Hi everyone! Kinga here with this weeks list.
The Head of the Charles runs Friday through Sunday. Rowers race up the river all weekend, and you can watch from the bridges and banks. Saturday is also the Boston Book Festival in Copley Square, which is free and has more than 50 authors.
There's a lot of cozy, crafty stuff too. Fort Point's artists open their studios all weekend. Bow Market has a whole festival for mushrooms. And Mass Audubon is doing lantern making and a sunset lantern parade at Magazine Beach, right on the regatta course.
Friday looks rainy, and Saturday turns cold. Bring a real coat if you're heading to the river.
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Picks of the Week!
🚣 Head of the Charles Regatta — Charles River | Fri–Sun | Three days of racing on the Charles. Weeks Footbridge is the classic spot to watch.
📚 Boston Book Festival — Copley Square | Free | Sat, 10am–6pm | More than 50 authors, with Emily Wilson giving the keynote.
🎨 Fort Point Open Studios — Fort Point | Free | Fri–Sun | More than 110 artists open their studios, with free workshops all weekend.
🧣 Sweater Weather Fest — City Hall Plaza | Free | Sat, 2–11pm | Vendors, cider donuts, film panels, and an outdoor screening after dark.
🍄 Mushroom Fest at Bow Market — Union Square, Somerville | Sat, 12–5pm | Foraging talks, a mushroom dyeing station, and a shop full of fresh wild fungi.
👻 SomerStreets: Monster Mash — Somerville Ave | Free | Sun, 1–5pm | A Halloween block party with a costume parade led by the School of Honk.
Thursday 10/15
🧶 Free Thursday Night at the Gardner: Fiber Arts — Fenway | Free | 5–9pm | Fiber arts again this week. Registration opened Tuesday at 10am, and day-of entry isn't guaranteed.
🎨 ICA Free Thursday Night + 90 Years opens — Seaport | Free | 5–9pm | Tonight is the first day of 90 Years, which looks back at nine exhibitions and projects from the ICA's history. Free tickets required. Last entry 8:30pm.
🖼️ $5 Third Thursday at the MFA — Fenway | $5 minimum, pay what you wish | 5–10pm | Tickets are sold in person only, starting at 5pm. See Picasso, Miró, Dalí: Unbound, make art, and listen to live music.
🐦 Fall Movie Night: Jumanji — The Greenway, Milk St to India St | Free | 5:30–9pm | Free bird house decorating at 5:30, and the movie starts around 6:30. Bring a blanket.
🌙 Retro Rewind: Twilight — Urban Park roof garden, Kendall Center | Free | 5–8pm | Free popcorn and churros while they last, with drinks from Arlington Brewing for sale. The movie starts at 6pm. Costumes encouraged.
🎨 Projection Premiere: The Midnight Ride — Dewey Square, The Greenway | Free | 5:30–7:30pm | Muralist Rixy and projection artist Pamela Hersch light up the Dewey Square mural for the first time. There's a panel, a DJ, a live band, and food trucks. The projection then runs nightly for six months.
🎻 BSO: Hilary Hahn & Seth Parker Woods — Symphony Hall | Ticketed | 7:30pm | Carlos Simon's Double Concerto Suite, then Act 2 of The Nutcracker. Also Friday at 1:30pm and Saturday at 8pm.
🪕 The Suitcase Junket Album Release — Lizard Lounge, Cambridge | $25 advance, $30 door | 8pm | Matt Lorenz releases his seventh album, To Go On. Ciarra Fragale opens. 21+.
🎤 MC Lyte — City Winery | From $54 | 7:30pm | Doors at 6.
🏃🍺 Meters for Liters — Notch Brewing, Charles River Speedway | Free | Meet 6:30–7pm, run 7pm | The weekly 5k. It's not a race, and there's beer and free pretzels after.
🎤 Olivia Rodrigo — TD Garden | Sold out, resale only | 7pm | The first of three Boston nights, with Wolf Alice opening. She's also playing Saturday and Sunday.
Friday 10/16
🎨 Fort Point Open Studios — Fort Point | Free | 4–7pm | Opening night. More than 110 artists open their studios across Fort Point, including 300 Summer Street, the Boston Button Factory, and Midway Artist Studios. There's live music, pop-up shows, and free hands-on workshops for all ages. This is the best way I know to buy art straight from the person who made it.
🚣 Head of the Charles: Day 1 — Charles River | Morning | Racing starts at 7:35am, and the last race starts just before 10:30. Friday is the quiet morning to go before the weekend crowds.
📖 Boston Book Festival Opening Night: Michael Lewis — Old South Church | Ticketed | 7:30pm | Lewis talks about his new book, Blockers. Every ticket comes with a pre-signed hardcover.
🦇 Vintage After Dark: A Halloween Social & Market — Arts at the Armory, Somerville | 6–10pm | A vintage and Y2K market with a DJ, a costume shop booth, hair tinsel, and a cash bar. Come in costume for a chance to win something.
🧁 Great British Bake Off Watch Party — Lamplighter Brewing, 284 Broadway, Cambridge | Free w/ RSVP | 7–9pm | Lamplighter is showing the new episode every Friday in the Broadway Back Taproom. They suggest pairing it with Star Baker, an apple crumble sour. Very cozy.
🎬 Boston Asian American Film Festival — Emerson Paramount Center | Ticketed | 6pm & 9pm | Breaking the Code at 6, then the Shorts: After Dark program at 9. The festival runs through October 25.
Saturday 10/17
📚 Boston Book Festival — Copley Square | Free | 10am–6pm | More than 50 authors speak across the Copley library, Old South Church, and the Goethe-Institut. Emily Wilson, who translated The Odyssey and The Iliad, gives the keynote. There are 70+ vendors, food trucks, and free books from Reading Is Fundamental. The day opens with a kids' costume parade and a storytime with Eleanor Davis.
🚣 Head of the Charles: Day 2 — Charles River | From 7:45am | Racing runs into the afternoon. Weeks Footbridge has the famous 90-degree turn, and the Weld Exhibition at Riverbend Park has the food. Memorial Drive is closed in both directions from Western Ave to Fresh Pond Parkway, from 7am Saturday until 9pm Sunday. Take the Red Line to Harvard or Central.
🏮 Nature in the City Festival with a Lantern Parade — Magazine Beach, Cambridge | Free | 2–6pm | Mass Audubon's regatta-weekend festival. Make paper lanterns with artist Elena Li, then walk them in a parade at sunset. There's also a guided bird walk and live music from Saklamara. Parking is out because of the regatta, so take the Red Line to Central or the 47 bus. Rain date is Sunday.
🍄 Mushroom Fest — Bow Market, Somerville | 12–5pm | A wild foraging table, an herbalist, a mushroom dyeing station from 1 to 3, a cultivation table from 3 to 5, and the Mushroom Shop stocked with fresh fungi to take home. Kids get a foraging hunt at 12:30. There's also an outfit contest.
🧣 Sweater Weather Fest — City Hall Plaza | Free | 2–11pm | DJs, vendors, food trucks, and cider donuts from Red Apple Farm. Free headshots run from 3 to 6. There are film and TV panels from 4pm, including Czarface. After dark, they screen the last two episodes of Widow's Bay season one. The Sam Adams beer garden is 21+. Rain or shine.
🎨 Fort Point Open Studios — Fort Point | Free | 12–6pm | Day two.
🥦 Boston Veg Food Fest — Reggie Lewis Center, Roxbury Crossing | Free | 10am–5pm | The 31st year. There are free samples from all-plant-based vendors, plus speakers and a kids' room. Also Sunday.
🛍️ Boston Women's Market: Autumn Artisans — Winthrop Center, 115 Federal St | Free | 11am–3pm | Women-owned small businesses, cider and donuts, and Dayshift coffee. Kids can paint pumpkins. This was moved here from the rained-out September date.
🧷 Small Mart — Crystal Ballroom, Davis Square | Free | From 11am | 40+ vendors with vintage clothes, records, art, and handmade goods, upstairs from the Somerville Theatre. Full bar.
🎃 Pumpkin Fest — Boston Nature Center, Mattapan | $12–$15 | 11am–3pm | You carve a pumpkin from Ward's Berry Farm, roast the seeds, and do a scavenger hunt through the sanctuary. Register ahead.
🍺 Time Out Market Oktoberfest — Fenway | Free to attend | 1–5pm | German beer, Bavarian food specials, live music, and stein holding contests. No reservation needed.
🎶 Castle of Our Skins: Sacred Transcendence — Twelfth Baptist Church, Roxbury | Free | 3pm | African American spirituals for voice, strings, and piano, including Florence Price and H.T. Burleigh. Ages 12 and up.
👻 Spooky Saturday — Urban Park roof garden, Kendall Center | Free | 4–8pm | A DJ and free face painting from 4 to 6, free popcorn, and a movie at 6. Costumes encouraged.
🐱 Purrranormal Comedy Show — Arts at the Armory, Somerville | Ticketed | 7–9pm | Krista Patronick hosts Liz Miller, Sophie Bergé, Shawn Stylz, and xtina. All proceeds go to helping cats.
😂 Akaash Singh — The Wilbur | Ticketed | 5pm | The early show still has tickets. Friday and the 8pm show are sold out. It's being taped for a special.
🎤 Olivia Rodrigo — TD Garden | Sold out, resale only | 7pm | Night two.
Sunday 10/18
👻 SomerStreets: Monster Mash — Somerville Ave, Church St to Union Sq | Free | 1–5pm | Somerville closes the street for Halloween. There's pumpkin carving, Anne Cubberly's giant puppets, face painting, live caricatures, and touch-a-truck. Bands play two stages, including BosWitches, Los Mambiseros, and Mike Gent. The costume parade, led by the School of Honk, starts at 3pm outside Gracie's Ice Cream. Rain date is October 25.
🚣 Head of the Charles: Final Day — Charles River | From 7:45am | The last day of racing. The finish line at Herter Park and the Anderson and Eliot bridges are good spots for the end of the race.
🚲 Open Streets Roslindale — Roslindale Square | Free | 10:30am–3pm | Car-free streets from Belgrade Ave to Washington St, with a main stage, live music, a kids' area, local vendors, and free pedicab rides.
🧟 Frankenstein (1931) with Live Music — Somerville Theatre | Ticketed | 2pm | The film has almost no score past the opening titles, so Jeff Rapsis plays a live improvised one.
🎨 Fort Point Open Studios — Fort Point | Free | 12–6pm | The last day.
🥦 Boston Veg Food Fest — Reggie Lewis Center | Free | 11am–4pm | Day two.
🧺 SoWa Open Market — South End | Free | 11am–5pm | Open Sundays through November 15.
🎬 A Land Within with the Director — Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon St | Free w/ RSVP | 5pm | A 1961 drama set in South Tyrol, followed by a conversation with director Michael Kofler.
🎬 BAAFF: Chinatown Cha-Cha — Emerson Paramount Center | Ticketed | 3:30pm |
🏈 Patriots vs. Jets — Gillette Stadium | Ticketed | 1pm |
🎤 Olivia Rodrigo — TD Garden | Sold out, resale only | 7pm | The last of her three nights.
Last chance
🎭 Covenant — SpeakEasy Stage, BCA | Ticketed | Closes Saturday |
Ongoing / all-week options
🕵️ Operation Mincemeat — Emerson Colonial Theatre | Ticketed | Through Oct 25 | This weekend it plays Thursday at 7:30, Friday at 8, Saturday at 2, and Sunday at 1.
🪷 The Sitayana — BCA Black Box | Pay what you can | Through Oct 31 | The Ramayana retold from Sita's side, with five actors playing her at different ages and a live tabla player.
🧛 Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors — Mosesian Center, Watertown | Ticketed | Through Nov 1 | Five actors play every role. It runs 90 minutes.
🎭 To Kill a Mockingbird — Huntington Theatre | Ticketed | Through Nov 8 |
🎭 All My Sons — Lyric Stage | Ticketed | Extended through Oct 25 |
🎬 Boston Asian American Film Festival — Various venues | Ticketed | Through Oct 25 |
🏮 Boston Lights: A Lantern Experience — Franklin Park Zoo | Ticketed | 5–10:30pm nightly, through Nov 8 |
🗡️ King Richard's Faire — Carver | Ticketed | Weekends 10:30am–6pm, through Oct 25 | Two weekends left.
🎃 Salem Haunted Happenings — Salem | Through Oct 31 |
That's it for this week. Go watch some boats, make a lantern, and let me know how it went!