Fresh Takes. Deep Roots.
The Village Green News
WHERE
The Village Green is a new experiment in local journalism for South Berkshire County, and has started out focusing coverage on Great Barrington, with dispatches from surrounding towns.
As we add on contributors we will expand our coverage.
WHY
The Village Green exists because civic engagement depends upon an informed citizenry, and on far too many issues the people of South Berkshire County are not well-informed.
We do not have nearly as many news sources as we used to have, deserve to have, and need to have. The Village Green is one effort to help meet this unmet need.
We write for everyone who’s invested in this collective village and calls it home, whether your great grandparents arrived in town in 1889 or you just settled here last year.
We are locally rooted, editorially independent, and committed to excellence. We engage with complexity, and will not indulge in us-them framing. We are scrupulous about the line between reporting and opinion.
Fresh takes. Deep roots.
WHO
To date our contributor cohort has included:
Sheela Clary, Founder and Editor
Evelyn Battaglia
Hannah Van Sickle
Robbi Hartt
Erik Bruun
Dan Latzman
Lauren Hyde is our Social Media Manager.
Nancy Ringer is our sharp-eyed editor.
Selected stories will be published in Spanish as well as English thanks to our Spanish language editor, Laura Sierra Pacheco.
WHAT
NEWS
We are covering some of the big, important stories for the region, such as the ongoing water crisis in Housatonic, the future of Simon’s Rock campus, and that of Tanglewood.
We’re also covering the small stories, about a new bookstore for Housatonic, a local restauranteur who wasn’t able to grow here, and we’re profiling a ranger of Villagers, their businesses, passions and organizations.
“FROM THE GAZEBO” PODCAST
Our monthly podcast, “From the Gazebo,” features co-hosts Sheela Clary and Erik Bruun, two locals talking local stuff, like AI, town meetings, bears in our backyards, and what to do around here in the wintertime.
Find us now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Follow the show and leave a 5-star rating if you're enjoying it!
Pitch us a story idea or guest at 413villagegreen@gmail.com.
LIVE EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS
We organize live Substack conversations, ticketed story and social events, and storytelling and writing workshops.
Stay tuned for new events coming in 2027.
COMMUNITY VOICES SUBMISSIONS
We welcome your letters to the editor and opinion pieces that touch on issues of local interest and relevance or otherwise tell us something new.
If you have a pitch for an ongoing news feature, trivia game, photography series, or anything else we might find fun and interesting, please reach out at 413villagegreen@gmail.com.
COMMENTS
The comments section is a space for exchanging ideas, asking questions, and building community. We reserve the right to delete comments that include offensive language or which insult individuals, organizations or businesses.
Disagreement is good — disrespect is not.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE! PLEASE PAY TO SUBSCRIBE! IT’S JUST $90 PER YEAR, WHICH IS, LET’S FACE IT, MUCH, MUCH LESS THAN YOU SPEND ON LATTES.
Podcast producers cost money.
Good writing costs money.
Responsible reporting costs money.
So do websites, insurance, bookeepers, editors, marketing materials, event rentals, etc, etc.
Notice our lack of ads. We are primarily a subscription-based business.
Please consider supporting our work by becoming a paid subscriber. If you can, consider sponsoring the subscription of one of your neighbors.
The Village Green is aiming to build something new, useful and enduring.
We need YOU in order to make it a success.
For ease of access, get the Substack app.
To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.
