🐶 It’s ALWAYS stick season here

It’s Thursday, Boston.

⛵🎶 We’re throwing a concert on a BOAT! You can hear Kyle Erickson, giAnna, and Alex & the People at our concert on the Denis Sullivan tall ship with Sofar Sounds. Tickets are available for all B-Siders, but members get 20% off! Get your tix here.

🛋️ Calling all Allston Christmas aficionados! We’re putting together a list of Allston Christmas do’s and dont’s, and we want to hear your BEST tips. Send them to Gia at [email protected]. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Lower Stop & Shop prices!

• $69 flight deal

• PSL season is SO back

Up first…

GOOD NEWS

Sticks, signatures, and sealing the deal

Let’s be real: August’s headlines were bleak. But as your friendly neighborhood good news experts, we’re THRILLED to report that for every depressing headline, we found another worth celebrating.

Here’s what you may have missed:

⚾ A group of women made Red Sox HISTORY. They really put the “women” in “Women’s Celebration Night,” as the team saw its first-ever all-female broadcast team and broadcast booth for a complete game in its 100-plus-year history (we can’t believe it, either). But for the women in the booth and on the field, the historic night was just another game of doing what they love, and doing it well. “Once the first pitch is thrown, we just do our job,” said reporter Alanna Rizzo. Here's a taste of the action. 

🐶 This Cambridge library is going to the DOGS. Literally — it’s a lending library for sticks! The Fresh Pond “dog library” with little shelves and a “take a stick, leave a stick” motto was originally installed without permission and taken down. But thankfully, the city brought it back and gave it a glow-up. It’s since become a summer staple for fetch-loving pups … and their owners, who no longer have to hunt for sticks to play with.

💒 A local bookstore is fighting fire with … love. The Supreme Court was formally asked to overturn the landmark case that legalized same-sex marriage. So queer and feminist bookstore All She Wrote is responding with a “wedding marathon” for LGBTQ+ couples Aug. 30. For $500, queer couples can have a micro-wedding at the bookstore, complete with a full one-hour ceremony, cake, “bubbly toast,” a professional photographer, and legal paperwork to help them with any change in legal status. 

✍️ Red Sox player Jarren Duran signs autographs for every. Single. Fan. Even if it means he doesn’t leave the park until 1 a.m. Duran has been doing these autograph marathons since last season, when they generally lasted ~30 minutes a night. But once word got out, it became an hours-long event after most home games, where he still takes the time to chat with every fan who shows up for him. “I … just feel like I have a pretty close connection with them,” he said.

🎓 Mass.’ free community college is a higher ed bright spot. It’s no secret that higher ed is having a rough go of it. But here in Mass., Gov. Healey’s initiative to make community college free for all has shot up enrollment by 15,000 since 2022, increased retention, and helped grads transfer to four-year institutions. Not to mention, it has produced some seriously heartwarming stories.

A WORD FROM THE B-SIDE TEAM 

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CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🛒  A grocery store is actually … lowering its prices? Yes! Starting Friday, Stop & Shop is dropping prices from 5 to 40% on over 3,000 items across its eastern Mass. stores. Think: Chobani yogurt for $1.49, down from $1.79, or Stop & Shop-brand Italian bread for $1.79, down from $2.49. The cuts come as the chain could use some extra love (a.k.a. $$$) from customers after a rough 2024. But considering its prices are already some of the region’s highest (~30% higher than Market Basket) … we wouldn’t break up with TJ’s just yet.

😅 Mayor Wu isn’t pressed about potential Trump funding cuts. After the mayor aggressively clapped back at the President’s orders to nix Boston’s “sanctuary” laws, some folks worried about potential $$$ repercussions. But Wu doesn't seem particularly concerned. Between this year’s tighter budget (crafted with these threats in mind) and a firm legal basis to fight back (which has already worked in Boston’s favor in other cases), Wu said Boston is well-positioned to deal with potential cuts.

✈️ Calling all spontaneous vacation girlies! Low-cost airline Frontier is having an end-of-summer sale … and it ends TONIGHT. Here’s the deal: You can snag round-trip tickets for as low as $69.99(!) out of Boston for September travel on “select days of the week” between Sept. 2 and 30. But, you have to book round-trip and at least two weeks in advance. You can peruse the flights here, but make sure to act before midnight Aug. 21 to snag the deals. Bon voyage!

🐶 Don’t read this if you’re not in the market for an adorable pup. OK, now that those guys are gone: Boston’s Animal Rescue League (ARL) is currently caring for 10 beagles … named after bagels! Meet: Everything, Blueberry, Sesame, Egg, and Poppy. The ARL rescued the pups from an overcrowded home kennel, and kept 10 in its care to treat and eventually put up for adoption. But first, the org is asking for donations to help them handle the sudden influx. Just look at these babies!

QUICK QUESTION!

🎃 What’s the right time to *culturally* transition from summer to fall?

ONE LAST THING

Pumpkin' Dunkin’ is BACK

It’s 60 degrees and pumpkin spice lattes are back on Dunkin’s menu … break out the knee-high boots and infinity scarves, because it sounds like fall to us! 

Dunkin’s 2025 fall menu is officially dropped Wednesday, so we’re legally obligated to give you the rundown. As for newbies, this year’s star seems to be the Cereal n’ Milk latte, which apparently tastes like a marshmallow, plus a mixed berry daydream refresher from Sabrina Carpenter herself that gives berries n’ cream vibes.

But don’t worry, PSL girlies, there’s plenty of pumpkin fare to go around, including an all-new iced pumpkin loaf, pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin swirls in coffee, and, of course, the pumpkin spiced latte. And there’s a lot more where that came from. Here’s the whole menu.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

☕Thanks for reading! IDK if cereal milk is giving “fall,” but we’ll take it. 

🍺 The results are in: 39% of B-Siders say their night out of choice would be at a beer garden or brewery. One reader said: “Hot take: the clubs in Boston are just glorified bars with $60 covers.” I mean …

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