👀 A very naked weekend event

Happy Friday, Boston!

🏊 Looking to cool off this weekend? The Mirabella Pool in the North End opens for the season tomorrow. Although there might be some rain in the forecast, it’s gonna be sticky as hell, so take advantage!

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Goodbye, Marcus Smart

• Good and bad T news

• A local potty invention

Up first...

SUMMER FRIDAYS

Dancing, naked biking, and more

Summer is in full swing. And while the sunshine may not be joining us the weekend (again), we can still pretend it’s there.

Here’s how we think you should spend it:

💃 Bust a move at Cambridge’s city dance block party. Thousands of residents and visitors are expected to get down with their bad selves in front of City Hall tonight. Like many events this summer, this dance party is back for the first time since COVID. There will be some street closures, so read up on the best way to get in here.

🛍️ Peruse the Black Owned Bos. Market in the Seaport. The award-winning market is back on the Seaport Common this month showcasing over 30 vendors with food, haircare, clothing, art, and more. This month’s theme is music, so there will be a slew of performances from local musicians, plus food and wine from ZaZ restaurant and Progressive Wine Co.

🚶 Enjoy a car-free day during Open Streets Jamaica Plain. On Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m, it’s only bikes, blades, pets, and pedestrians on Centre Street between Lamartine Street to South Street. The vibes from the Open Streets program are always 10/10, which you can see for yourself here.

🚴 Watch (or join) cyclists for a naked night bike ride. This event is Boston’s version of the World Naked Bike Ride, and it’s all about supporting cycling, safer streets, less fossil fuel consumption, and body autonomy. Body paint, glitter, pasties, tighty whities, and full nudity are welcome. Here’s what organizers recommend bringing (that isn’t clothing).

🏳️‍🌈 Celebrate Pride month on Spectacle Island. Your $38 ticket for their Summer Nights series includes a ton: round-trip ferry ride, access to Night Shift’s beer garden, Drag performances hosted by Mizery McRae, lawn games, after-hours access on the island, s’mores on the beach with L.L. Bean, and more. Plus, you can grab food at the ZaZ pop-up for din din.

🍕 Load up on your favorite local pies at the Boston Pizza Festival. The two-day event is making its grand return to City Hall Plaza for the first time since 2019 this weekend. There will be over 30 pizzerias from Boston to Italy. Plus, admission is free. If you want to try a slice, you can buy a pack of “pizza tokens,” which start at $11. But def buy them online to skip the line.

👀 Don't know which pies to try? We taste-tested three local pies that’ll be at the festival. Watch this video to get our thoughts.

QUICK QUESTION!

🏖️ What kind of summer day-trip content do you want to see?

TOGETHER WITH IFAW

Save the Right Whale

🐋 Interested in wildlife conservation and animal welfare? The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is asking you to take action to protect the North Atlantic right whale. As New Englanders, we’re fortunate to have these whales in our oceans, but unfortunately, only 340 right whales remain due to the threats of vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. Take two minutes to sign this petition and help keep these creatures safe in our waters.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

😭 Goodbye, Marcus Smart. In a stunning last-minute swap, the C’s sent Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of a three-team trade. In exchange, Boston will get 7-foot-3 Wizards’ superstar Kristaps Porzingis, a former All-Star who just completed the best season of his career. Nabbing Porzingis will likely be a coup for the C’s offense, but it’s a huge blow to their soul: Smart was an active community member, dyed his hair green during playoffs, and was the heartbeat of the team in the post-Paul Pierce era. And he didn’t take the news well.

🚃 Some good, and not so good, T news. Let’s start with the good news: Commuter Rail trips on the Newburyport/Rockport Line will only be $2.40 one-way (the same cost as a T ride) from July 1 through Aug. 31 while the Sumner Tunnel is closed. Plus, several Commuter Rail parking lots along the line will either be free or only $2 a day. Now the bad news: The entire B branch of the Green Line will be replaced with shuttle buses from July 17 through 28 to replace over 2,000 feet of track. If you have thoughts (and we know you do), you can share them here.

🎓 Simmons’ liberal arts departments could get the chop. Thanks to tight pockets and declining enrollment, Boston’s only women’s college is thinking of cutting several undergrad liberal arts departments, including philosophy and sociology. Simmons has heavily relied on graduate programs to keep them afloat the last few years, but now that’s not enough. In addition to cutting out low enrollment majors that prompt eye rolls from your extended family, the school also plans to add more lucrative grad programs and offer early retirement packages to some faculty.

TOGETHER WITH LEVITATE MUSIC FESTIVAL

Giveaway alert!

🎤 We’re giving away two, 3-day VIP passes to Levitate Music Festival on July 7-9. To be eligible, refer a friend below and have them accept your invite between June 16 and 29. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

ONE LAST THING

A local potty invention

Students from the Boston area’s most acclaimed institutions have pumped out life-changing inventions: PET scans, condensed soup, and now … toilet seats?

Former BU Student Kevin Tang was disgusted by the fact that the toilets at school were always dirty, so he decided to fix that. With a team of BU and MIT engineers, he launched Cleana (pronounced like “cleaner” with a Boston accent).

It’s essentially a toilet seat that raises and lowers itself to avoid those icky seat splashes and to prevent objects from falling into the bowl. And while it may seem a little silly, it’s clearly caught the attention of investors: the head of innovation at Boston Beer Co., the maker of Sam Adams, has invested just under $100,000 of his own money into the product.

The company already has paying residential customers, and expects to ship its first commercial-grade toilet seats by September. It’s a simple product with a ton of potential.

After all, everybody poops.

🚽 Thanks for reading! If I never have to see another seat splash again, I’m sold.

🍕 The results are in: While Regina’s Pizza was solid fav among respondents from yesterday’s poll, readers also shared their pizza spots that didn’t make the list: Ducali, Otto, and Dragon Pizza, to name a few.

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