😳✏️ Now THIS looks a little sketchy ...

It’s Monday, Boston.

🫶 It’s ALSO teacher and nurse appreciation week! To say thank you, View Boston is offering educators and nurses $10 admission from May 5 to 12, and The Cookie Monstah is giving them 15% off IRL orders. Just show your work ID.

🎂 AND B-Siders Rachel Simeon and Kevin C’s birthdays! Happy, happy birthday to you both. Even if you aren’t a teacher or a nurse, we appreciate you. <3

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Copley Square’s glow-DOWN

• Mass.’ bug invasion

• Capitol Hill’s coffee crisis

Up first…

MAY FREEBIES

April showers bring May freebies

Challenge accepted: If Mother Nature can make it rain this week, so can we … with freebies. 

Here are the best free things to do around Boston this month: 

🏋️ Kiss your gym membership goodbye. You’ve got two outdoor fitness series to pick from: Boston’s parks fitness series is officially underway, with free workout classes happening around the city. Think: Kickboxing on Brighton Common and Frog Pond yoga. Working downtown? Seaport Sweat is also back in action. Expect classes five days a week, with everything from pilates sculpt to endurance HIIT to yin yoga. Check out the whole schedule here. 

✍️ Draw us like one of your French girls. Imagine: A local artist guiding you through fun and easy drawing exercises as live music plays in the background. Sound good? That’s exactly what Seaport Sketch, a free art class series at The Superette, is all about. Even better: They provide the art supplies! 

⛴️ Set sail to Spectacle Island. A ferry ride there normally costs ~$25, but thanks to Free Ferry Weekend on May 17 and 18, that trip = $0. Pro tip: Tickets are first-come, first-served, so get to the ferry center as early as possible (it opens at 8 a.m.) and keep your squad small — only five tickets are allowed per adult.

🎶 PorchFest season is SO BACK! And Somerville is leading its return on May 10 (with a few new rules given last year’s Guster debacle). In case you’re new, PorchFest is a decentralized day of music, where local bands and artists rock out on their stoops. Bonus: Watertown, Malden, Southie, and Dorchester will be joining the PorchFest party this month, so check out the neighborhood schedule here. 

🍹 Sniff out Boston’s best marg. We never met a free marg we didn’t like, but thankfully, these free margs at Time Out Market’s “Best Margarita in Fenway” competition just so happen to be from some of Boston’s hottest restaurants. Enjoy sips from over 12 local spots with the task of crowning the best of the best. 

🖼️ Spend Memorial Day at the MFA. The museum HATES to see us coming on a free admission Monday holiday. Mass. residents can spend May 26 roaming the museums’ galleries AND get access to this limited-time Van Gogh exhibit. Just remember: Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

🤸 Tis the season for markets and festivals … falalalalalalalalala. Scholastic bookfair kids: Mark your calendars for the Greater Roxbury Book Fair where local and BIPOC authors take center stage. Food truck fanatics: 15+ food trucks, tons of free workout classes, and artisan vendors are on the docket at The Greenway’s Spring Fest. Local foxy shoppers: The Seaport x Black Owned Bos. Market returns May 18 where you can peruse tons of goodies from Black-owned businesses.

TOGETHER WITH THE GREATER BOSTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

This is where Boston’s biggest power players hang out 

👨‍💼💰📈 And you’re officially invited. Join 1,500+ industry insiders at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport on May 20 for the most anticipated business event of the year: the Greater Boston Chamber’s Annual Meeting. With a keynote from U.S. Chamber CEO Suzanne P. Clark, a live musical performance, and the induction of the 2025 Distinguished Bostonians, it’s your chance to swap business cards with the people shaping Boston’s future. Register now to start accelerating growth … and your LinkedIn connections. 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🌳 Is Copley Square’s renovation a glow-DOWN? According to the internet, yes. When the city unveiled the latest phase of its $18.9 million, multi-year renovation (which will be done later this year), folks were quick to call out the significant lack of green space, saying the reno has a “sterile and soulless” vibe. That might sound harsh, but FWIW, its current look is a far cry from the “more vibrant” space Mayor Michelle Wu promised. However, a recent IG post from the city teases more green on the way. Here’s hoping!

🎓 Local grads aren’t feeling too hot about the job market. And for good reason. The combination of tariffs, rising costs, and cuts to the federal government have led many companies to slow hiring, putting new college grads in a tough spot. The unemployment rate of recent grads climbed from 4.8% to 5.8% between January and March, while at least one student job search platform saw a 13% decrease in full-time job postings year over year, leading to long, fruitless searches, already-secured jobs being cancelled, and a general feeling of uncertainty.

🪲 The Cape is about to be infested. We wish we were exaggerating. Between late May and early June, the Cape and southeastern Mass. will see TONS of cicadas from Brood XIV emerge from a 17-year stint underground for four to six weeks to breed, lay eggs, make as much noise as possible, and ultimately, die. If you’ve never experienced a cicada emergence, besides looking a little creepy, the bugs are totally harmless to us and the environment. But you’ll need to get used to this sound.

😋 Greater Boston is slaying the “best of” foodie lists. Here’s a taste: According to the Yelp Elite Squad, Somerville’s 3 Little Figs (of B-Side telephone tag fame!) has the best brunch in Mass. The cozy cafe is known for its slim menu of high-quality sandwiches, toasts, and smoothies. Meanwhile, the South End’s Greek spot Kaia got some international love, earning a shout from Condé Nast Traveler as one of the best new restaurants in the WORLD for its ability to “meld the ancient with the avant-garde.” Go off!

QUICK QUESTION!

🌳 Check out the Copley Square renovation so far and let us know: What do you think about the reno?

THINGS TO DO

Weekday checklist

🪅 Make your Monday a fiesta. It’s Cinco de Mayo, baby! To celebrate, head to this bash in DTX with an artisan market, craft fair, and music; try Buttermilk and Bourbon's NOLA-style special menu; or get down at this rooftop party at the Revere Hotel.

🍷 Drunk-dial your state reps. Every Monday, Rebel Rebel wine bar hosts a night of political mobilization where you’ll tackle one community action item while sipping on wine.

😍 Be bewitched, body and soul. By the re-release of “Pride & Prejudice” on the big screen! To celebrate the iconic 2005 film’s 20th anniversary, AMC is showing it through May 8.

🤣 Giggle your way through hump day. Stand-up comedian Adam Mamawala, of Comedy Central and MTV, is stopping by The Comedy Studio for a set on May 7. It’s $25, but, like every other Wednesday and Sunday show, B-Side Members go for FREE.

🌸 Stroll through the South End. 70+ businesses are opening their doors (and offering special deals) for the neighborhood’s spring stroll on May 7 (rain date, May 8). 

🎭 See a Tony award-winning musical. Young love. Music. Summertime in Italy. “The Light in the Piazza” has it all and more, and it’s playing at The Huntington starting May 8. The theatre has tons of ticket discounts.

📲 Forget your FYP for the night. Ditch your phone and spend a few screenless hours crafting, creating, relaxing, and chatting with like-minded folks at this no-phone night in Somerville on May 8. 

🎤 Hear Boston Calling artists for $20. You could pay $150+ to see local rapper Latrell James at the festival, or you could pay $20 to see him (and others!) at WBUR’s Boston Calling Night May 9.

GIVEAWAY!

Together with Lyric Stage Boston

Enter to win two tickets to see Hello, Dolly! at Lyric Stage Boston! To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on May 6. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

ONE LAST THING

Capitol Hill’s coffee crisis

If there’s one thing that’ll get Massholes riled up, it’s a Dunkin’ closure. And apparently, Capitol Hill is no exception. 

Recently, a bunch of State Reps down in D.C. got wind that a Dunkin’ location in their office complex was closing, to be replaced by a — *gasp* — Starbucks. Naturally, New England lawmakers wasted absolutely no time taking to the internet to complain … and meme. 

Mass. Rep. Laurie Trahan posted a Dunkin’ spoof on the “come and take it” meme, Rhode Island Rep. Seth Magaziner posted a Ben Affleck pic, and one lobbyist told the New Englanders to “defend the brew.”

Check out all of the wild — and very New England — reactions here.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🍩 Thanks for reading! You can take the New Englander out of the Dunkin’ …

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, for supporting local journalism and connecting Boston’s movers, shakers, and spreadsheet-makers.

🎓 The results are in: 55% of B-Siders both got into and attended their No. 1 college — Gia and Emily absolutely cannot relate. One reader said: “What, like it's hard?"

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