2022 Programs
Mass Audubon will start opening up the Powder Magazine on Sundays regularly, from 10am-4pm, May 8!!! To learn more about their FREE programs, click here.
Sunday, May 1st 2-4pm: Charles River Art-Out for Kids and City Nature Challenge for All
Join Mass Audubon and Green Cambridge to participate in the Boston Area City Nature Challenge, a fun worldwide collaborative bio-blitz with cities across the world to document and identify the most species!
Sunday May 1st 4-5pm: Women in STEM Speaker Series- Waterfowl Adaptations with Dr. Lorna Gibson
From birds to bees and climate to coasts, visit the Powder Magazine building at Magazine Beach Park each month to celebrate the excellent work and research of women in STEM from the Cambridge/Boston area. Presenters will share their research through an interactive display. Some events will include a walk around the park.
Bird watching program for all. Binoculars are available to participants. This weekend will be one of the best to see rare birds migrating through Cambridge. Bring your mother! Register for this
May 15th 4-6pm Orienteering with Navigation Games and Cambridge Sports Union
Join Navigation Games, Mass Audubon, and Cambridge Sports Union for orienteering and orienteering games at Magazine Beach. There will be activities for all ages. Explore the natural history of the park while navigating with the map to visit checkpoints.
June 14th in the evening: Save the date for our first Full Moon Festival.
Want to support Mass Audubon’s FREE programs at the park? Donate here. Note for Magazine Beach!
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Events relating to the Plastic Tapestry Project
For information about this important public art project, click here.
May 3, 7-9 pm: Artist Talk & Mini Workshop
hosted by Gallery 263 (263 Pearl Street)
Learn more and work hands-on! Guest speaker: Eileen Ryan on the plastic crisis and what you can do. REGISTER
May 10, 7-8:30 pm: Free Film Screening
Watch Robin Frohardt’s magical film using humor, evocative puppets, and inventive staging to follow a plastic water bottle into a dystopian future (after “the Robot Wars”) where it is carefully excavated and misinterpreted to be a precious artifact from a vanished civilization – ours! Followed by an artist talk with Robin and Michelle on art & activism. View in person at Arlington’s Regent Theater or live-stream at home. MORE INFO and TICKETS.
Thursday May 19, 7-9 pm: Workshop
hosted by Gallery 263 (263 Pearl Street, Cambridge)
Learn more and work hands-on! REGISTER
Sunday May 22, 1-4 pm: Workshop
hosted by Gallery 263 (263 Pearl Street, Cambridge)
Learn more and work hands-on! Stay the whole time or just stop by for an hour. REGISTER
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COMMUNITY EARTH DAY CLEANUP AT MAGAZINE BEACH, Saturday, April 23, 10am-12noon.
To sign up, email the CRC’s Sasha Vallieres: svallieres@thecharles.org.
MASS AUDUBON SPRING SEASON KICK OFF, Saturday, April 23, 1-4pm
For further info, click here.
Also, Paul Kelley of MassAudubon and Mary Badger and Mary Howard of Many Helping Hands 365 are organizing a bird walk of the park from 8-9:30am that morning, starting at the Powder Magazine. No sign up needed and Paul will provide binoculars. All ages welcome! Please take public transportation to the site, or park in the parking crescent at the foot of Magazine Street or beside the BU Bridge. Cancelled in case of heavy rain.
2021 Programs
DCR/MASS AUDUBON RIBBON CUTTING AT THE POWDER MAGAZINE, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1pm. Meet at the Powder Magazine
Come celebrate Mass Audubon’s 5-year lease to the Powder Magazine. It will become an urban nature center+. Speakers will include DCR’s new acting Commissioner Stephanie Cooper, Mass Audubon’s President David O’Neill, Cambridge’s City Manager Louis DePasquale, Rep. Jay Livingstone and others who have helped to make this happen.
Mass Audubon will be bringing a variety of environmental education programming to the park, including drop-in nature activities, guided bird and nature walks, occasional kayak river eco tours, and live animal demonstrations. They will also be working with local partners like Flagg Street Studio and others to bring arts, cultural, and science events on evenings and weekends. Seasonal operations will begin in April 2022, so look for a full schedule then! See Magazine Beach featured at Mass Audubon’s annual meeting here.
WILDLIFE IN THE PARK, Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2:30-5:30pm. Rain or shine! Free! Drop in.
From Mass Audubon: Discover the diversity of wildlife that can be found at the park and observe their actions as they prepare for winter. You’ll find out who skips town by migrating south, who avoids the coming cold by sleeping through it, and who has adapted to stay active through frigid temperatures. We will employ one of our live animal ambassadors to help answer your questions.
HALLOWEEN IN THE PARK, Saturday, Oct. 30, 11am-2pm, RAIN OR SHINE! Meet at the Powder Magazine.
Spooky drop-in programming by Mass Audubon, Flagg St. Studios, the Charles River Conservancy and Magazine Beach Partners, too! FREE.
Join Mass Audubon naturalists for FREE drop-in programs for ALL AGES in October and early November:
10/5- Science in the Park 3-6pm
10/10- Art in the Park 1-4pm
10/19- Wildlife in the Park 2:30-5:30pm
10/30- Halloween in the Park 11am-2pm
11/9- Wildlife in the Park- 2:30-5:30pm
Programs will happen in drizzle, but not heavy rain.
CHARLES RIVER CONSERVANCY BIOBLITZ, Tuesday, Sep. 14, 3-5pm (Rain Date: September 15)
Survey the CRC’s floating wetland and Magazine Beach for species, using the iNaturalist App. Register by emailing your name and contact information to Taylor Leonard at tleonard@thecharles.org by Thursday, September 9th! Registered participants will receive event updates and travel information prior to the Blitz. Organized by the CRC and Mass Audubon.
MATH TRAIL ACTIVATION: TOUR WITH CRC STAFF, Tuesdays, Sept. 21-Oct. 19, 3-4pm & Saturdays, Sept. 25 & Oct. 16, 10-11am
Visit the Magazine Beach footbridge at the foot of Magazine Street and take a stroll across the MathTrail designed in partnership with MathTalk, a Cambridge-based organization. The MathTrail introduces playful math opportunities that interact with the environment. Enjoy a gigantic number line, find animal footprints, and explore the free learning app, Measure! Everything!
FREE YOGA AT MAGAZINE BEACH PARK, Tuesdays, 6pm
June 22-July 13 and probably through August 10. If raining, cancelled. FREE.
Meet under trees in field in front of Powder Magazine. Bring your own yoga matt.
Taught by Alicia McCabe. No donations requested.
STORIES & SONG, Mondays, 10am
June 28-August 2 (but not July 5) If raining, cancelled. FREE.
Meet under trees beside picnic tables not far from pedestrian footbridge (at the bottom of Magazine Street).
Led by the Cambridge Public Library’s Central Square Branch Staff
NATURE EXPLORATION WITH MASS AUDUBON Mondays, 6-8pm
July 12-August 9
Meet under trees in field in front of Powder Magazine. Connect to nature with Mass Audubon naturalists and drop-in activities featuring live wildlife (owls, hawks and more!), nature exploration, art -making with natural materials and local ice cream.
Offered: teen kayaking along the Charles River July 19 and August 9. You’ll need to preregister for this and sign a waiver. Click on the QR code below or email habitat@massaudubon.org. FREE!
CELEBRATION OF MATHTALK ART & LEARNING INSTALLATION, Saturday, July 24, 10am-12noon
Food, refreshments, fun and games, all at the pedestrian footbridge at the foot of Magazine Street, just as you enter the park.
Courtesy of the Charles River Conservancy
Magazine Beach 
I am planning on attending the Zumba classes on Magazine beach however, I’m concerned about receiving information for weather cancellations. For example, today is supposed to have rain and thunder storms. I’m ok with dancing in the rain, however I’m not making assumptions for everyone. Please let me know and thank you for your time in advance.
Sosa,
Sorry for the late reply. We were noting rain cancellations at magazinebeach.org, under events. Can you think of a better way to communicate this? Lots of rain on Tuesday nights this past summer!
The Zumba and Yoga classes now being held at the park are not organized by us and I don’t think that they’re officially permitted by DCR. I’d like to know more about them!
We’re hoping to offer some FREE yoga classes this fall with Cport’s own Carol Faulkner. Stay tuned! I’ll be posting at magazinebeach.org/events once DCR approves them.
Is charcoal grilling allowed?
If yes, is there a specific area of the park to do so?
Thank you
Grilling at the park is against DCR regulations, however, folks grill there all the time. Please dump coals next to trash bins and NOT at the foot of trees. We want those old trees to be there for the decades to come….
As a young person, I spent most of my time here as a person who in played little league baseball and enjoying my lifep I am m surprised to see wh ass t is going on there, in my in home town, viele glucklische, Joe Johnson