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10 things to do in Boston this weekend
BosTen is your weekly guide to the best events and coolest happenings in and around Boston.
Welcome to BosTen, your weekly guide to the coolest events and best things to do in Boston this weekend. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter here. Have an idea about what we should cover? Leave us a comment on this article or in the BosTen Facebook group, or email us at [email protected].
Celebrate the holiday season at Snowport
Starting this Friday, Boston’s Seaport will transform into Snowport, a holiday wonderland with activities, food, and an open-air market that returns to the neighborhood for a fourth consecutive year. Attendees can enjoy outdoor iceless curling, large-scale winter games, the Tree Market at Snowport, and an outdoor market featuring 10 local businesses. Visitors will also be able to check out attractions like Snowport’s 10-foot-tall Mistletoe Archway; Present Place, featuring a backdrop of colorful, oversized gifts; the Winter Wish Wall, a 25-foot interactive chalkboard where guests can share their holiday wishes; and Boston Children’s Museum special pop-up exhibit, Dinos in Space. Need a bite to eat or a place to sit down? The outdoor market has 19 food and drink vendors, and visitors can enjoy them in either a heated tent or a new après ski-themed lounge with red Adirondack chairs accompanied with faux fire pits. — Ria Goveas
Shop local at CraftBoston Holiday Online
This holiday season, the Society of Arts + Crafts once again hosts CraftBoston Holiday Online, a juried exhibition and marketplace of handmade craft pieces perfect for holiday shopping. This year’s event is open online starting this Friday and running through Jan. 8. What was formerly an in-person event at the Hynes Convention Center before the pandemic is now an almost two month-long virtual exhibit that visitors can browse online from all over the country. Items for sale include jewelry, apparel, quilts, pottery, home decor, glasswork, woodwork, and more. The event showcases some of the country’s leading craft artists. The Society of Arts + Crafts also hosts demos, interviews, and other virtual events throughout the holiday show. Browse upcoming events during this year’s show here, and find past recorded events on YouTube. The event’s partners and sponsors include Fidelity, Boston Cultural Council, and Mass Cultural Council. — Natalie Gale
Shop the New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair
Exchanging its former location at the Topsfield Fairgrounds for new digs this fall, the annual New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair returns for its 27th year. Packing the Danvers Indoor Sports arena with more than 225 of the region’s finest artisans, visitors will have a chance to view and shop thousands of American-made works, from alpaca fiber mittens to Celtic embroidery to floral arrangements to stained glass. A “food sampling” extravaganza will also be on-site, with gourmet specialty food delights such as jerky, chocolates, soup mixes, hot sauce, and more. See something you want but aren’t ready to pull the trigger on your purchase? Come back anytime all weekend — your admission price covers the entire three-day run of the fair. Tickets are available at the gate as well as online here. — Cheryl Fenton
Discover rare books at the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair
More than 100 book sellers from around the world will gather for three days of exhibitions of one-of-a-kind books, signed manuscripts, maps, first editions, and more at The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, which returns to the Hynes Convention Center this Friday through Sunday. The weekend-long event includes lectures and roundtables, such as “Women in the American Wilderness” on Saturday and “The Trials and Triumphs of Collecting Romance Novels” on Sunday. The fair also hosts free book appraisals Sunday afternoon outside the main exhibit hall entrance. Saturday and Sunday’s events are free, while opening night tickets are available for $25 on Eventbrite. To see a full schedule of events, visit the fair’s website. — Natalie Gale
Introduce your kids to the joys of classical music with ‘Peter and the Wolf’
What do the following people have in common: Boris Karloff, David Bowie, Eleanor Roosevelt, Alice Cooper, and Sean Connery? They’ve all had a turn at being the narrator in Sergei Prokofiev’s celebrated classical piece “Peter and the Wolf,” which returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra this Saturday at noon. Music historians often refer to the short (about 25 minutes) tone poem as a symphonic fairy tale for children. It tells – through instruments representing characters and, of course, the narrator’s voice – of a young Russian boy named Peter whose grandfather warns him about a hungry wolf lurking about, and how Peter and his animal friends – a bird, a duck, a cat – eventually capture the wolf, leading to a happy ending. The familiar music with the light and bouncy leitmotif is one of the most popular works in the classical genre. So much so, that, with the exception of 2020, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (BYSO) has performed it annually at Symphony Hall since 2009. Tickets for adults are $20; kids 18 and under are free. — Ed Symkus
Sample 20+ hard ciders at CiderFeast
We all know what an apple a day can supposedly do, but how about all of the region’s best hard apple cider? Find out for yourself at CiderFeast, a celebration of all things autumn this Saturday from 1-4 p.m. in South Boston. CiderFeast promises tastes from 20-plus top cider makers, hailing from New England and beyond for an all-inclusive sampling event. Expect Massachusetts favorites like Artifact Cider Project, Carr’s Ciderhouse, Pony Shack, and more alongside Vermont, New Hampshire, and cider companies from the Finger Lakes region in New York, and even imports from Spain. Along with hard cider tastings, look forward to expert-led panel discussions and talks. Artisan snacks such as cheese and New England Charcuterie, apple cider doughnuts, Brewers Foods Spent Grain Chips, plant-based offerings from PlantPub founder Pat McAuley, and more cider-friendly fare will also be available. Tickets include all food and drink samples, plus live entertainment, and a glass tasting cup to keep. VIP admission also includes a custom T-shirt designed by Mark Reusch and an hour early access to CiderFeast. — Jacqueline Cain
Celebrate the season at Wicked Wine & Seltzer Fest
Celebrate the coming of fall by tasting delicious wines, rosés, sangrias, and seltzers at the Wicked Wine and Seltzer Fest. Inside the event, which will be held this Saturday from 3-9 p.m. at Revere Hotel Boston Common, entertainment abounds: Enjoy lawn games such as corn hole while listening to music from a live DJ. Lock in wintertime coziness with a candle-making workshop will feature food from numerous vendors, and photo booths and backdrops will be scattered across the venue for those who would like to share on social media. A silent auction will benefit Project Smile, whose mission is to help comfort children involved in traumatic situations. — Ria Goveas
Come to the Garden for Comics Come Home
Boston Bruins right wing Cam Neely was just winding down his professional playing career (1983-96) when a new project came into his life. In 1995 he, along with standup comic Denis Leary, put on the first Comics Come Home event. Under the umbrella of the Cam Neely Foundation, which assists families dealing with cancer in getting treatment, resources, and other assistance, Comics Come Home became the organization’s annual fundraiser. This year’s show, the 26th so far (and the first after two pandemic years off), features yet another stellar lineup. Taking their turns at the microphone at TD Garden this Saturday at 8 p.m. are Jimmy Fallon, Lenny Clarke, Chris Distefano, Sam Jay, Robert Kelly, John Mulaney, Carolyn Plummer, and Roy Wood Jr. Tickets are now available via the TD Garden website. — Ed Symkus
Catch some international films at the Boston Turkish Documentary and Short Film Competition
Starting this Friday, the Boston Turkish Documentary and Short Film Competition gives filmmakers a platform for their movies to reach an international audience, screening films at the MFA and online through November 24. Highlights include “Love, Deutschmark, and Death,” which examines the “unknown music of emigrated Turkish guest workers and their grandchildren in Germany,” and “Mimaroğlu: The Robinson of Manhattan Island,” the story of an electronic music composer and his spirited wife. For a full schedule, check out the festival’s website. — Shira Laucharoen
Watch two of Hockey East’s best women’s teams face off in a weekend series
One of the more dominant teams in Boston’s recent sports history is back at the top of its game again this season. But to remain Hockey East’s top dogs early this season, they’ll need to handle a weekend threat from one of their Beanpot rivals. The Northeastern women’s hockey team has won the past five Hockey East championships, and an overtime, semifinal loss was the only thing that prevented them from a winner-take-all shot at a national championship last spring. Over Veterans’ Day weekend, Northeastern will engage in a home-and-home series with Boston College — and, as good as the Huskies have been for years, the Eagles are no slouch, either. BC was the last team other than Northeastern to wear the league’s regular-season crown, and has finished each of the past five seasons as a top-four team while twice ranking as the conference’s runner-up. The teams play at Northeastern’s Matthews Arena on Friday, then at BC’s Conte Forum on Saturday — and families looking to bring the kids to see two of the nation’s best teams may be excited to know that both games are scheduled for the afternoon. Friday is Veteran’s Day, meaning no school for most, and the puck drops at 1:30. Saturday they’ll start at 2. Tickets should be widely available, and for Friday’s game at Northeastern can be purchased in advance. At BC, women’s hockey tickets are bought at the gate on game day. — Dave D’Onofrio
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