Magazine Beach

So many friends and families enjoying the park today….

This week at the park:

Preschool Storytime Monday, August 7, 10-10:30am

Enjoy a nature-based story read by the librarians of the Central Square Branch in Cambridge.

Preschool Nature Detectives Thursday, August 10, 10-11am

From the river to robins and cattails to katydids, we will explore different aspects of the park each week to discover all the hidden mysteries around us.

Drop by the Powder Magazine for Mass Audubon’s free drop-in activities (and bathrooms!) Thursday-Monday, 12-7pm. For more information about Mass Audubon’s programs, click here.

Yesterday, we celebrated the overall improving report card for the cleanliness of the Charles, Mystic and Neponset Rivers.

51 years ago, Congress passed the Clean Water Act, the landmark legislation that called for all waterways in America to be fishable and swimmable by 1983.

We’re not there yet, but we’re seeing improvement. In 2022, sections of the Charles, Mystic and Neponset rivers received A and B grades. The river at Magazine Beach received a B, however, down from a B+ in 2021 and 2020 and an A- in 2019, but up from a D in 1996!

Much of the bacterial contamination comes from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), when waste water and storm water mix. For more information about The Charles River Initiative of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), click here.

Also keeping us from swimming in the river are heavy metals and PCBs in the sediment—waste from industry along the river long ago.

May we one day be bathing once again at Magazine Beach, once the Charles River’s most popular swimming beach!

The park was in full swing last night with Bachata dance, sponsored by Magazine Beach Partners. Many were picnicking there, including 4 generations of the Green/Dedmon family who gather there regularly all summer long. They were celebrating a birthday and playing croquet.

Great stuff just ahead this week:

Wed., 7am, Yoga

Thurs., 10am, (Preschool) Nature Detectives

Thurs., 3-5pm, Blueprinting Along the Charles. Register here. (Just one slot still open!)

Thurs., 7pm, Climate Change Films

Fri., 5-8pm, Nature in the City Festival

All programs are free. And the pool, spray deck and nature center are open. For more information, see: https://magazinebeach.org/events/. Remember story hour at the park is Mondays @ 10am. And most days are great for picnicking with the cool river breeze and large shade trees!

UPDATE: 7.18.23: Tomorrow’s Wed. morning yoga class is cancelled! Sorry! We’ll add another class Wed., August 2 @ 7am in it’s place. FREE!

Update 7.8.23: The pool is fixed. Head to the park for a swim!

Just heard from DCR: The pool was down yesterday for a mechanical repair and contractor is still working there now.  Additional parts and a new pump were needed and we hope to have the pool open later today.

The best means to keep up to speed on the pool operation and all DCR Parks is the new parks alert system:

DCR Park Alerts | Mass.gov

Just stopped by at the park and I can confirm that this is true. The pool is CLOSED, but the spraydeck is OPEN and so is Mass Audubon’s Urban Nature Center (and its bathrooms)! Stop by: its 10 degrees cooler at the park, with the river breeze and those big old shade trees… Thank goodness for Magazine Beach!

7.8.23 Update: The Pool is Closed, but May Open Later Today

Just heard from DCR: The pool was down yesterday for a mechanical repair and contractor is still working there now.  Additional parts and a new pump were needed and we hope to have the pool open later today.

The best means to keep up to speed on the pool operation and all DCR Parks is the new parks alert system:

DCR Park Alerts | Mass.gov

The spraydeck is open! And it’s 10 degrees cooler at the park, with the river breeze and those big old shade trees…

Clouds and rain kept the crowds from the park today—but still there were picnics. The pool was open and there was lots of room to play.

Note: Wednesday morning yoga is ON. 7-8:30am in the Powder Magazine!

Many thanks to Leigh O’Sullivan’s family, the Long brothers, and to Cadette Girl Scout Troop 62733 for planting the spraydeck planters. There are buckets there for watering. Please help!

The spraydeck and NEW swimming pool are open!!!!

Both are free; the pool is open 11:15am-6:45pm daily.

Also, Bachata Dance TONIGHT, Sunday, June 25, 6-8pm, at the Powder Magazine.  And there’s yoga, again, this Wednesday, June 28, 7-8:30am. Both are free and sponsored by Magazine Beach Partners.

And starting Monday, Mass Audubon’s Nature Center will be open Thursday-Monday, 12-7pm. Stop by and engage in drop in activities. 

See photos below from Thursday’s Blue Printing Along the Charles (cyanotype workshops). You can still sign up here. A few spaces are still open for July 20 and 27th workshops. It’s very fun and the results are spectacular!

It’s almost summer with swimming, splashing, picnicking and programs at the park.

Morning Yoga begins TOMORROW, Wednesday, June 21, 7-8:30am. Teacher: Arti Pandey. For ages 12 and up. Bring your matt. Meet at the Powder Magazine. (June 21-July 26)

From the Tree to Log Drum, Saturday, June 24, 5-8pm, for adults and families. Listen to the voice of the trees speaking through the sound of the log drum.

The Brand New FREE Olympic-Sized Pool Opens this Sunday, June 25 (and maybe Saturday) @ 11:15am! It will be open 11:15am-6:45pm until mid-late August!!!!!

Bachata Dancing, Sunday, June 25, 6-8pm, with Liz and Lumyr. (June 25, July 23 & August 27)

Register for these FREE events here.

There are a few more places for the Cyanotype Workshops Thursday, July 20, 3-4 and 4-5pm, and Thursday, July 27, 3-4 and 4-5pm are open. To sign up, click here.

See you at the beach–Magazine Beach!

On May 22, the Mass. Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) did a sweep of the homeless encampment just west of the BU Bridge. Since then, the encampment has moved into the park, beside the MWRA Cottage Farm CSO Treatment Facility. This past Wednesday, 6.7.23, the Cambridge Police Department (CPD) removed 14 stolen bicycles (standard and electric), parts, trailers, a mood, scooters, license plates, a soccer net and tools. Forty bikes were found a few years ago at Goose Meadow at a previous sweep.

If you’re missing any of these items, phone CPD Detective Ciriello at 617.349.7726. To submit a tip to the CPD text message to Tip411 (847411). Begin with Tip650 and type message.

Since the encampment moved into the park three weeks ago, more needles and trash have been found there. Mass Audubon is now removing both weekend mornings, before opening their urban nature center for programs. 

The City pays a landscape firm to remove invasives from the bioswales. Now the workers won’t go into the swales because of biohazards found there—human waste and hypodermic needles—especially in the phragmites-filled eastern basin.

Concerned about this? Contact our State Senator Sal DiDomenico at sal.DiDomenico@masenate.gov and Rep. Mike Connolly at Mike.Connolly@mahouse.gov.

See Friday’s article about the Magazine Beach chop-shop in Cambridge Day here.

The new outdoor gym is OPEN, the pool, almost complete, and the soccer fields have just been reseeded. Also, it looks like the grass in the grove MIGHT be growing AND there are wildflowers in bloom along the shoreline! And soon, DCR will be installing benches, bike racks and picnic tables next to the new outdoor gym.

So many programs are just ahead: bird watching, dance parties, cyanotype workshops, bachata, mindfulness workshops, yoga, poetry, story hour, Nature in the City festivals and so much more! For the complete list of summer events go here.

This Saturday, June 10, 12-8pm, join us for a Be Free By the Bridge Summer Party, organized by Be Free Radio and Mass Audubon. There will be dance, music, games and a nature scavenger hunt…

The pool opens June 28! Thanks, DCR, the City of Cambridge & Mass Audubon!

Saturday, June 3, 8-10pm: Black Birders Week: Explore with Nature Man Mike 

Celebrate Black Birders Week with us as we explore the park searching for spring migrants including warblers, Baltimore Orioles, flycatchers, sparrows, and more, along with resident birds. Walk with Nature Man Mike, popular local birder and photographer, to learn about the birds found in the city.

Registration required: https://www.massaudubon.org/program-catalog/magazine-beach/88405-black-birders-week-explore-with-nature-man-mike

and

Sunday, June 4, 11am-2pm: Open House at Riverside Boat Club/Learn to Row! (See poster above.)

Note: The Open House isn’t intended to be a learn-to-row experience – just a quick intro to the sport. In general, the minimum age for taking up rowing as a sport is more like a minimum size sort of thing in that kids have to be big enough to fit in the boats more or less comfortably. Community Rowing has a youth program that starts at age 12.

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Mass Audubon’s Nature Center is open for drop in activities Saturdays & Sundays, 12-7pm. (The bathrooms in the Powder Magazine are open then, too.) There are still a few places left for the Cyanotype Workshops Saturday, June 8 & Thursday, June 27. For more information and to register, go here. The BRAND NEW SWIMMING POOL opens June 28.

Enjoy the weekend! The grass and wildflower seeds will LOVE the rain.

Photos of last Friday’s Nature in the City Festival below.