Terry Cowgill | The Berkshire Edge | July 20, 2020
https://theberkshireedge.com/hordes-of-people-breaking-every-single-rule-pack-bash-bish-falls/
Mount Washington — During the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, Northeasterners have often looked askance at crowded Florida beaches, teeming with unmasked humanity and recklessly spreading the virus. Actually, a New Englander wouldn’t have to look very far to find that kind of spectacle because it’s right in our own backyard.
Bash Bish Falls, a popular but remote destination for sightseers, this past weekend more resembled Fort Lauderdale Beach than a rustic outpost in the Berkshires.
A precise count of the number of people at the falls was impossible to obtain but from photographs, witnesses and state police estimates, it appears that at least 1,000 people packed the small park over the weekend. That in itself would be alarming even in normal times. But during a pandemic in which people are still urged by authorities to practice social distancing, it can be horrifying.
One witness on Facebook, John Sparkman, made his first visit and termed it a “colossal disappointment.” He said there were “hordes of people breaking every single rule.”
As Sparkman described it, Bash Bish was a scene of chaos, with “garbage everywhere, large picnics set up with tables, loud music, board games, shouting, beer, weed, swimming … you name it.”
On the Egremont Posts Google Group, Elizabeth Bledsoe posted a photograph she said was taken on Saturday. The image, seen at the top of this story, depicts scores of people swimming in the pool beneath the falls, and scores more eating and partying on the treacherous rocks that ring the pool. Neither Sparkman nor Bledsoe returned an Edge message seeking comment.
Bash Bish Falls is a Massachusetts park maintained by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation. The falls themselves are in the town of Mount Washington but much of the surrounding area is in New York. More on that later.
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