tagged: Cultural Pittsfield, Event, Free, North Street, Pittsfield

The Pittsfield Ethnic Fair & some killer birds!

Posted by Kaitlyn in Arts & Culture, Events, Family

I could have shopped all day!

The Ethnic Fair on North St in Pittsfield is something I look forward to with all of the food, music, and things to buy. I first attended one 3 years ago where Tom and I first saw the Raptor Project with Jonathan Wood and his amazing birds of prey.

The fair ran from noon until 6 so it was nice to have time to not feel rushed and to get to see everything we wanted to. The road was closed to traffic so the streets were lined with booths full of food and merchandise influenced by cultures from all over the world!

Evan enjoying a Cannoli from Papa Joe's!

My neighbor and her son joined Tom and I for the afternoon. We arrived at about 1:30 and parked in the 3 hour public parking in the Summer St parking garage. I could hear all types of music from the car so it was very obvious which direction the fair was in. We set out to find Jonathan Wood of the raptor project and his beautiful birds of prey. We stopped and looked at them for a bit and then decided to grab some food before the next show started at 2:30. During these shows Jonathan spends time showing the crowd each bird

Jonathan Wood stops in Pittsfield to teach us about his amazing birds of prey!

I stopped at the Papa Joe’s tent for a smoothie and a slice of pizza and Tom got some salmon pizza from the Shiro’s tent. It was almost impossible to choose what I wanted to eat with so much variety do Tom and I sampled each others food before heading back to the steps of City Hall to see the show.

I stood in the back of the crowd with my camera ready to go. It was very hot out yesterday so it felt great when the sun would slip out of sight behind the clouds. The seats were almost full when we arrived about 10 minutes before show time and people were getting their last quick pictures of the birds up close before the show began. I personally really enjoy this part of my summer each year, I am a big lover of nature and textures so to be able to photograph these birds up close and to learn about their individual stories is really something special.

It's hard not to be amazed by this creature

The Raptor Project in short, takes in injured birds and rehabilitates them and releases them into the wild along with working with programs to repopulate them in specific areas of the county. The ones he is unable to return to the wild are the birds he takes with him on the road to educate people about these amazing birds. Jonathan Wood was inspired by the book called My Side of the Mountain and is also featured in the 3rd book of that series! Find out more about The Raptor Project here.

Face painting!

I ended the day with the purchase of a beautiful amethyst necklace and earing set (I will post photos later!) from one of the many tents full of jewelry. It is my birthstone and also one of my favorite colors, I am wearing it as I type this! Along with tents full of jewelry was also lots of things for the kids, such as a clown doing balloon animals and people offering face painting.

If you missed the Ethnic Fair you can check out another great event on North St called Third Thursday August 19th where you can see many of the same people and a whole bunch of new things too!  See you there!

Kaitlyn