PITTSFIELD — Terry (Cianflone) Root, Pittsfield High School class of 1950, recalled her days in her native town.
“My father owned Vic’s Pizzeria on Fenn Street,” she said. “Great Italian food. Not like this stuff they have around here now.”
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Root, now living in upstate New York, attended Saturday’s Berkshire Homecoming because “Most of my family is still here. I come back from time to time.”
There was another reason, which will be discussed later. Don’t skip down!
Saturday’s event, attended by a few hundred residents and former residents was the first of what organizers hope will be many Berkshire Homecomings, according to Jim Shulman, who came up with the idea. Shulman is a regular columnist in The Eagle, where he writes Baby Boomer Memories, which highlights Berkshire County history with anecdotes and photographs.
“This is one of those weekends [July 4th] where you see a lot of people coming back to town to visit relatives,” said Shulman. “This is just somewhere people can meet up.”
Shulman is one of the founders of the Berkshire Carousel, the amusement ride situated near the downtown area. Shulman’s other motive for the homecoming was to get visitors down to the carousel — and thus downtown.
The event, according to Maria Caccaviello, executive director of Berkshire Carousel, is not solely intended for Pittsfield residents.
“It’s countywide,” she said. “We’d like to see people from all over the Berkshires come here.”
The event had already attracted visitors from Florida, New York, New England and various other parts of the country, she said.
“I think it’s a great idea,,” said Charles Garivaltis, who wore a T-shirt proclaiming him a member of the PHS Class of 1953. Garivaltis, still a resident of Pittsfield, visited the Berkshire Homecoming, “to support what they’re trying to do.”
Garivaltis added that he was hoping to see a few old classmates, as well, but mainly, “I think Jim Shulman is doing a great job and it’s something we as residents need to get behind.”
Garivaltis was at the event with his nephew Charles Gardner, a Pittsfield native whose family moved to Dalton when he was in high school. Gardner graduated from Wahconah Regional High School in 1979 and moved out of town soon after.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know this [event] was going on,” said Gardner. “When I found out, I just wanted to come out here and check it out.
“I get back here fairly regularly,” he said. “I think it’s great that the city is having events like this, bringing people downtown,” he said. “I wanted to support it, too.”
So what about Terry Root? We did not forget her.
This is the other part of the story.
“When I was at PHS, I was in a Literature class.,” she said. “It was all girls, except for one boy. And everyone wanted to go to the Junior Prom with him. But who do you think he asked?’
You?
“Me,” she said.
Root was hoping to see him on Saturday. But well, it didn’t happen.
Still, there’s always next year.
Reach staff writer Derek Gentile at 413-629-4261.
