Magazine Beach

The Busted Jug  Band delighted over 130 picnickers last night with music from the 1920s and pure silliness. This was the first of our Sunday evening series. (See our full event listing here.) Coming this Sunday: our third Traditional Irish Session featuring Sean Clohessy, other Irish musicians and Rebecca McGowan of Rebecca McGowan Irish Dance. Thank you, the Druid our inspiration for the event, Brian O’Donovan!

Update: POSTPONED DUE TO PREDICTED RAIN! Stay tuned for new date.This Thursday, July 18 at 5:30pm, join us at the new ADA-accessible boat launch, near the BU Bridge, for an official ribbon cutting. Waypoint Adventure, who provide outdoor experiences for disabled adults and youth, will launch from the site at 6pm.

The Busted Jug Band will perform in a free concert at Magazine Beach Park on Sunday, July 14^th at 5:30pm. The show is designed to provide fun and entertainment for all ages. A five-piece, all acoustic group, the Busted Jug Band is a throw-back to the African-American street bands of the early 20th Century, with their own theatrical flair.

The show will be a festive romp through early 20^th century music featuring early blues, proto-country, traditional New Orleans Jazz and Harlem swing. All played on kazoos, washboard and washtub bass; alongside harmonica, mandolin, banjo-ukulele, squeeze box and a trunk full of musical oddities and noise makers. Strong group vocals and swinging rhythms; Vaudevillian sight gags, jokes and colorful stage attire (top hats and derbies) round out the show. To find out more about the band and hear their music, go to www.thebustedjugband.com

Bring the family, a picnic and join in the fun!

What a perfect day at the park, with hundreds of picnickers enjoying a lazy day spraying, splashing, barbecuing and just hanging out. The new canoe/kayak launch was also an attraction, getting folks out on the river. (Photos courtesy of Doug Feinburg.)

Thank you to DCR and BBN campers for cleaning up this morning. The park is looking splendid. Head to the beach–Magazine Beach. Just ahead this week at the park:  Stories & Songs, Yoga, Nature Detectives & the Busted Jug Band. For details, click here.

The Greene Family of Cambridge, who LOVE Magazine Beach Park and July 4th.

Correction: There is parking at Magazine Beach Park today & the boat launch is open. Sorry for the misinformation!

I was just at the park and both spoke w/ the State Trooper Dave and scoped things out. Things are different from what I was told and shared:

1. There is parking at the park—beside Riverside Boat Club and the BU Bridge, just not at the parking crescent across Memorial Drive from Magazine Beach Shell station. Folks can drop off stuff at the crescent and then park elsewhere.

2. I just got a parking consideration from the Cambridge Police for folks to park in residential permit places in the neighborhood near the park for today. You can also park in the Morse School lot (on Magazine Street), but the school is not liable for your vehicle. So those are options, too.

3. The boat launch is open.

It’s a gorgeous day at Magazine Beach and the park is already filling with happy families picnicking, swimming and splashing!

Enjoy and happy July 4th!

IF YOUR KIDS ARE PLAYING AT THE SPRAYDECK, please encourage them to water the petunias we just planted in the planters there. These young girls just helped water them (with water from the spray deck) and they, the plants, are oh, so much happier. Thanks, girls!

Mondays and Tuesdays @ 10am we’ll launch some of our longtime favorite programs: Stories & Songs and Nature Detectives. Children ages 3-6, supervised by an adult, please join us. Amanda and Jamie of the Central Square Library are back and we’ll have new teachers–Amy Greene (of Tinkergarten) and Loni Lehnhardt–leading nature classes. Amy writes:

Discover the amazing wildlife at Magazine Beach using your ears, eyes, hands, and minds. We’ll search for birds, bugs, and blooms, as well as other activities and stories.

Special one-time events—Cat Mountain (storytelling with Japanese Masks, July 25), African Drumming (with Jafar Manselle, August 1), Who Came Up With That? (by the Little Red Wagon children’s theater, August 6) and a Fairy Circus (by the Tanglewood Marionettes, August 8) will soon follow. Click here, for more info.

Also, many thanks to Philip, Sue and lots of little ones for their help planting annuals in the spray deck planters on Friday. We’ll put a bucket there this week. Please encourage your kids to water the petunias! And thanks are due to the Media Lab and the Charles River Conservancy for their help weeding the new “meadow” beside the eastern swale and pulling out a lot of invasive bittersweet. THANKS, all!

Cambridgeport’s favorite music teacher, Andrea Gaudette, will kick off our 2019 Summer Programs tomorrow, Friday, at 6pm. The weather will be clearing… Bring your own stringed instrument (or any acoustic instrument) and join in the fun.  The repertoire will include an assortment of easy-to-play popular and folk songs. This event is part of Make Music Boston. Music will be played ALL OVER THE WORLD tomorrow. FREE! 

·      Location:  To the left of the public pool on the lawn.

·      Bring a camping chair.

·      Any acoustic instrument is welcome.

·      Children are very welcome!

·      Chords and lyrics will be projected (no sheet music).  See here.

This will be our first of 25 programs at the park–all FREE except for Monday evening yoga, where we request a donation. And the FREE pool opens Saturday at 11:15am!

Last week a construction trailer and fencing were delivered to the park and today work began—dismantling the cobblestone patio. An expanded, ADA-accessible bluestone one will be put in its place.

Over the next weeks and months, look for construction around the Magazine and erosion control work along the shoreline. Contractors R. Bates & Sons of Sterling, MA will be removing invasive plants and replacing them with native ones. They will also be taking down 2 declining trees, the sick little cherry near the patio (see above) and one along the water—not the willow. They will be planting 10 trees this fall in an effort to begin replenishing the tree canopy at the park. And they will be elevating the shoreline path. May it be not so muddy.

Sorry for any inconvenience. DCR believes this will be a six-month project. Work will take place from 6am to 2:30pm, Monday through Friday.

Know that the park is still open for your pleasure. Summer programs kick off this Friday at 6pm with Andrea Gaudette’s Strum Along, Sing Along. See the complete list of programs here. And the pool opens THIS Saturday at 11:15am.

See a plan of the overall Phase II-1 project below. Our goal is to preserve Magazine Beach as a “natural” landscape. (Of course, it’s not so natural. In the 1890s the Olmsted Brothers filled in the marshes to the East and West of Captain’s Island to create the park.) Also, see a photo of local luminaries at last week’s 2018 Charles River Water Quality Grade Announcement way below. It was at Magazine Beach!

6.12.19. Announcing the Charles River’s 2018 Water Quality Grade: a B, due to the heavy rains. Pictured (left to right) are: MA Water Resources Authority (MWRA) Executive Director Fred Laskey, Charles River Watershed Association Executive Director Emily Norton, U.S. EPA Acting Regional Administrator Deb Szaro, MA DEP Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Water Resources Robert Brown, and MA DCR Deputy Commissioner for Conservation and Resource Stewardship Priscilla Geigis.

Thanks to our lead sponsor, MIT, and to sponsors BioMed Realty, Kimco, Brookfield Properties and the Charles River Conservancy. See you at the park. The spray deck is OPEN and the pool opens June 22.