The 6th annual Golf Ball Drop Fundraiser went off Sunday at Bowe field. Congratulations to all of the winners who will be contacted directly! This annual event is helping the Alerts fundraise for our upcoming 150th anniversary celebration in 2026. Thank you to all you help support this worthwhile event.

By Brian Rhodes
iBerkshires Staff
11:28AM / Friday, September 09, 2022

ADAMS, Mass. — Following July's second annual Adams Street Fair, the Adams Street Fair Committee has donated a total of $6,800 to the town's four first-responder organizations. 

The committee presented checks, each worth $1,700, to the Adams Police Department, Alert Hose Company, Adams Forest Wardens and Adams Ambulance at Wednesday's Board of Selectmen meeting. An additional $500 donation went to Williamstown-based charity PopCares, which supports cancer patients in Northern Berkshire County and Southern Vermont.

"It was quite hot this year, but for the amount of people that came out, we were very pleased," said Joseph Martin, chair of the Adams Street Fair Committee. "Everyone had a great time. All the vendors had a great time and we had no big issues." 

Police Chief K. Scott Kelley thanked the committee for the work it put into the fair. He also thanked the community for supporting the event. 

"Your committee's generosity is well noted and this is unbelievable," he said. "And as we did last year, we're going to earmark this for something that will not only better our community, but our police department." 

Board Vice Chair Christine Hoyt thanked the first responders present at the fair, who she said were able to provide free water to attendees to help with the heat. 

"A wonderful job, Joe, by you and your entire committee," she said. "It was nice to see you, in the end, come back this year and talk about being a bigger event. And wow, it really was a much bigger event."

In other business, Town Administrator Jay Green updated the board on the Howland Avenue resurfacing project, noting preliminary work had begun. He said the state Department of Transportation still anticipates work to be mostly, if not entirely, complete in the Fall. 

"We're hoping that, at a minimum, we'll have a base coat for the Fall to get us through the Winter, with a final coat in the spring," he said. "But as of today, they do anticipate doing the entire project sometime this Fall, so we're still on track for that. We'll keep everybody informed." 

Green also provided updates on ongoing work on Commercial Street, which he said should be mostly complete by October. A smaller road project on Cook Street, which Green said will be done primarily in-house by the Department of Public Works, should also begin sometime in October. 

Green mentioned the controlled intersection at the center of Commercial Street will now have an infrared-based detecting system above ground. He said this system should work better than the original plan for the intersection, a pressure-based system installed under the road. 

"We're using approximately $30,000 worth of chapter 90 money to have that reengineered and redesigned and rebuilt that will be a better way to control that intersection numbers and not risk opening up the roadway," he said. 

The board approved facility use and one-day liquor and entertainment licenses for Ramblefest, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9. 

The board approved the appointment of Natasha Bordeaux to the Agricultural Commission. Bordeaux is also a member of the Conservation Commission. 

Courtesy The Berkshire Eagle 
By Greta Jochem, May 28, 2022 
​
ADAMS — A fire at an apartment building on 27 Rear Commercial St. in Adams in the early hours of Saturday damaged the building but did not injure any residents.

Around 1 a.m., Adams Fire Department got a report of the fire, said Assistant Chief Dave Lennon.

North Adams Fire Department, Cheshire Fire Department and Savoy Fire Department were on scene to help, while the Clarksburg Fire Department covered the Adams Fire Department station, Lennon said.

When firefighters arrived, fire was coming out of the windows and although it took "quite some time," the fire was under control by around 2 a.m., Lennon said.

None of the residents were injured, according to Lennon. One child in the building was on a ventilator and was helped out of the building safely.

Fire damage was contained to the apartment unit where the fire started, but residents have to stay elsewhere while the building is being evaluated, according to Lennon. “Everybody that was in that apartment building found alternate placement to live right now," he said.

Officials are looking into the cause of the blaze. "At this point it's not suspicious," Lennon said, "but it's still under investigation.”

Tuesday night's drill was an air pack refresher. Topics include (re)familiarization with our Scott X3 Air-Paks, the Pak-Tracker and the RIT-Pak Fast Attack kit. Prior to a hands-on period, members viewed a page (shown below) created to bring all of this information together in one place. 

ADAMS — Authorities are investigating a fire that damaged a home on North Summer Street on Monday morning.

No one was injured. The fire was reported around 9:45 a.m. at 78 N. Summer St. One of the occupants of the home went to the second floor to turn on a light, and it flashed and went off, according to Tim Ziemba, assistant chief for the Adams Fire Department.

The man then went downstairs and turned the circuit breaker back on, and when he returned to the second floor he could hear flames in the wall. The man and another resident evacuated the home, and firefighters arrived within minutes.

The blaze was contained to one room on the second floor and the attic, Ziemba said. It was extinguished by 11:15 a.m.

More than 50 first responders came to the scene of the fire, including personnel from the Adams, Williamstown, Savoy, Lanesborough and Cheshire fire departments.

“Hats off to those guys,” house occupant Rachel Tomkowicz said. “They are all volunteers, and they all showed up no matter what they were doing at home.”

Photos by Gillian Jones