❄️😎 Boston is making winter fun again

🫘 You think YOU love an espresso martini? This local couple tried and rated nearly 100(!) around Greater Boston. Here are their top five picks.

🎶 Cold weather got ya down? Make summer plans! Marshfield’s Levitate Music Festival presale opens TODAY, and B-Side Members get 15% off tickets! The fest is July 18-19 with Alanis Morissette headlining. Start your free membership trial here and grab your ticket here.

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

Boston winters (understandably) get a bad rap. It’s cold, dark, and basically everyone goes into hibernation mode. But what if we told you winter could actually be fun? At least, according to former City Councilor Mike Ross, who made his pitch in Boston magazine.

Here’s what to know:

❄️ Fun fact: Boston was the OG winter city. Back in the 1800s, it was the place to be for urban winter recreation. Think: Hallmark Christmas movie energy all season long. There were “at least five toboggan slides … people ice-skated on practically every frozen body of water, and roasted-chestnut vendors pushed their carts through downtown,” according to Ross. It was so festive, it even inspired a popular Christmas song.

😅 But these days … not so much. Fast forward two centuries, and Boston has all but lost that winter energy. And it’s taking a toll on our tourism economy and Bostonians’ mental health. Come winter, Boston’s hotel occupancy drops by over 33%, restaurants see slower sales (see: Select Oyster Bar’s 40 to 50% revenue dip), and the vibes get … depressing. Bonus: We’re also among the worst cities in the country for seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

⛸️ The good news: We’re primed for a rebrand. In the last few years, we’ve seen some solid attempts to spice up the season. Winter markets like The Snowport have become holiday staples, and quirky pop-ups like outdoor art installation WinterActive (remember those giant naked pink dudes?), and urban saunas keep us on our toes. Even Boston’s tourism bureau got on board this year, launching the Frostival, a series of citywide winter activations from wine festivals to ferris wheels to those surprisingly cool drone shows over the Common.  

🎄 But city-wide changes > pop-up holiday markets. In order to truly change the winter experience for tourists and residents alike, Ross argues we need to think bigger than one-off, popup events. How about tax-free dining all of January? Or daily late-night museum hours? Or — hold onto your hats — lighting in public parks? Sure, it’ll take more legwork from Beacon Hill or City Hall, but those big swings are what will actually move the needle.

💡 Other winter cities prove it’s possible. Just look at Chicago’s year-round outdoor dining, Japan’s competitive snowball fight league, and Montreal’s epic outdoor EDM festival. All of which are possible in Boston. IMHO, Ross hits the nail on the head: “In a city that channels this much intellectual energy into complaining about winter, imagine what we could accomplish if we redirected that same passion toward finding even more fun solutions.”

 🥶 Wanna know more? Read Boston magazine’s whole piece here.

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🔥 Introducing Boston’s new City Council President … Liz Breadon! In a surprisingly messy twist, the District 9 councilor nabbed the position … without campaigning at all. ICYMI: Back in November, Gabriela Coletta Zapata announced she’d secured the votes to win, something generally done through back-room deals and promises (though not all her colleagues were on board). But on Sunday, she withdrew her name, leaving councilor Brian Worrell the seemingly obvious winner … until the council pulled a wild Uno reverse on Monday, narrowly electing Breadon, a Wu ally, instead. 

💸 New year, new slate of student loan problems to worry about.  To name a few: The SAVE plan is officially ending (with the the ICR and PAYE plans soon to follow), public service loan forgiveness is in jeopardy, wage garnishment will return for borrowers in default starting this month, and, come July, two new repayment plans will arrive on the scene and new limits on borrowing will take effect. Long story short, start planning now. Here’s a guide to the changes, and some tips on taking action.

🥶 The culprit behind Boston’s freezing temps: Climate change. No joke: Apparently, climate change isn’t just making our summers (and winters) warmer. According to new research, it also may be responsible for this year’s unusually nippy winter in New England. Quick science lesson: Some studies link the rapid warming in the Arctic to frigid polar vortexes moving farther south over North America (but it’s too soon to link them for sure). In the meantime, we’ll get a little thaw this weekend, with temps set to peak around 50 on Saturday.

✈️ The cure for your winter blues? A cheap vacation. And lucky for you, there are a bunch of local deals on tap. JetBlue is offering 26% off one-way flights through February with promo code GO26 if you book before Jan. 8. Even better, if you book a Royal Caribbean cruise by Jan. 14, they’ll give you up to 100% (!) off your round-trip flight to get there. Prefer land > sky? Amtrak is offering up to 30% off Northeast travel between Boston and D.C. if you book by Jan. 9. Bon voyage, baby!

“My fellow Massholes, Dunkin’ is not very good.” That’s the opening line of a recent viral Reddit post that made major waves in r/Massachusetts, titled “The Masshole love affair with Dunkin is embarrassing.”

The post goes on to argue that our obsession with Dunkin’s “stale donuts and crappy coffee” reflects poorly on the state, and that we should pick another, more worthy, local company to love. As you can imagine, Massholes came for their throat.

The post quickly had 1,200 comments full of surprisingly moving defenses of Dunkin’ … including one that compares it to — you guessed it — Catholic mass! But as for the original Redditor? He stands by his take, according to the Globe, which was brought on by an under-jellied jelly doughnut.

You can read the full story here.

— Written by Gia Orsino, Emily Schario, and Claire Nicholas

🍩 Thanks for reading! As one commenter said: “Dunks is gahbage but it's ah f****** gahbage.” Amen!

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Boston College School of Social Work, for supporting local journalism and empowering the next generation of change-makers.

🏘️ The results are in: 53% of B-Siders say they would vote yes on a rent control ballot question. One reader said: “I had a 20% increase in rent in 2022 that still haunts me.”

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