Tuesday May 4, 2010

North Adams Transcript

WILLIAMSTOWN — Although it’s the middle of spring, the Williamstown Youth Center is reviving the Snowball — an annual dance for adults that had been on hiatus — in an effort to raise funds to build a new facility on the elementary school’s grounds.

In order to fit the season, the dance will shed its winter décor for a spring look and has been renamed the Spring Fling. It will be held from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, May 8, at the Orchards Hotel, 206 Adams Road.

“Anybody who chooses to come will support a very important program — and also have a wonderful evening,” David A. Rempell, executive director of the Williamstown Youth Center, said Monday.

He said the Snowball, which used to be held at the former Taconic Restaurant on Cold Spring Road, was always a “smashing success,” providing “good fun and community.”

The event, which existed until at least 2001, was the private, non-profit agency’s major fundraiser for its operating budget, and a precursor to its current Snow Fest fundraiser held every winter at Towne Field House at Williams College.

The idea to bring back the Snowball to raise money and promote the capital campaign for a new building was generated from people volunteering with the campaign, Rempell said.

“The idea of bringing back something that generates such fond memories for people in the community as we attempt to accomplish this major community initiative brings things full circle,” he said.

The Youth Center is in the midst of a community-wide campaign to raise funds to build a $3.5 million, 12,000 square-foot facility behind the elementary school at 115 Church St.

As of Monday, $1.9 million has been raised, Rempell said.

The 10,000 square-foot building the Youth Center calls home at 270 Cole Ave. dates back to the early 1900s, when it was a neighborhood school.

According to Youth Center officials, it would cost twice as much to repair the structure as it would to build a new facility.

Performing at the Spring Fling will be The Trophy Husbands and The Weapons of Mass Seduction — groups that both include several local parents.

A fundraiser in November featuring the two groups at the Elk’s Lodge in North Adams netted $700 to put toward supplies for the Youth Center’s arts programs.

“The Youth Center fundraisers are the only jobs we can get,” joked Michael Williams, assistant director for the center and a member of The Trophy Husbands. “This is a much bigger deal and event,” he said.

The groups are working on some special songs for the event, including one titled, “Pass the Hat,” which was modified for the occasion.

Eric Auld will be the emcee for the Spring Fling, which may also include a round of Youth Center trivia. The event is open to all adults in the community.

“It should be a good time, and we’re hoping for a good turnout,” Rempell said.

Tickets are $25 per person and are available at the Williamstown Youth Center, Wild Oats Market at 320 Main St. and Where’d You Get That at 100 Spring St. They’re also available online at www.wyctogetherwecan.org and will be available at the door.

To reach Meghan Foley,
e-mail mfoley@thetranscript.com.