Events

Boston’s [1] events calendar starts on New Year’s Eve with First Night, a citywide celebration featuring concerts, kid’s activities, and artistic events throughout the day of December 31. The night is capped off by two fireworks celebrations, one in the early evening and another at midnight.

Just after the holiday bulge disappears, Bostonians fatten up again with the Boston Cooks! festival in late January and early February, during which celebrity chefs offer cut-rate meals with the proceeds donated to charity.

Around the same time Boston Wine Expo takes over the World Trade Center for samplings of thousands of vintages from more than a dozen countries.

If that’s not enough partying for you, St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner on March 17. The main event is a parade on the nearest Sunday through South Boston [2], whose streets are bedecked with green for the occasion.

To work off all of the weight they’ve put on in the winter, residents turn out for the Boston Marathon [3], the oldest (and some say toughest) marathon in the United States. Spectators start lining the route to cheer along Beacon and Boylston Streets, all the way to Copley Square. The race is held on the second Monday in April, which is also known in Massachusetts [4] as Patriot’s Day to celebrate the early victories of the Revolutionary War.

Patriotism continues when the neighborhood of Charlestown [5] celebrates its own holiday, Bunker Hill Day, on June 17. The celebration features military demonstrations by colonial re-enactors, along with a parade and street vendors.

Boston’s [1] patriotic triptych concludes with the gala celebrations on the Fourth of July. Residents wake up early to hear the reading of the Declaration of Independence from the balcony of the Old State House [6]. The main event is the concert by the beloved Boston Pops [7] on the Esplanade, which is televised nationally every year and draws hundreds of thousands to hear musical medleys accompanied by celebrity performers. Get there early if you have any hope of snagging a patch of grass.

The fall in Boston [1] is dedicated to the arts, with theaters commencing their new seasons of plays, and neighborhoods including the South End [8], Cambridge [9], and Jamaica Plain [10] holding annual open studios to showcase local artwork.

The holidays officially begin with the Holiday Tree Lighting at the Prudential Center, which brings out politicians and celebrities along with the mayor to throw the switch.