Magazine Beach

Work is moving along at the park. Over the next two weeks R. Bates & Sons will begin putting in the patio and rebuilding the granite wall beside the Powder Magazine.

Waypoint Adventure launching from the site July 18. Photo by Lily Robinson.

DCR’s official ribbon cutting for canoe/kayak launch & outlook has been rescheduled for Thursday, August 1, at 9:30am. Please join us to celebrate its opening. Waypoint Adventure, which organizes outdoor adventures for disabled youth and adults, will have a group launch from the park at 10am. (Postponed due to cyanobacteria in the river.)

And this week at Magazine Beach: Thursday at 10am: Cat Mountain, a Japanese play with masks and Sunday at 5:30pm: The Barber of Seville, courtesy of the Boston Lyric Opera. Both FREE! (Click here for further info.) See you there!

Update: Tuesday’s Nature Detectives is cancelled due to rain.

Hi All, we’ve just made the hard call to cancel our 3rd Traditional Irish Session at Magazine Beach. We believe that even though it’s truly cooler at the park, the highly publicized 95 degree F. temperatures, high humidity, and possible rain and thunderstorms will discourage attendance. Sorry to cancel this AMAZING event. Our 3rd Traditional Irish Session will now happen in 2020. Come swim and splash in the spray deck today at the park to cool off. 

Come beat the heat on Magazine Beach! On Sunday, July 21 at 5:30pm, we’ll host our third annual Traditional Irish Session featuring musicians Sean Clohessy, Tina Lech, Ted Davis, John Coyne and the Rebecca McGowan Irish Dance Company. Bring the family and cool off in the pool. Then join us in shade for music and dance!

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!