Magazine Beach

Thank you, the Charles River Conservancy and the Green Architects, HMFH Architects, Daisy Troop 83002 and the Riverside Boat Club, for your Earth Day/Week cleanups last week.

And BIG NEWS! The City will be planting 10 trees at the park–6 American Elms and 4 red oaks–by mid-May. Hurray! Thanks to DCR for overseeing the permitting, to the City for the trees, and to the CRC for committing to water them.

Finally, DCR’s at work on the pool bathhouse. Look for more renovations to the building this fall and to renovations of the pool and its deck next fall. Progress!

And we’ve put out even more red Adirondack chairs. Take a seat and enjoy the view…

Spring has come and the park is bursting with blossoms. Check it out and take a seat on one of the new Adirondack chairs–we’ve added more. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll catch a spontaneous cello concert, or, more likely, bird song.

Come for a sit, a picnic, a read, a dog walk, a gathering, a boxing match, upside down or right side up. Spring has come to Magazine Beach Park! Picnickers, remember to bring trash bags. DCR won’t put out trash cans until May or June. So carry in and carry out….

And thank you Troop 56 for Saturday’s cleanup and to DCR and Cambridge for removing all the sticks, leaves and trash collected.

Last week, inspired by the build up of trash at the park and the springlike weather, three local families did a park cleanup–picking up 8 bags of trash and making the park look so much better. Thank you! So many are out enjoying the park and already even picnicking there! Spring is coming…

Trash cans are not out yet, so remember to bring bags to carry trash out. Also, feel free to add sticks to the stick piles that we’ve started along roads and pathways: near the exercise station at the Cottage Farm parking lot, the pedestrian footbridge, the parking crescent and between the pool and Riverside Boat Club. Windy days bring down sticks and branches!

Other quick park updates:

*RFIs (Requests for Proposals) for the Powder Magazine were due last Tuesday, 3.9. DCR is hoping to have a tenant in it this summer. More on the RFI proposals soon.

*We’ve reported all the broken goose fencing–fencing to keep the geese from eating the newly planted plants–to DCR. We’re hoping that they’ll fix it soon or take the fences down.

See the best snow forts I’ve ever seen near the exercise area, beside the BU rotary. Lots of snow at the park for cross country skiing and snow angels, and there’s so much beauty. For full disclosure, the snow doesn’t seem great for snowballs or snowmen yet–it’s still a little too powdery–but once it warms up a bit, come on down. Wear your boots. Only the paths along Memorial Drive are cleared. (DCR has also plowed the pedestrian footbridge at the foot of Magazine Street.)

Thanks to all who have helped clean up the park over the past week. Litter was everywhere, and especially along the new shoreline path. Inspired by an email from Whitney McFadden, I put out a call for help on MLK Day via two local listservs. Over the week, 10 volunteers helped pick up and this morning 6 scouts from our AMAZING & FAMOUS LOCAL Troop 56 (one of their own just became the FIRST female Eagle Scout in the USA) came to the rescue, with their parents and a few neighbors. We collected 11 big contractor bags of trash and 6 bags of leaves (clearing the pedestrian footbridge) and made many piles of sticks and branches. So grateful to you all!

If you see litter at the park, please pitch in and pick it up. Cambridge manages the eastern part of the park; their trash cans are at the boat launch and on the soccer field. DCR will return trash cans to the western part of the park later this spring.

If you seem problems at the park–e.g. cans needing to be emptied or big branches down–email parks@state.ma.us and cc me at czusy@magazinebeach.org. THANK YOU!

We also found 2 shopping carts and two bikes–one in the water. If they are yours, please claim them–they’re beside the Big Belly trashcan at the canoe/kayak launch.

2020 was a bumpy ride but the shoreline path and Powder Magazine patio and terrace improvements opened and the park is looking spectacular. 

Together, we made Phase II-1 happen. Contributions from the community, the City and DCR made the dream a reality.

While the pandemic kept us from hosting programs, mostly, in 2020, we hope to resume children’s nature classes, story hour and art, music and exercise for everyone in 2021, and that DCR will select a community-oriented tenant for the newly restored Powder Magazine. Interpretative historical markers for the park are also in the works.

Savor these 17 acres of green along the river. They bring refreshment and center us as we slow down to play, picnic, observe the creatures, marvel at the late afternoon’s raking light and admire the colors of the sunset. 

Thank you for your part in making Phase II-1 happen.

To a healthier and happier new year!  And in celebration of green spaces everywhere! How we need them. Magazine Beach Partners

See our annual report here: 2020 MBP Annual Report.

Tonight, December 21st, about an hour after sunset (sunset at 4:15pm), come watch Jupiter and Saturn align, their closest encounter in nearly 400 years.  The Powder Magazine terrace, along with the parking lot beside the Riverside Boat Club (closer to Pleasant St., on the western edge of the park), are good viewing locations.

While Jupiter and Saturn’s orbits bring the planets in alignment every 20 years or so, this will be the first time since 1623 that the two gaseous giants pass so close to one another.

For more info, see: https://www.space.com/great-conjunction-jupiter-saturn-christmas-star-2020-nasa-tips and https://www.space.com/great-conjunction-jupiter-saturn-2020-fun-facts. (This info and image, too, are from these sites.)

Today is the solstice—the longest night of the year—so, weather permitting, it should be a great night to watch the heavens. If the clouds don’t clear today, though, we’ll have another few nights to observe the planets in proximity. Of course, while they appear close, they are actually hundreds of millions of miles apart. Happy viewing! And happy, happy holidays!

To see the 2020 annual report for Magazine Beach Partners, click here: 2020 MBP Annual Report.

DCR has plowed the path along Memorial Drive and the pedestrian bridge, too, at the bottom of Magazine St., so take a walk and come play in our snow–lots of it for snowman making and making angels, too!

Please send me photos of YOUR snowmen, snow forts & snow angels and I’ll post them here later this weekend…. czusy@magazinebeach.org.

To see the 2020 annual report for Magazine Beach Partners, click here: 2020 MBP Annual Report.

Hot off the press! See our 2020 Magazine Beach Partners Annual Report here:

Bring a rake. Make a pile. Jump! The leaves are down.

Little flags are up. Surveyors are marking existing utilities as Eversource considers putting high voltage electric lines from Boston to Cambridge under the park????!!!!! (We’re on the case.)

And, last Wednesday, Meadowscaping for Biodiversity and the Charles River Conservancy were back at the park with Cambridge teens removing litter from the swales, raking leaves and doing tree identifications. (And then they came back to rake the leaves off the pedestrian footbridge!) Pictured above is MS4B’s Jean Devine, leading the way.

So thankful for Magazine Beach and to our many partners, including DCR, the City, the CRC, MS4B, the Riverside Boat Club and YOU. Because of our collective work, the park looks better than ever! Enjoy this urban common along the Charles.