😳🎉 Boston’s hottest club: City Hall

Happy Friday, Boston!

☀️ PSA! We’re hosting a lymph flow yoga class in the North End on July 23 and want YOU there! Wind down with expert instruction from Babz Tobin, founder of Balance with Babz, and enter our on-site giveaway to win a lymphatic brush set, a free month of Babz’s community membership, and a goodie bag of B-Side merch. No registration required!

🎈 And happy birthday to B-Sider Allen Ibrahim! If you come to the yoga class, we’ll make everyone sing to you. ;) Have a great day!

👀 What’s on tap today:

• A city councilor goes out with a BANG

• Boston’s public pool problem

• The ultimate MBTA intern

Up first…

SUMMER FRIDAYS

Dinks, dates, and dance parties

You know what time it is: Summer Friday, baby! And thankfully, we can go outside without melting just in time.

Here’s what’s going on this weekend:

🕺 Make the city streets your dance floor. There are not one, but TWO outdoor city dance parties going down tonight! Take your pick between Cambridge’s annual citywide dance party in Central Square, or Boston’s annual Donna Summer disco party at City Hall Plaza.

🎶 Add some *culture* to your weekend. Boston Art and Music Soul Festival (BAMS) is back at Franklin Park’s playstead field June 28 for a day of celebrating Black and brown artists. The event includes a full lineup of music, vendors, food, dancing, and more.

🏓 Dink your way to a date. Love didn’t work out for local “Bachelor” alum Juliana Pasquarosa. But that doesn’t mean she can’t help YOU find it at Dink n’ Date, a day of pickleball speed dating at Assembly Row on June 28. 

🍷 Get down at a wine rave. Wine pop-up First Crush is hosting a wine and warehouse party at First Street Market on June 28. Crush some warm-weather wines and dance the night away to summery techno beats.

👕 Pay homage to the humble T-shirt. You’ve heard of the Boston Tea Party. But allow us to introduce the Boston Tee Party, the city’s first-ever T-shirt-themed vintage market. It’s coming to Quincy Market on June 28.

🏋️ Break a sweat … without breaking the bank. You’ve got two FREE workout classes to pick from June 28: This HIIT-strength bootcamp with Rev’d on the Greenway, or a this Rumble boxing class at Faneuil Hall.

🍻 Chase your weekend miles with an IPA. Aeronaut in Somerville is the host for this weekend’s Mass. Brewery running series on June 28. Expect a 5k-ish fun run or walk that ends with a free brew and music. Grab a ticket here.

🏳️‍🌈 Go HARD for the end of Pride Month. You’ve got FOUR options on June 28, a day-into-night Gay Book Fair at All She Wrote, a Pride Flotilla (think: Pride Parade of kayaks on the Mystic River), Bow Market’s Big Gay Prom, a prom for queer adults, AND Boston’s Big Queer Picnic on the Common.

😂 See the man behind this wild Lorde interview. A.k.a. Jake Shane, the comedian and host of the megaviral Therapuss podcast. Tickets for his Boston show June 29 are still available for ~$70 a pop. 

😋 Taste some Thai food. Boston’s first annual Thai Taste, a gathering of authentic Thai street food vendors, performances, Muay Thai (Thai boxing) demos, and more, is coming to the Common on June 29. Bonus: It’s free!

TOGETHER WITH LEVITATE MUSIC FESTIVAL

Your favorite music festival’s favorite music festival

🌞🎸 What if we told you the ultimate weekend-long music fest isn’t a flight away — but a short drive from Boston? Levitate Music & Arts Festival (July 5–7 in Marshfield, MA) brings together live tunes, fresh art, surf-town energy, and an easygoing crowd into a weekend of bumping beats and vibrant culture. With artists like Sublime and Tash Sultana on deck and local food that slaps, it’s part music fest, part backyard hang, part mini vacation — all just over an hour from Boston. Skip the plane and catch a vibe instead! If you’re a B-Side Member, you get 20% off tickets and merch starting July 1. Plus, enter our giveaway to win a pair of 2-day VIP tickets, a $898 value!

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules here.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

👋🏾 Tania Fernandes Anderson went out with a BANG. If you thought pleading guilty to wire fraud and theft would stop the embattled city councilor from one last hoorah, think again. At her final meeting before stepping down on July 4, the councilor went off, inviting constituents to “celebrate,” passing 10 resolutions, and even taking a moment to call out Mayor Michelle Wu. Unsurprisingly, the councilor’s flashy goodbye didn’t sit well with some of her colleagues. But others thanked her for what they said was a record of bold leadership. 

🏊 Wanna take a dip in a public pool? There’s just about a 50/50 shot it’s closed. Seriously: Nine out of Boston’s 20 total pools are currently closed for renovations or repairs. Four of those pools (in Charlestown, the North End, South Boston, and JP) should open in the coming days and weeks, but five others (including ones in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury) won’t reopen this summer. Somehow, that’s actually an improvement over a few years ago, when entire neighborhoods went without, but that doesn’t mean residents aren’t still frustrated.

🎨 Calling all art girlies! The Mayor’s office wants YOU to enter the Icons of Franklin Park Poster Competition, a citywide art contest celebrating Boston’s largest greenspace … for the chance to win some serious $$$. Depending on your category, you’ll submit one or three posters showing your take on the park’s history, landmarks, and features by Aug. 1. Winners will get up to $3,000 (omg), plus the art will hang at City Hall and the park’s clubhouse. Check out the details here.

QUICK QUESTION!

🏊 Would you rather …

ONE LAST THING

Princess Pari goes full circle

The MBTA’s biggest fan now works for the MBTA! ICYMI: Pari Kim stole the hearts of pretty much every Bostonian this spring for her epic love story … and epic love of the MBTA as a cast member on season three of “Love on the Spectrum.”

Seriously, this girl RIDES for the T. She knows the make and model of every train, has written several T-inspired Chappell Roan covers, rode the T with Mayor Wu, and permanently branded the phrase “have a T-riffic day” in our vocabulary.

But all her MBTA dreams came true when she announced she’s been promoted from the T’s biggest fan to the T’s newest customer and employee experience department intern! “I am so grateful that I have earned such an amazing opportuni(T) and I can't wait to see what lies on the track ahead!,” she wrote. You go, girl!

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🚃 Thanks for reading! After all the good press she’s given them, she BETTER be on the payroll.

🚗 The results are in: 31% of readers say three days on the Cape is the right amount of time to make the traffic worth it. One reader said: “My parents live on the Cape, so I only visit in the winter. I almost disowned them when they asked me to come down for the 4th.”

🥳 🎟️ Don't forget to grab your tickets to Best Day Ever, our Aug. 2 food, music, and shopping extravaganza at Artists for Humanity!

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].