The Boston Traveler

That’s right — I dare to bring you the same Weekend Highlight this week as I did last week, and for good reason. Thanks to generally lousy weather and unforeseen exploding manholes, May 4th’s scheduled MayFair celebration was canceled.
Those excited to attend need not worry about having to wait another entire year for the event to roll around again, however. It’s back on the Harvard Square roster this Sunday, May 11th — or at least it is as I write. So, before you throw the kids in the car or on the bus/train and head all the …read more

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This Sunday, May 4, gather the family, dress warm and casual, and head over to Harvard Square in Cambridge for its 25th annual MayFair festival, which coincides with the last day of Harvard University’s yearly, four-day Arts First celebration.
From 12pm-6pm, attendees will enjoy a diverse selection of activities, entertainment, shopping opportunities, and foodstuff, all for the admission price of $0.
According to organizers, this year’s MayFair features “six stages of LIVE entertainment, 30+ Restaurant Vendors, hundreds of Street Vendors selling artwork, jewelry, vintage clothing, neighborhood sidewalk sales and Chalk on the Walk.” And, that’s not even to mention the free …read more

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First there was the gas main line rupture downtown less than a week ago, and now Harvard Square in Cambridge has suffered exploding manholes.
At about 2:30am, (un)lucky residents and passersby had the opportunity to witness fire literally shooting out of a Harvard Square manhole and ten feet into the air at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Dunster Street. A series of four or more explosions were the result of fire beneath the ground, and fortunately, no one was hurt.
The fire eventually extinguished itself around 8:30am, about five hours after the Cambridge Fire Department responded to the emergency. …read more

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This Sunday is the first Sunday in May, which means it’s time for a 40-year-old Massachusetts tradition — Project Bread’s annual Walk for Hunger.
Started in 1969 by a compassionate Catholic priest named Patrick Hughes, the Walk for Hunger is a 20-mile pledge walk, the oldest one in the country, through Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, and Watertown. The purpose of the trek is to raise money to fight hunger among Bay State residents.
Although it’s hard to believe that starvation could possibly be a constant worry for inhabitants of the United States — that only happens in faraway, third-world countries, right? …read more

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…for the next week at least.
Armed with the provocative motto “The Future of Jazz Is Here and Now,” JazzBoston will take over Boston from April 25 to May 4 to offer residents and visitors a variety of affordable events focused on the music genre, such as workshops, concerts, and tributes to pioneers.
Highlights include a series of free seminars at the Boston Public Library’s main branch in Copley Square (700 Boylston Street, Copley Square, Boston, 617-536-5400), ranging from The Worlds of Duke Ellington to From Jazz to Hip-Hop and Beyond: Why Jazz Matters in the 21st Century. Especially notable is …read more

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Who’da thunk? Yet another convention inspired by geeks is heading the Hub’s way, thanks to the collaboration of enterprising academics at brainy MIT and stately Harvard.
This one, dear readers, is called ROFLCon, and if your mind doesn’t instantly translate the first four letters to their long form, it’s highly probable you won’t care what the event is. To be kind to those not in the know, the abbreviation ROFL means “Rolling on the floor laughing” in acronym-crazy, ultra/annoyingly cutesy Internet speak.
This Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, the inaugural edition of ROFLCon will take place at MIT …read more

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Happy Earth Day, my fellow Earth dwellers!
All this week, from today until Friday, April 25, Cambridge’s MIT is celebrating Earth Week in grand style. The festivities are getting off to a turbo-boosted start with the arrival of Governor Deval Patrick at 4:15 pm today. He’ll discuss Clean Energy for the Commonwealth, a presentation that includes his own concept of what Massachusetts will look like under the influence of clean energy.
Wednesday brings EcoExpo, a “sustainability showcase” of MIT affiliates’ work, now in its second year. The 5–7pm gathering gives researchers and other interested individuals the opportunity to learn …read more

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The latest Major League Baseball regular season is now roaring into full swing, so what better way to get into the groove of America’s favorite pastime than with a longtime observer, knowledgeable insider, and successful author? You couldn’t do so in a better place than here in Boston, either, where the home team Boston Red Sox are the reigning 2007 World Series Champions.
On Monday, April 7, Harvard Book Store (1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 617-661-1515) will welcome Michael Holley. The current co-host of radio’s Dale & Holley Show on local sports station WEEI is also the author of Patriot …read more

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Happy Easter, everyone!
I recently happened upon a segment from an episode of the daytime talk show The View, a program I never watch. On this occasion, I stuck around long enough to pay attention because the co-hosts were discussing an interesting issue. Basically, they were all agreeing that the prominence of Easter seems to be rapidly decreasing among American holidays.
When I was little, Easter was the most important holiday of the year behind only Christmas and Thanksgiving. Meals and activities were planned weeks in advance, and the entire day was spent attending church, eating, and visiting relatives. …read more

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Movie lovers, are you ready for a little something besides the mainstream stuff playing at a local multiplex near you? If so, the Boston Underground Film Festival, aka BUFF, just might have something to offer by way of freshness and diversity this weekend.
The ten-year-old annual event began as an informal affair in 1999, but has since matured and expanded into a full-fledged, more conventionally arranged series of screenings. And, unlike the fare you’ll find at whatever national chain happens to service your community, many of the scheduled works at BUFF will be hosted by the writers, directors, and …read more

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