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10 things to do in Boston this weekend
BosTen is your weekly guide to the best events and coolest things to do in 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].
Score a retro find at Vintage Night Market
Since opening in 2018, Bow Market in Somerville has provided one of the most eclectic community spaces in the area, building an open market from the bones of an old carport and filling it with some of the region’s up-and-coming creatives, restaurateurs, and entrepreneurs. This Thursday, the Union Square mainstay will host a Vintage Night Market from 4-10 p.m., uniting more than 30 vendors who will showcase their finest retro wares for your perusal. Shop vintage clothing, midcentury home decor, dusty antiques, and more. (Thursday, Aug. 22 from 4-10 p.m.; 1 Bow Market Way, Somerville; free) — Kevin Slane
Enjoy free admission to 4 museums
In previous years, the Highland Street Foundation hosted Free Fun Fridays, a summer-long program that provided free admission to dozens of the state’s museums every Friday. This year, the nonprofit is taking a different approach, offering free admission to a new museum or cultural institution each day during the month of August in what it’s calling August Adventures. This weekend’s participating locations are Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford (Thursday), the Wenham Museum (Friday), the Paul Revere Heritage Site in Canton (Saturday), and the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester (Sunday). To see a full calendar for the month of August, visit the Highland Street Foundation’s website. (Daily through August 31 at various times and locations) — Kevin Slane
Catch a free outdoor movie (or two)
It’s the final weekend before Labor Day, and across the Boston area, many recurring summer programs are wrapping up for the season. That includes many of the green spaces that have hosted free outdoor movies for the last three months. On Thursday, catch Revere Beach’s final free film of the season with an 8 p.m. showing of “The Haunted Mansion,” or head to Iacono Playground in Hyde Park for a showing of “Kung Fu Panda 4.” Then on Saturday, the Prudential Center will close out its season with the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” on its lawn at dusk. (Various times and locations) — Kevin Slane
Get spiritual with Santigold at Big Night Live
Santigold’s full-length releases have been few and far between, amounting to only four between 2008 and 2022. Similarly, her live appearances have not been frequent, with her last extensive tour of North America happening in 2016. (She canceled the tour in support of 2022’s “Spirituals,” stating, “I will not continue to sacrifice myself for an industry that has become unsustainable for, and uninterested in the welfare of the artists it is built upon.”) This year, she will play 11 shows in North America — including Thursday night’s Big Night Live set — in the six-month span of May through October. If past is prologue, this might be her last trek for a while. (Thursday, Aug. 22 at 8 p.m.; 110 Causeway St., Boston; $57.75) — Blake Maddux
Party in the North End at St. Anthony’s Feast
August is the season of street festivals in the North End, and this weekend will see the return of St. Anthony’s feast for four days of street food, live entertainment, and the procession of St. Anthony’s statue. Begun in 1919 by Italian immigrants from the town of Montefalcione in Avellino, Italy, the feast pays homage to their patron saint, Sant’Antonio Di Padova Montefalcione. Starting Thursday, North End streets will be closed to car traffic to make way for parades, religious services, artisan vendors, live entertainment, and over 100 food vendors selling arancini, sausages with peppers and onion, quahogs, calamari, pizza, pasta, zeppole, cannoli, and gelato. The feast culminates on Sunday with a ten-hour procession of the statue of St. Anthony through the streets starting at noon featuring a parade of Italian street bands, marching bands, and floats. For more information about this year’s festival, check out the schedule here. (Thursday, Aug. 22 through Sunday, Aug. 25 at various times and North End locations; free) — Natalie Gale
Feel the neighborhood rhythm at JP Porchfest
More than three months after Somerville kicked off the Porchfest season, Jamaica Plain is winding down the summer with its own version of the neighborhood musical celebration. More than 150 artists in JP will take to porches across the Boston neighborhood this Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., with a rain date of Sunday. You can see a full list of bands and set times and download a printable map and schedule at the JP Porchfest website. (Saturday, Aug. 24 from 12-6 p.m.; various Jamaica Plain locations; free) — Kevin Slane
Watch the sun go down with Kenny Chesney
No Shoes Nation, rejoice: Kenny Chesney is coming back to Gillette Stadium this weekend not once, not twice, but three times. The country superstar will play the home of the New England Patriots for a 22nd, 23rd, and 24th time — the most in Gillette Stadium history — this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the final stops of his Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour. Chesney originally announced just one Gillette Stadium show. But after tickets sold out in an hour, Chesney quickly added second and third shows. The Sun Goes Down 2024 Tour is named for Chesney’s 2004 album “When The Sun Goes Down.” The single of the same name (which famously features Chesney in a Red Sox hat in the music video), is a duet with singer-songwriter Uncle Kracker, who will join Chesney on the tour. Also joining Chesney and Uncle Kracker at Gillette is 2023 CMA Song of the Year and New Artist nominee Megan Moroney, and fellow country superstars Zac Brown Band. (Friday, Aug. 23 through Sunday, Aug. 25 at 5 p.m.; 1 Patriot Place, Foxborough; $74.15 and up) — Kevin Slane
Say goodbye to Childish Gambino
Multihyphenate Donald Glover is bringing back his musical alter ego Childish Gambino for one final time this summer during his New World Tour, which visits TD Garden this Friday at 8 p.m. The creator of “Atlanta” dropped two different musical projects this year: “Atavista,” which is a more polished reissue of his unfinished 2020 record “3.15.20,” and “Bando Stone and the New World,” which will serve as the soundtrack to an upcoming film of the same name. Despite the wealth of new material, Glover has been performing tracks from all five of his albums during the tour, offering a career-spanning retrospective before he bids farewell to the Gambino chapter. (Friday, Aug. 23 at 8 p.m.; 100 Legends Way, Boston; $79.51 and up) — Kevin Slane
Tap into your imagination at LEGO club
As more and more summer camps and other kid-friendly wind down with the impending start of the school year, you’re likely scrambling for kid-friendly things to do pretty much every day of the week until class is back in session. For a hands-on activity, visit the Boston Public Library’s Honan-Allston branch and build, build, build during LEGO club, which meets monthly on the final Saturday of the month throughout the summer. Both LEGO and Duplo bricks are provided by the library, so matter what your child’s skill level, they’ll have something to put together. (Saturday, Aug. 27 from 10-11:30 a.m.; 300 North Harvard St., Allston; free) — Kristi Palma
‘Let Go’ with Avril Lavigne at Xfinity Center
In her early teenage years, growing up in a small Ontario town, Avril Lavigne worked at playing guitar and writing country songs. Before she hit 18, she moved to New York, then LA, had a pop hit with “Complicated,” a multi-million-selling album titled “Let Go,” and achieved major star status. Ensuing music became more and more upbeat, moving into regions of pop-punk, and her albums were regularly going platinum. Alternating between the pop of the single “Girlfriends” and the balladic “Fly,” Lavigne also showed she was pretty good at adding an edge to her music with the release of the angry and rocking (and expletive-ridden) “Bite Me” from her 2022 album “Love Sux.” (Saturday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m.; 885 S. Main St., Mansfield; $65-$316) — Ed Symkus
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