The 40 Biggest Festivals and Events Coming to Boston in Spring 2019 By: Jim Martinho - Tuesday, Mar 19, 2019 - 2:34pm March 20th marks the official first day of spring, the best season in Boston. OK, fall is probably number one because the weather is just as good and there’s football and foliage. And in the summer you can go to the beach and ride the T without getting hit in the face by some college kid’s backpack. But we can all agree spring is in the top three seasons. Here’s 40 of the biggest events and festivals coming to Boston in the next three months. (more…)

Sports Championships by City Since 2000 By: yiseowl - Saturday, Feb 16, 2019 - 3:04pm I wanted to visualize sports championships in Boston this century vs. everywhere else, so I made a graphic. The graphic shows all titles won in the four major sports from 1/30/2000 to 2/3/2019. Special thanks to Dan Holmes for providing the necessary data to fill in the chart (or “trophy case”). He previously posted a similar article on Medium here. See and/or download a high-resolution version of the graphic here.

20 Free Things to do in Boston in February By: Jim Martinho - Friday, Feb 1, 2019 - 1:13pm February might be the shortest month, but it’s long on free events. The ‘r’ in February is silent, but maybe it stands for ‘R you serious with all of these free events?” 2019 might not be a leap year, but you’ll leap for joy when you see all of these free — OK I’ll stop. Here’s a bunch of free stuff to do around Boston this month. (more…)

New Year’s Eve in Boston: The Ultimate Guide By: Jim Martinho - Wednesday, Dec 19, 2018 - 1:30am

Photo by Lei Han / Creative Commons 2.0 It happens earlier every year: That first group text asking “Any New Year’s plans?” Or you’re walking through a mall with an extremely well-curated holiday playlist and hear the Orioles classic “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” and realize you don’t have an answer. Let’s do something about that: Here’s our guide to ringing in 2019 in style, on any budget. (more…)

Guacamole & Margarita Cruise By: Lisa Marinelli - Tuesday, Sep 25, 2018 - 1:38pm The Backstory Previously, we worked with Ghost Tequila to produce our “Summer Sesh“, and the event was a hit! Our tequila-loving team and Summer Sesh’s attendees were obsessed with Ghost Tequila’s bottles, and we knew we had to collaborate again. As we brainstormed ideas for what this event could look like, we threw out the overdone “tacos & tequila” and voila … guacamole & margaritas became our vision. We reached out to a dozen local restaurants, asking them to showcase their house-made guacamole recipes, and five of the best jumped on board. This event was happening. (more…)

Last Call for Rosé & Oysters Cruise By: Lisa Marinelli - Monday, Sep 10, 2018 - 12:18pm With the success of our first Rosé & Oysters Sesh, we decided to set sail recently for a second ring around the Boston Harbor on Mass Bay Lines’ Music City Queen showboat. We loved seeing new faces step aboard ready to see the city skyline through a pair of rosé-colored glasses. The minute each attendee received a cup filled with tasting tickets, their illuminating rosé experience was about to begin.

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Ring Around the Rosé & Oysters Cruise By: yiseowl - Friday, Jul 20, 2018 - 4:08pm This past Sunday we held our biggest sesh yet. It started with a simple idea: Team up with a few wine experts to create an experience that promised to give attendees a deeper understanding of rosé — a step up from just going to a bar and ordering something pink. Then we thought, what if we put it on a ship? Oooo, what if we added oysters too? With that, we proceeded to reach out Mass Bay Lines and pitched them our concept; they were in. Now we needed to find all that rosé. Someone recommended we touch base with Martignetti, the leading distributor of wines and spirits in New England. They weren’t exactly sure what this #rosésesh would look like, but they were willing to work with us. As we firmed up what felt like a never-ending list of details, we ended up designating Martignetti as the exclusive provider of rosé, and worked with them to offer ten wines from their Carolina & United divisions. By the time the sesh rolled around, attendees were tasting French rosés from a vineyard part owned by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, to rare pinot noir rosés from Dundee Hills in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. This sesh was only made possible thanks to all of the local companies who were willing to team up with us, and of course the dozens of staff and volunteers who helped out. We’d be remiss if we didn’t express extreme gratitude to our rosé guides, Charlotte and Kathryn, who helped curate the wine list and lead attendees through the tasting. Allium Market of Brookline for putting out an INCREDIBLE charcuterie spread. Hooked Fish Shop of Somerville, who shucked 400 oysters. Eataly Boston, who provided several salumi & formaggi platters as well as assorted focaccia. Our presenting media partner, WBUR. The captain and crew of The Music City Queen, who cruised us safely around Boston Harbor as we drank rosé all day. And of course the incredible team of volunteers from Hult University, who checked everyone in, organized our Wine Bottle Hoisting Contest, and executed our floating Instax photo booth. We said this was the “first annual” Rose & Oysters Cruise, but seeing that it went so well, we might just do another one in August. Stay tuned. (more…)

Our first Sesh By: yiseowl - Tuesday, Jun 12, 2018 - 4:01pm After spending two years developing an unnamed experiential classrooms platform, we soft-launched “Sesh by The Boston Calendar” on June 5th, 2018. The Sesh itself—Hemingway to Havana: Mixing Classic Rum Cocktails—took place just five days later at the Kimpton Marlowe Hotel’s Lobby Bar, led by historian, author and mixologist, Brain Hoefling (Herzog Cocktail School). With a full-house on hand, Brian led the crowd through a short history of rum, then taught attendees how to make three light rum cocktails using Privateer Silver Reserve: 1) Hemingway Daiquiri: An evolution of the venerable Daiquiri, invented at the famous Havana bar El Floridita and eventually renamed after its most famous patron. 2) El Presidente: Another Havana classic, and the scion of the rum-and-vermouth cocktail family. Famously offered to Calvin Coolidge by Cuban President Gerardo Machado (he declined). 3) El Floridita: Not as famous as its namesake bar and frequently confused with the Floridita Daiquiri until the latter changed its name to “Hemingway” (see above); yet another delicious expression of Cuba’s cocktail tradition and one of the few drinks to pair lime juice with sweet vermouth. After demonstrating how to make each of the aforementioned cocktails, attendees got hands-on and proceeded to pick up a shaker and make their own from scratch… To ensure attendees properly lined their stomaches before consuming three self-made cocktails, the Kimpton provided delicious light bites at the start of the Sesh. Connections were made, numbers were exchanged, knowledge was obtained, and most importantly, the experience was unique and memorable. From a logistics and flow standpoint, there are a number of things we plan to improve upon moving forward, but Sesh number one is in the books, and it’s just the first of many. WBUR was our presenting media partner for this Sesh, and will be for subsequent ones through he summer. What’s Sesh? In short, immersive experiences with the city as your classroom. Everything from rosé deep dives on cruises, to dumpling making at the all-new Bow Market. Look out for a whole host of Seshes via this link in the coming days. Until then, stay tuned. All photos by Shiv Patel.

20 Free Things To Do in Boston in April By: Jim Martinho - Monday, Apr 2, 2018 - 9:28pm Keep your calendar (and your wallet) full with our picks for 20 free things to do around Boston in April. 1. National Poetry Month Festival T.S. Eliot’s epic poem “The Waste Land” opens with the line “April is the cruelest month.” But that was way before April was declared National Poetry Month. Boston celebrates with a five-day festival in the Back Bay that wraps up with a weekend of readings by established and emerging poets at the Boston Public Library. All of the festival’s events are free and open to the public. Wednesday to Sunday, April 4-8 | Event website (more…)