The Franklin County Fair
89 Wisdom Path, Greenfield
Thursday, September 5 – Sunday, September 8
It’s the 175th Franklin County Fair, and this year’s theme is aptly “Rooted in Our Community.” It began as a livestock show on the Greenfield Town Common and has been held every year since, despite world wars, droughts, and even stock market crashes. For the past 160 years, the fair has brought the entire community together each year for a shared, positive, and educational experience. Today, it has everything you could want: music, food, rides, demonstrations, and more. The annual opening parade begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at Greenfield Middle School.
Festival of Latin American Arts
Museums in Springfield
Friday, September 6
In collaboration with the Mi Museo Committee, the Springfield Museums presents the 2nd Annual Latino Arts Festival. The festival is a celebration of the myriad arts and rich cultures of the Puerto Rican, Cuban, Afro-Cuban, Portuguese, Mexican, Dominican, and Central and South American peoples of the greater Springfield area.
“It’s never too late to create” – solo exhibition by Tim Gorts
Artspace, Grünwald
Opening reception Friday, September 6th from 5pm – 8pm
Artspace Community Arts Center is an art school in downtown Greenfield dedicated to making music and art affordable in Franklin County. They are excited to kick off their Artspace Gallery season with a solo exhibition by a beloved community member: Tim Gorts. It wasn’t until he was 41, when he had to find a way to save a treasured family heirloom, that Tim had his first experience creating something from nothing. This exhibition has been curated so you can experience Tim’s creative journey from that first creation to today.
Five College New Music Festival 2024 “In a new light”
Bezanson Recital Hall, University of Massachusetts
Friday, September 6 – Sunday, September 8
This free festival takes place this weekend at Bezanson Recital Hall and features contemporary music performed by faculty from the Five Colleges. The festival weekend includes five programs of new and current compositions by nineteen composers representing a range of contemporary music being created in our region, the United States, and around the world. This music speaks not only to the present but also to a living history that works to reclaim neglected figures and movements from the classical tradition.
Jeffrey Foucault
The Iron Horse
Friday, September 6, 7 p.m.
In his two decades of touring, Jeffrey Foucault has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in American music, honing a sound instantly recognizable for its simplicity and emotional power. This month, Jeffrey Foucault releases The Universal Fire, his first album of all new material since 2018. The album is a series of high-voltage live performances recorded in one room. It’s both a funeral service—Foucault lost his best friend and drummer Billy Conway to cancer in 2021—and a meditation on the nature of beauty, artifacts, and loss. You may have heard him on The Fabulous 413 on Tuesday.
The beginning after the end of the human circus
Bread and puppet theatre
Park Hill Orchard, Easthampton
Friday, September 6, 7 p.m.
This new Bread & Puppet Theatre show uses traditional circus motifs and familiar Bread and Puppet iconography to raise awareness of today’s most pressing issues. Stilt dancers, papier-maché beasts of all sizes and a riotous brass band create a wild, colourful spectacle of protest and celebration. Location, location, location. I can’t think of a more magical place for this event than Park Hill Orchard!
Artistic collaboration: Eric Carle and Ann Beneduce
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Opening on Saturday, September 7
The relationship between author and editor is a collaborative partnership based on mutual respect, trust, and a shared commitment to creating the best work possible. Eric Carle and editor Ann Beneduce worked together for over five decades and developed a strong friendship. Ann published the first picture book Eric wrote and illustrated in 1968, and she played a crucial role in making The Very Hungry Caterpillar a reality. The exhibition includes never-before-seen artwork, correspondence, and photographs.
The Mattoon Street Arts Festival
Near Springfield Museums
Saturday, September 7th from 10am – 5pm
Sunday, September 8th from 10am – 4pm
Held in Springfield’s first historic district on a street of restored Victorian brick row houses, this arts festival is the oldest in the Valley. There’s something for everyone – over 90 exhibitors, delicious food, and passing musicians. It’s a great place to find unique gifts.
Special Living History Event: Ladies’ Association of Revolutionary America
Historic Deerfield
Saturday, September 7th from 10am to 4pm
The Ladies’ Association is a research-based 18th century living history group that encourages, supports and promotes women’s voices and stories at historic sites and events. They will portray Deerfield in 1774, on the eve of the American Revolution. This event is included in the general admission price to historic Deerfield.
Workers’ weekend
Springfield Armory National Historic Site
Saturday, September 7th and Sunday, September 8th from 10am – 4pm
A weekend of free activities and programs explores the history of work at the armory and in Springfield and the surrounding communities. Hands-on family activities, historical craft demonstrations such as blacksmithing and tool making, blank cartridge demonstrations, and special lectures and tours are offered both days. In addition, there is a World War II-era big band concert featuring the Heritage Pops Orchestra from 2-4 p.m. Saturday.
Arcadia Players: Music for Friends
South Church, Amherst
Saturday, September 7, 3 p.m.
Here you will have the opportunity to meet the Arcadia Players’ new artistic director, Andrus Madsen, and enjoy an intimate chamber music program featuring Madsen on the harpsichord with Julia Glenn (violin) and Douglas Kelley (viola da gamba). The program includes pieces by Buxtehude, Bach and Telemann written to be played with their fellow musicians. In that spirit, you are invited to an informal reception after the performance.
Baye and Asa present: Suck it Up, Second Place
Adams Theatre, Adams
Saturday, September 7, 7:30 p.m.
Amadi “Baye” Washington and Sam “Asa” Pratt have been in residence at the Adam Theater’s Incubator, which invites artists from the Berkshires and beyond to develop bold, original work that encourages cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. They will perform two of their most thoughtful and impactful pieces. “Suck it Up” explores the violent consequences of male insecurity and a sense of entitlement. “Second Seed” is a response to DW Griffith’s 1915 silent film “The Birth of a Nation.” Watch Amadi and Sam’s interview with The Fabulous 413.
Solomiya Ivakhiv and Melvin Chen
The Drake, Amherst
Sunday, September 8, 4 p.m.
This concert opens the Drake’s 2024-2025 chamber music series on Sunday afternoon. Ukrainian-born violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is a highly acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, and educator who has been named one of the “great artists of our time” by Fanfare Magazine. Tennessee native Dr. Melvin Chen has received acclaim for solo and chamber concertos throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia. They will be accompanied by clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois.
Younes Rahmoun: Here and now
Smith College Museum of Art
Open until July 13, 2025
Younes Rahmoun: Here, Now is the first North American exhibition dedicated to the art of Younes Rahmoun, one of Morocco’s leading contemporary artists. It takes place in four different locations with different opening hours and access conditions. It is possible to visit all locations in one day. Rahmoun transforms simple forms, materials and gestures from his everyday life into sculptures and installations.
