzzles will be entered into a raffle drawing for a winning prize. Information regarding the scavenger hunt will be available under the Mohawk Theater marquee.

The Sept. 2 event will also feature an appearance by Mr. Ding-A-Ling in the Mohawk Plaza and Center Street Parking Lot adjacent to Adams Community Bank and beneath the “Poppy Girls” mural. This pop-up is made possible by 1Berkshire and the NAMAzing Initiative. The first 100 customers are guaranteed free ice-cream servings from Mr. Ding-A-Ling.

“I know many of us are craving connection opportunities, and I can’t think of a more open, authentic, and equitable way to host a community picnic than on a street like Eagle Street, allowing guests to order from a variety of restaurants or to cook food themselves,” said Andrew Fitch, FIRST Fridays organizer.

This is the second FIRST Friday for which Eagle Street will be closed to car traffic. The intention of the event is to provide a positive, uplifting experience for all city residents and opportunities for local businesses to thrive. Eagle Street will be closed to car traffic on the Oct. 7 FIRST Friday as well for the Night Market event.