Everyone's Invited to Take to the Streets at the June 3rd.Thursdays in Downtown Pittsfield!

Downtown Pittsfield will be celebrating sustainability in more ways than one Thursday, June 17 during its monthly 3rd.Thursdays street fest, held May through October of each year. This month's Green Neighborhoods theme means you can get a solar powered haircut at Shaun's Barbershop, peruse organically grown heirloom seedlings from Hancock Shaker Village, visit the Westside Farm Project and Alchemy Initiative booths and learn more about these urban gardening initiatives, enjoy new music by the Electric Junkyard Gamelan, who build their inventive musical instruments from recycled and discarded objects, or run in the second annual Green Mile Road Race, benefiting local neighborhood initiatives.

But best of all, thanks to overwhelming success of downtown Pittsfield's 3rd.Thursdays which attract between 3,000 and 10,000 attendees each month, North Street will be closed to vehicular traffic from Park Square to Maplewood Avenue. All told, a half mile of the wide boulevard will be pedestrian (and bicycle and skateboard) only from 5pm to 8pm. Click here for a map of the street closure and free parking.

A wide variety of performances are featured at the June 17th 3rd.Thursdays, from the Brazilian rhythms of the Berkshire Bateria and singer-songwriter Brad Byrd, who has written music for televison and film, to R&B from the Floyd Patterson Band (that's Floyd pictured left) and Americana roots music (and clogging!) with Moonshine Holler. Click here for a full schedule.

Shops and restaurants stay open late on 3rd.Thursdays and vendors fill the streets. The fun continues beyond 8pm with the Barrington Stage's first performance of Sweeney Todd, Los Lonely Boys and their Texacan rock at the Colonial Theatre, local bands (and no cover) at Patrick's Pub, Mission Bar & Tapas, and the Press Box, Taylor Mali at the MicroTheatre at Art.On.No, plus late night dancing to local DJs BFG and Jerrid Cody at the Underground Pub.

For more information on 3rd.Thursdays in downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts, visit http://www.culturalpittsfield.com/, email mwhilden@pittsfieldch.com, or call 413.499.9348.