🚘😭 Hitting the road? It’ll hit back.

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

💎 Here’s how to get a FREE vintage charm necklace. Step one: Head to FOUND in Central Square today. Step two: Post a story in front of its new window (tagging FOUND), and show an employee. Step three: Grab your free chain and pick a vintage charm. Here are the deets!

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Companies are losing their Pride

• Boston’s public art takeover

• A local park that looks like a movie

Up first…

TRAVEL

How to survive Memorial Day traffic

Traveling for Memorial Day Weekend? You and 45.1 million others. 

AAA is projecting another record-breaking year for MDW travel, which also means a record-breaking year for MDW traffic. Here’s what to know:

🤑 Vibecession or not, folks are hitting the road. 45.1 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more from home between Thursday and Monday — that’s a 3.1% increase over last year and an all-time record for AAA. The increase might seem surprising given our economic uncertainty, but according to AAA’s Mark Schieldrop, “people are going out of the way to make sure they can still travel, even if they're … cutting back in other areas.” 

🚘 The worst time to drive: The afternoon. Per AAA, the worst windows to hit the road will be between (approximately) noon and 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, 1 to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and 4 to 7 p.m. on Monday. And if there’s one time to steer clear, it’s Friday afternoon, said Schieldrop. During that time, a trip to NYC (which usually takes around five hours) could take up to seven and a half. You’d also be smart to avoid anytime folks are commuting.

🌅 And the best time? As early as you can. If you’re trying to beat the worst congestion, AAA projects folks will have the best luck on the road before 11 a.m. on Friday, before noon on Thursday or Saturday, before 1 p.m. on Sunday, and before 2 p.m. on Monday. Schieldrop’s two cents: If you really want to beat traffic (and you have a flexible schedule), leaving on Wednesday and coming back Tuesday is the ticket.

☔ The weather could shake things up. While the potential for gloomy or chilly weather likely won’t deter anyone from their planned vacations, Schieldrop noted that it can stop folks from taking spontaneous beach trips, which could mean less traffic heading to coastal destinations.

⛽ One bright spot: Gas prices. Despite the rising prices of … everything else … gas is “pretty historically low” for this time of year, Schieldrop said. Currently, the average gas price in Mass. is $2.99, compared with $3.55 last year. 

TOGETHER WITH THE MFA

Explore art that’s fresh off the easel 

🖼️ 🏛️ (Or at least, created sometime in the last century.) This spring at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, contemporary art is the main character. Explore Counter History, Rituals for Remembering, and The Knowledge Keepers — three powerful new exhibitions featuring work that’s bold, thought-provoking, and very much of the now. From Andy Warhol and Alice Neel to María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Alan Michelson, this lineup is a masterclass in what modern art has to say. Get your tickets now and see what’s shaping the art world today. And remember: the MFA is open late Thursdays and Fridays!

QUICK QUESTION!

💸 When it comes to money, what are you most interested in learning more about?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🏳️‍🌈 Corporate Pride sponsors are dropping like flies. But *not* in Boston. As anti-DEI sentiments ramp up, Pride celebrations across the country are seeing huge former sponsors pull their donation dollars from events (think: Mastercard, Citi, Pepsi, Nissan, and Deloitte). And most of them cite the Trump administration for the move. Thankfully, that hasn’t been an issue locally. Boston’s Pride for the People’s sponsors are almost all returning this year — though organizers didn’t get as much traction with new sponsors as they would’ve liked to.

🎨 A massive public art event is coming to town. This week, Boston will kick off its first-ever Boston Public Art Triennial: A series of 20 commissioned artworks (from this Coraline-looking house in the BPL to a rainforest livestream) across eight neighborhoods and four museums. The vision? To put Boston on the map as a public art destination. Through October, the pieces will be free and publicly accessible, and the Triennial plans to put on over 100 free events around the installations during that time. Here are the details.

🌧️ It’s going to be a wet, hot Boston summer. Come May 31, we’ll be heading into “meteorological summer,” and, spoiler, all signs point to a humid and rainy season in New England. Thankfully, there’s no indication we’ll be seeing a 2023-style washout, but a southerly jet stream flow indicates more frequent showers and thunderstorms, which often come with long, uncomfortable bouts of humidity. The good news: A rainy summer will likely wipe out the last traces of our drought.

🔥 This year’s mayoral election is getting SPICY. With about six months to go, the race for mayor is just revving up, but you wouldn’t know it from the number of insults Mayor Michelle Wu and Josh Kraft have already hurled at each other (see: Kraft comparing Wu to Marie Antoinette, or Wu basically calling Kraft a rich nepo baby). So where’s the love? According to Wu, Kraft’s outsider status is informing her tone, whereas Kraft’s team says the insults he’s slinging are simply “holding the Mayor responsible for her own lack of leadership.” Grab us some popcorn!

ONE LAST THING

Mass.’ natural wonder

What if we told you Mass.’ greatest natural wonder was in … Framingham? Well, we’re telling you! 

Allow us to introduce Framingham’s Farm Pond Park, a public park with bocce, running trails, a skate park, fishing areas, a dog park, and … a path running through the middle of a 151-acre pond.

Yes, we said through the pond. At this park, a lush path of greenery seems to miraculously run across the water, allowing visitors to walk through the middle of the pond. Spoiler: It’s actually an underwater aqueduct, but the effect looks like something straight out of National Geographic.

Wanna see for yourself? It’s a 30-minute drive from Boston, or a quick walk from the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line. Take the IG baddie in your life.

— Written by Gia Orsino

🌳 Thanks for reading! Word of advice from the comments: “Don’t ask me how I know but the geese WILL trap you on this trail and you’ll have to call for help.” Noted.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, MFA Boston, for supporting local journalism and bringing culturally rich experiences to our city. 

🍬 The results are in: 55% of B-Siders haven’t tried the viral Swedish candy yet, but want to now. Our recs? Gia loved these tutti frutti rhombs from BUBS, and Emily devoured the giant gummy eggs at Madeleine’s. 

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