💃🏽 This month-long fiesta starts now

It’s Tuesday, Boston.

 🗳️ It’s also national voter registration day! Obviously, the best way to celebrate is by registering to vote. Double check your current status and register today in-person at the Copley BPL or online here. You’ll be glad you did! 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• The Public Garden’s facelift

• The Boston Marathon just got harder

• Tonight’s super harvest blood moon

Up first…

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

We’re celebrating all month long

¡Feliz Mes de la Herencia Hispana, B-Siders! Translation: Happy Hispanic Heritage month! 

Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 is a month-long celebration of Hispanic and Latino history and culture. And whether you want to participate by celebrating, supporting, learning, or all of the above, we’ve got you covered:

CELEBRATE

💃🏽 Hit up Boston’s biggest bashes. A.k.a. The Fiesta en la Plaza, a free series of Hispanic Heritage Month events at City Hall. There are a few left, including an Afro-Latin artists panel, a one-night film festival, and a salsa night to close out the festivities.

🎶 Dance to some tunes. If your perfect party involves movin’ and groovin’, East Boston’s Latin Music and Dance Festival on Saturday, Sept. 21 is the spot. The (free!) community event has music, dancing, and tons of food.

🎨 Party at the MFA. For just a $5 entry fee on Sept. 26, the MFA is throwing a Latinx Heritage night. There will be art-making, a resource fair, music, gallery tours, several spotlight talks, and of course, dancing. 

SUPPORT

💸 Grab a bite at a Hispanic-owned biz. Boston.com rounded up some reader- recommended Hispanic-owned businesses in Greater Boston, from food, to barber shops, to handmade jewelry. Or, put your money where your mouth is by hitting up this Globe list of 10 local restaurants that “capture the spirit” of Hispanic Heritage Month. Peep La Bodega in Watertown, which is an OG B-Side Certified!

🏃🏾‍♀️ Run for a good cause. Two upcoming local 5ks are raising money for Hispanic and Latino nonprofits. This Hispanic and Latino 5k on the Mystic River is on Sept. 21, and the Chica Project Empower Her 5K is Oct. 19 on Jamaica Pond.

LEARN

🎥 Catch a Hispanic-made movie (or a bunch!). CineFest is an annual film festival featuring flicks that tell Latino stories. This year’s fest is from Sept. 25 to 29, with screenings happening at the Emerson Paramount Theatre, the Coolidge Corner Theatre, and the MFA.

📚 Read your way through the BPL’s “Vida Latina” list. The library’s annual “Vida Latina” lists offer a selection of hand-picked stories by and about Hispanic folks, including lineups for fiction, non-fiction, and teens/children. And while we’re here, we can’t forget about all of the BPL’s other programming this month, including film screenings and art showings.

🖼️ Take a deep dive into some Afro-Colombian art. Cuerpo, amores y saberes; Afro-Colombian Art and Representation, is an exhibition in the City Hall galleries that brings together the work of four artists and showcases traditional healing practices in Afro-Colombian communities. Check it out now solo, or on a guided tour Sept. 27.

TOGETHER WITH THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE TREASURY

Kick off sweater weather with some extra cheddar

🍂 🍁 As the leaves fall, so could some unexpected funds … right into your wallet. The Massachusetts State Treasury has billions in unclaimed property just waiting to be found. A quick name search could reveal forgotten savings or uncashed checks. Find out if you have some extra money and start your cozy season off right — it’s free and takes less than 30 seconds!

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

⛲ This Boston Public Garden entrance is ready for its close up. After going under the knife (jackhammer?) for the past year, the Arlington Street entrance of the Boston Public Garden is officially back in biz today with some upgrades. You may notice a facelift to the entrance’s landscape with new plantings, but the big-ticket renos were the iconic children’s fountains. We’ll save you the nitty gritty on the actual construction, but essentially, the changes make the fountains more accessible and allow visitors to get closer. You can take a peek at the final glow up here.

🏃 Running the Boston Marathon just got waaay harder. If you thought running a 3:00 marathon to qualify was wild, buckle up. Following another record year of qualifier entry apps — 36,406, up over 3,000 from 2024 — the B.A.A. announced it’s tightening qualifying standards for each gender and age group (except for runners over 60) by five minutes for the 2026 race. Ex: Men aged 18-34 will have to run a 2:55 marathon instead of a 3:00 marathon to apply. And while we don’t yet know the cutoff time for the 2025 race, it’s likely to be faster than 2024. 

🚌 This MBTA bus news ain’t … bussin’. First up, the city plans to ditch a Summer Street bus lane that runs through Southie after pilot data showed cars were illegally using it more than buses (sigh). Second, the Globe reported that while shuttle buses might be free to riders, they’re certainly not for the MBTA: The agency has racked up a multi-million-dollar tab to shuttle bus companies amid the diversions over the last year. See: The July Red Line shutdown was the priciest shuttle bus tab so far, costing the MBTA nearly $14 million. 

🔌 Boston just made the top of another not-so-great list. First it was rent, then rudeness, and now, energy bills. Per a recent report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Boston’s energy bills are among the highest in the country. They impact low-income, Black, and Hispanic families particularly hard, with energy bills taking up a median 13.7% of low-income households’ paychecks. Why? One major reason: Mass. doesn’t have its own oil and gas, prices are volatile. So the sooner we can get on renewable energy, the cheaper.

POP QUIZ!

🏃 What pace per mile does a 18-34 year old man have to run in a marathon to qualify for the Boston Marathon?

MEDIA SPONSORSHIP

B-Side Presents College Fest 2024

B-Side is a proud sponsor of Citizen's College Fest being held this Sunday, Sept. 22 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Hosted at House of Blues Boston, this event will offer college students a chance to interact with top brands, receive free swag, and enter to win exciting prizes. Entry is free with a valid college ID. Don’t miss out—get more details here!

ONE LAST THING

A super harvest blood moon

It’s a BIG night for moon enthusiasts. Mother Nature is giving us not one, not two, but THREE reasons to look at the moon tonight. Why? There’s going to be a super harvest blood moon and a partial lunar eclipse. 

Translation: We’re in for a super-rare (and super cool looking) lunar event that’ll be very big, red and brown-ish, and partially eclipsed. Tonight’s weather looks relatively clear for some OK moon viewing, which will peak at about 10:44 p.m. here in Boston, so all you have to do is step outside and look up.

The next eclipse/supermoon combo won’t be until 2033, and that one won’t even be colorful! So if we were you, we’d take a peek.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🌚 Thanks for reading! Look, I’m not trying to freak anyone out, but doesn’t this lowkey feel like the prime backdrop for a horror movie? I guess only time will tell.

📝 Quick correction: We updated the options in our quick question to include the correct answer.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, the Massachusetts State Treasury, for supporting local journalism and helping residents reclaim what’s rightfully theirs.

🚧 The results are(n’t) in: Bad news, our least favorite thing happened yesterday: Our poll glitched and we can’t see the results of which New England fall activity you all think is the best. But fortunately, we did get to see your write-ins. One reader said: “I raise you: apple picking while leaf peeping, and eating cider donuts on the way home.”

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