Williamstown gets two new public spaces this month, and neither one charges at the door. On Saturday, Oct. 17, the skate park on Stetson Road holds its grand opening. On Thursday, Oct. 29, Milne Public Library opens Studio1095, a makerspace with an audio and podcasting room. Each took years of planning and funding from several sources, and each was designed with first-timers in mind.
Anyone with a board or a sewing project could already find somewhere to use it. These two spaces are built around the first lesson. One is a bowl aimed at young kids and new skaters. The other is a room of equipment that you get certified on before you use it, at no cost.
Saturday, Oct. 17, Starts in the Woods and Ends on Stetson Road
The skate park opening shares its day with two other events, and together they fill a Saturday without any ticket line:
- 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: The free Hopkins Memorial Forest Fall Festival at 271 NW Hill Road, with woodworking demonstrations, hikes, music, cider-making, children's activities and displays of environmental research.
- Afternoon until 5 p.m.: The skate park grand opening on Stetson Road, across from Cole Field, with a ribbon cutting, a professional skater demonstration, food and music.
- 1 p.m.: The Clark's Metropolitan Opera HD screening of Macbeth in the Manton Research Center auditorium, for anyone who wants an indoor afternoon instead.
Published reports disagree on when the skate park festivities begin. The Berkshire Eagle's Oct. 5 report lists noon to 5 p.m. with an Oct. 18 rain date. iBerkshires and the organizers' own site list 1 to 5 p.m. The organizers point people to @williamstownskatepark on social media for updates, and that account is the best place to confirm the start time and the weather call.
If the skate park starts at 1 p.m., the forest festival and the opening run back to back. If it starts at noon, the last hour in Hopkins Memorial Forest overlaps the first hour at Cole Field, and the skate park still runs through the afternoon.
What More Than $750,000 Bought, and Who It Was Designed For
The new park replaces the town's old one on the same site. iBerkshires described the old park as "outdated and worn out." The town agreed to remove it and work with the people pushing for a new park, and the Department of Public Works cleared out the old infrastructure as an in-kind contribution.
The funding came in layers, and town meeting voted on two of them:
| Source | Amount | When approved |
|---|---|---|
| Community Preservation Act, design | $32,000 | Fiscal year 2026, town meeting May 2025 |
| Community Preservation Act, construction | $350,000 | Current fiscal year, town meeting May 2026 |
| Total raised, public and private | More than $750,000 | Town funding, private gifts and business sponsorship |
The CPA money covers roughly half of the total. According to the Eagle, the rest came from anonymous donors, families, local businesses and larger companies such as National Grid and Stewart's Shops. The organizers' sponsor page also lists eBay and Berkshire Concrete. Grindline Skateparks of Seattle designed and built the park and will turn it over to the town when it is finished.
The project is led by Bill MacEwen of Purple Valley Trails. The Eagle reports that the group spent three years getting the 8,500-square-foot project "shovel ready" before it began public fundraising late last year. Over the summer and into the fall, Grindline turned a deteriorating asphalt pad into the park's bowl, a sunken structure with curved walls.
The design follows from who the park is for. The Eagle describes it as geared toward younger kids and beginning skaters. MacEwen told the paper earlier this summer: "There's so many kids in the neighborhood … it's going to be a really great place for people to learn how to skateboard. People can work their way up from the basics to more advanced." iBerkshires adds that resident surveys pointed to a need for recreation open to all ages.
The Rules Read Like an Invitation to Families
The town's skatepark page welcomes skateboards, scooters, bikes and roller skates. It advises helmets and pads and asks users to take turns. Motorized equipment, glass, alcohol and smoking are not allowed, and users are asked to pack out their trash and respect the neighbors. Because scooters and roller skates are welcome alongside boards, the park can serve a child on a scooter as well as a teenager working on a kickturn.
The town has not settled the daily hours yet. The hours field on its own page still shows a placeholder with two options. Until that is updated, no hours here should be treated as official.
Studio1095 Uses the Same Approach Indoors
Twelve days after the skate park opens, Milne Public Library opens a space built on the same idea, this time for sewing, printing and recording. Studio1095 pairs a hands-on makerspace with an audio and podcasting room for recording, production and editing.
Before you can use some of the equipment, you need certification:
- Sewing machines and a serger
- Cricut Maker 4 and Mug Press
- Sublimation and large-format printers
- Soldering irons
- Printing press and linocut tools
- Button machine, heat press and vinyl cutter
- The audio and podcasting studio itself
Everything is free to use. Some equipment requires online certification and sometimes hands-on training. You can request a one-on-one appointment through the library's form, and staff aim to reply within two business days. First-time users sign a waiver and get a brief tour. Open Studio time is booked through the library calendar, and walk-ins are welcome if space allows, up to 10 people.
The space is open to more people than you might expect. Anyone can use it, including people who don't live in Williamstown and people without a library card. Children under 10 need an adult in the room. The library credits the Friends of the Milne Public Library with funding and supporting the project.
The two projects were paid for differently. The skate park combined town meeting votes with corporate sponsors, while Studio1095 rests on the library's Friends group. Both end up in the same place, as a free space where the expected user is someone who hasn't tried it before.
The grand opening is Thursday, Oct. 29, from 4 to 7 p.m., and it is open to all ages. It includes tours, hands-on activities, demonstrations and refreshments. Use after that is limited to programs, appointments and set open-use periods. The library hasn't posted a regular weekly schedule, so the calendar is the place to find open times. Two days before the opening, on Tuesday, Oct. 27, Milne holds its first Career and Job Development Expo from 3 to 6 p.m.
The Private Openings Followed a Different Schedule
The town's commercial news this fall is smaller in scale and more about familiar faces.
The Williams Record reports that Pappa Charlie's Deli is back on Spring Street under Brian Czarnecki, who worked there for seven years before taking over. He signed the lease July 15, and the deli reopened Sept. 17. The new hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., closed Wednesdays, with an earlier start for breakfast customers. Prices on most items also went up.
On Simonds Road, iBerkshires reports that Pup Place opened at number 895 in September. Owners Michelle Marrocco and Tiffany Boyden offer full-day and half-day dog care plus training, and they held a grand-opening open house Sept. 25 and 26.
Through Early November, by Date
Once the openings are past, the calendar settles into a familiar fall pattern:
- Sunday, Oct. 18, 2 p.m.: Pianist Jeewon Park, cellist Edward Arron and collaborators perform in the Clark's Michael Conforti Pavilion.
- Tuesday, Oct. 27, 3 to 6 p.m.: Career and Job Development Expo at Milne.
- Thursday, Oct. 29, 4 to 7 p.m.: Studio1095 grand opening.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Trick-or-treating from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Spring Street commercial district, then 5 to 7 p.m. in residential neighborhoods, as set by the Select Board.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 2 p.m.: The Clark's Tavitian Concert, a recital by pianist David Kaplan on nineteenth-century musical caricature, introduced by music historian Jan Swafford.
Halloween's split schedule starts on Spring Street, where the shops hand out candy for the first hour, before moving into the neighborhoods. By then the skate park will have been open for two weeks. The Studio1095 grand opening will have been two days earlier.
At Buy in the Berkshires, we follow how Williamstown's shared spaces take shape because they affect how a weekend in town actually goes. If you'd like a local's perspective on Stetson Road, the Spring Street blocks or the streets around Milne, schedule a consultation with The Soules Team.
