10 things to do in Boston this weekend
BosTen is your weekly guide to not-lame events in the city.
BosTen is your weekly guide to events and cool happenings in and around Boston. Skip Netflix this weekend—here are 10 ways to get out of your home and not be bored in the city. If you’d like BosTen delivered to your inbox every Thursday, click here. Want more things to do? Check out our events calendar at boston.com/events.
Lit Crawl Boston
Leading up to this weekend’s Boston Book Festival, various literary figures in the city are joining forces to put on 14 free events in 10 different locations in the Back Bay, each offering some sort of fun literary excursion, and most offering free beer and wine. From a Jane Austen-themed improv performance to a trivia game hosted by Boston.com “Love Letters” author Meredith Goldstein, the Back Bay will be awash with literary types. (Thursday, October 13 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; various locations; free; 21+)
A Conversation with Jeb Bush
The former Florida governor and onetime candidate for the Republican presidential nomination agreed to join Harvard’s Kennedy School as a visiting fellow in the Program on Education Policy and Governance this fall, and will be giving one of several planned talks Thursday. This one will concern new opportunities for state leadership in shaping K-12 education policy. The event is not ticketed, and doors open at 5 p.m. (Thursday, October 13 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Askwith Hall; free; all ages)
Light Bright Beer Garden at City Hall
City Hall has never looked brighter than when it’s been lit up at Boston Calling, bathing concertgoers in warm, colorful hues. Now, the city is unveiling a new lighting installation, and celebrating with a free event full of glow-themed games, food trucks, live music, beer and wine from local companies, and a raffle to win a $2,500 downtown shopping spree. (Thursday, October 13 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Askwith Hall; free; all ages)
The Brooklyn Brewery Boston Mash
Brooklyn Brewery may be from New York, but they’re bringing a bevy of beverage-centric events to the Boston area this weekend as part of their Mash tour. On Friday there’s a free concert at Royale from Cults and Francis Cone. Saturday features a “Beer Mansion” at Whisky Saigon ($25) featuring games, beer from a half dozen local breweries, and music from Soulejulah. Sunday’s Inman & Union Square Neighborhood Immersion ($20) gets you lunch at a number of local restaurants, beer from local bars, discounts at Gracie’s Ice Cream and Taza Chocolate, and samples elsewhere in the two hip neighborhoods. (Concert: Friday, October 14 at 7 p.m.; Royale; free; 21+. Beer Mansion: Saturday, October 15 at 5 p.m.; Whisky Saigon; $25; 21+. Neighborhood Immersion: Sunday, October 16 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.; various locations; $20; 21+)
Biketober Fest 2016
The Boston Cyclist’s Union is putting on its annual ride celebrating local breweries and bike-friendly businesses, as well as raising awareness for their legislative victories and ongoing campaigns to make the road a safer place for bicycles. Tickets will get you free food, free beer, wine, and cider, and entries into fun raffles. (Thursday, October 13 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Somerville Center for the Arts at the Armory; $35 GA, free for BCU members; all ages)
Terror Thon ’16 at Somerville Theatre
With Halloween just around the corner, the Somerville Theatre is bringing out the best in horror movies with a four-day freak festival. The event organizers have lined up original 35 mm and 70 mm film prints of classic movies like Rocky Horror Picture Show and Ghostbusters (1984), as well as the U.S. premiere of new horror films like Egomaniac and Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies. (Thursday, October 13 to Sunday, October 16; various times; Somerville Theatre; $10-15 per film, $125 for a weekend pass; all ages)
MFA Overnight: College Edition
The second edition of the Museum of Fine Arts’s wildly successful MFA Overnight program is here, and though it’s marketed toward college students (and will feature a capella groups from local schools doing pop-up performances around the museum), anyone can attend. Along with returning attractions like Christian Marclay’s 24-hour experimental film The Clock, visitors can enjoy music, food trucks, stargazing, performance art, and more. If you’re a family with young kids and the idea of staying up past 10 p.m. is ludicrous, there will be free kid-centric events starting Saturday morning at 7 a.m. (Friday, October 14 to Saturday, October 15 from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m.; Museum of Fine Arts; free; all ages)
Boston Book Festival
More than 200 authors will take over Boston on Saturday for the annual Boston Book Festival, a celebration of everything literary about the city. Keynote speakers include authors Colson Whitehead and Susan Faludi (a Cambridge native), as well as architect Frank Gehry. (Saturday, October 15 from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; various locations; free; all ages)
Drink to Fall Bar Crawl
If a literary crawl sounds too highfalutin for you, you can always enjoy a drink or two just because it’s fall. That’s the premise behind El Tour’s Drink to Fall Bar Crawl, which winds through downtown Boston on Saturday afternoon. Tickets get you a T-shirt, free swag, and drink specials at all 10 participating bars. (Saturday, October 15 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m; Tequila Rain; $35; 21+)
Forbes Under 30 Summit
Business magazine Forbes is coming to Boston with their annual celebration of luminaries under the age of 30 in 20 different sectors, including education, finance, and sports. More than 200 speakers will present at the summit, including Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba, Chrissy Teigen, chef Bobby Flay, Virgin CEO Richard Branson, Sam Adams CEO Jim Koch, gymnast Aly Raisman, and Patriots tight end Martellus Bennett. (Sunday, October 16 to Wednesday, October 19; various times; various locations; $595; all ages)
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