Festivals of Ice Cream, Dragon Boat, Ren Faire, Kites, Gay Pride, & British Cars
06/04/09 by
Johnny Monsarrat
I’m too busy to add on little extras this week, like local zoos and hiking trails, but you can always get that stuff on my huge Excel spreadsheet, which I am updating now for summertime outdoor concerts, theatre, and movies. If anyone with a car would like to drive out, with company, to the Ren Faire this weekend, zing me a note through the website! 🙂
Here’s your week in weird. Enjoy it! Want this weekly? Please subscribe.
-Johnny
The Week in Weird |
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| Scooper Bowl (world’s largest ice cream festival) | 6/9 – 6/11 | Boston Metro | |
| The event of the week is the Scooper Bowl! Listen up! First, you pay money. It all goes to charity. Then, you get to eat unlimited ice cream, until you pass out! “But Ma, I’m eating ice cream for charity!” Group discounts available. 12-8pm daily. Boston City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA. more |
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| Boston Dragon Boat Festival | 6/6 – 6/7 | Boston Metro | |
| Also the event of the week (they don’t overlap) are these Dragony Canoe Races. But wait! That’s not all. The festival along the Charles River also comes with a lion dance, martial arts demonstrations, Japanese drumming, live music, and Chinese yo-yo. So it’s a real festival, not simply a boat race. Take that, Head of the Charles! 9am-5pm. Dance and music performances all day. Charles River, Cambridge, MA.617-426-6500 x78. more |
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| Silver Kingdom Renaissance Festival | 6/6 – 6/14 | Worcester | |
| Can’t wait for King Richard’s Faire? Get your fix in Charlton, which is out in West past Worcester. They say “all manners of revelry await you”. All manners? Now that I have to see. 120 Northside Rd, Charlton, MA. more |
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| Boston Pride Week | 6/5 – 6/14 | Boston Metro | |
| This is the largest gay pride event in New England. June 13th is a parade, and festival on City Hall Plaza. Also block parties 6/14 and a bunch more. Boston, MA. more |
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| Annual KONE Regional Kite Competition | 6/6 | North Shore | |
| Don’t be fooled. This isn’t just a bunch of guys and kites. OK, it is. But some of the kites are amazing! Like flying lobsters and seriously huge Chinese box kites. And they’ll have competitions. It turns out that flying a cheap kite from the toy store is not that easy. Come and have one of the pros show you how it’s done. 9:30am-4:30pm. Nahant and Lynn Beach (Long Beach Reservation), Lynn, MA. more |
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| British Car Day @ Larz Anderson Museum | 6/7 | Boston Metro | |
| The Larz Anderson Museum of Transportation continues to have lawn festivals. It’s wonderful. 15 Newton Street, Brookline, MA.(617) 522-6547. more |
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| Country Life Festival @ Enfield Shaker Museum | 6/6 | New Hampshire | |
| Or go way into the past with the Shakers, who are a kind of Quaker, except they Shake rather than Quake. (It’s complicated, but you get used to it.). 447 NH Route 4A, Enfield, NH.(603) 632-4346. more |
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| 29th Annual Festival of Historic Houses | 6/6 | Rhode Island | |
| Providence, Rhode Island has its own spot in history, and you can tour a number of old homes this week. Various locations, Providence, RI. more |
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| Fort Adams Family Day | 6/6 | Rhode Island | |
| And while you’re in Rhode Island, stop by Fort Adams. They’ll have fire trucks, kids music and games, a live reptile display, and a 12-foot robot meant to educate children as a prelude to global takeover. Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI. more |
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| Dorchester Day Parade | 6/7 | Boston Metro | |
| Details haven’t been printed on Dot Parade, but it usually starts in Lower Mills and goes down Dorchester Avenue to Columbia Road, with a cookout after. Dorchester, MA.617-822-8296. more |
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| World Oceans Day Festival | 6/7 | Boston Metro | |
| This festival is basically live music and kids games on the plaza in front of the New England Aquarium. But a few vendors and eco-groups will have booths. 11am-4pm. New England Aquarium, Boston, MA. more |
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| Summer Fest @ Elm Bank | 6/7 | Metro West | |
| Personally I would bet on this one instead, in Wellesley. They claim to have an entire science fair, an art gallery, moon bounces, and lots of participatory stuff like dancing and movie making. 141 Linden Street, Wellesley, MA. more |
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| Taunton River Festival | 6/6 | Southern Mass | |
| This one’s the best funded and has a sweet website. But a vague one. Come for live music, crafts, basically kids stuff. 10am-5pm. Weir Riverfront Park, Taunton, MA.508-821-9347. more |
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| Not Your Average Date Night” Movies | 6/4 | Boston Metro | |
| The summer season for outdoor movies is officially starting, with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, on the lawn at the Prudential Center. Lawn at the Prudential Center, Boston, MA. more |
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Also Fun |
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| See New England Festival | 6/6 | Boston Metro | |
| Warning! Commercial event posing as festival! However, it’s all about great escapes in New England, so you might just learn something about fun or get a coupon for a great deal. It’s free. They’ll have live music. 10am-5pm. Boston City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA. more |
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| New England Celebrates Israel | 5/31 – 6/18 | Boston Metro | |
| And now for a series of small festivals. All over the citywide area, celebrate Israel. Boston, MA.617-457-8500. more |
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| Coolidge Corner Arts Festival & Brookline Food Festival | 6/6 | Boston Metro | |
| Also commercial, this “art festival” used to be a bunch of vendor booths on the sidewalk. But now they have moved it onto a school grounds and situated it next to a food festival. Sounding pretty good! Devotion School, 345 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA.617.739.9066.. more |
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| Schweppes Great Chowder Cook-off | 6/6 | Rhode Island | |
| Or check out this chowder festival. Basically, you show up, you eat chowder. It’s like the Scooper Bowl, but no charity. Over 3000 gallons of chowder from 30 great chefs. 11am-6pm. Newport, RI. more |
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| Newport International Film Festival | 6/3 – 6/7 | Rhode Island | |
| Also in Newport, a film festival. Newport, RI. more |
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| Boom Town Festival | 6/1 – 6/11 | Boston Metro | |
| This free festival is eclectic, with walking art tours, dance and music. Cambridge, MA. more |
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| JP First Thursday | 6/4 | Boston Metro | |
| This is basically a gallery walk 6-8pm. And poetry reading. Every first Thursday of the month. Centre & South Streets, Jamaica Plain, MA. more |
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| Concord Gardens Tour | 6/5 – 6/6 | Metro West | |
| Your chance to visit private gardens without sneaking in. Various locations, Concord, MA. more |
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| Concord Library Book Sale | 6/6 | Metro West | |
| Enormous sale on the library lawn. I don’t normally include library sales, but they’ll have live music, poetry, kids stuff, thousands of books, carefully sorted and categorized. Rain date 6/13. Main Library, Concord, MA. more |
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| Arlington Greek Festival | 6/5 – 6/7 | Boston Metro | |
| They claim to draw “thousands of people”. Could be! Cooking lessons, a market place, and Greek dancing, hopefully participatory. Church, 4 Appleton Street, Arlington, MA. more |
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| Salem Arts Festival | 6/5 – 6/7 | North Shore | |
| The Salem Arts Festival has a wide variety of dance, music, and art performance. Various locations, Salem, MA. more |
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| Burlington Discover Jazz Festival | 6/5 – 6/14 | Vermont | |
| I really have no interest in jazz. There doesn’t appear to be a central outdoor festival grounds. Instead, several local venues open their doors (as they do all year?) to the ticket-buying public. Burlington, VT. more |
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| Southbridge Fest | 6/6 | Worcester | |
| Parade down Main Street, live music, vendor booths. 10am-5pm. Town Common, Southbridge, MA.508-347-2761. more |
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| Dedham Square Music Fest | 6/6 | Boston Metro | |
| OOo. Beatles tribute band, and Dr. Seuss musical. Dedham Community House Field, 671 High Street, Dedham, MA. more |
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| Block Island Annual Music Festival | 6/9 – 6/14 | Rhode Island | |
| I was originally skeptical of this ‘festival’, because it essentially is a one-venue event at a bar. However, it’s free and includes free barbecue. Sounds like a great excuse to check out the island. Captain Nick’s, Ocean Avenue, Block Island, RI. more |
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| AIDS Walk Boston | 6/7 | Boston Metro | |
| I’ll tell you a secret. They’ll take your money even if you don’t walk… Boston, MA. more |
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Performance |
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| Pirates! (Or, Gilbert and Sullivan Plunder’d) | 5/28 – 6/14 | Boston Metro | |
| This looks so interesting! It’s a reworking of Gilbert & Sullivan with the same music but a new, improved storyline. BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA. more |
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| A Celtic Sojourn – The Boston Sessions Series | 6/5 | Boston Metro | |
| My favorite folk group, Atwater-Donnelly (what an unfortunately boring name), is performing live at WGBH with invited guests 7-8:30 pm, for later broadcast. They hardly ever come into metro Boston so this would be a fairly unique opportunity for you to see them without traveling far. WGBH-FM, One Guest St., Boston, MA. more |
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