🌭😉 Out: Brat summer. In: Bratwurst fall.

It’s Monday, Boston.

🫢🏊 Don’t miss your shot at free Cliff Diving VIP seats. The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series is BACK Sept. 19 to 20, and we’ve got two pairs of VIP tickets (a $650 value) to give away to lucky B-Side members! Become a member HERE to enter.

🎓 Also: Are you considering (or currently attending) grad school to put off job hunting, switch your field of study, or otherwise navigate this ROUGH job market? We want to talk to you for an upcoming story! Shoot Gia an email at [email protected]. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Josh Kraft is tapped out

• These Massholes are RICH rich

• The A-Listers are in town

Up first…

OUT & ABOUT

Oktoberfest like a prost

Grab your lederhosen, B-Siders. It’s Oktoberfest season! The tradition, which dates back to the 1800s in Munich, is now celebrated around the world. And local breweries are donning their German best to celebrate.

Here’s where to party and prost:

🍻 If you’re looking for a traditional bash … You can throw down at any of these Oktoberfest parties. Expect music, stein-holding contests, and beer (duh!) galore: 

• Sam Adams Taproom, Sept. 19 and 21. Come for the two new fest-style brews, and stay for the hourly stein-hoisting competitions. Pre-sale tickets come with free swag and a beer!

• Trillium, Sept. 20 and 21. Head to any of its three locations for food specials and festive vibes, then stick around for a post-Oktoberfest hangover yoga sesh.

• Aeronaut, Sept. 20 and 21. Don’t miss the special German bites from Mimi’s Chuka Diner (hi, schnitzel sandos!) and traditional oompah music from a polka band.

• Dorchester Brewing, Sept. 27. Giant turkey legs? A bratwurst-eating contest? FREE cotton candy? We’re sold. The first 30 partygoers to buy a liter get a free stein!

• Lamplighter Brewing, Sept. 26 and 27. Toast and prost with Lamplighter’s long list of German beers. Everyone gets a free glass stein, and the best dressed gets free beer!

• Harpoon, Oct. 3 and 4. Thousands of beer-lovers will be chicken dancing, gorging on giant pretzels, and getting down to live oompah music at this bash.

• Harvard Square and HONK! Parade, Oct 6. It’s not a brewery, but it is a massive parade with live HONK! music, international crafts and art, and, of course, beer gardens galore.

🇩🇪 If you want something slightly lower-key … These celebrations will have all the Oktoberfest fixings with a more relaxed vibe:

• Mighty Squirrel Arsenal Yards, Sept. 19 to 21. Mighty Squirrel is partying all weekend long with a stein-holding contest on the 19th, live music on the 20th, and foodie specials every day.

• Long Live Roxbury, Sept. 27. This all-day, family-friendly Oktoberfest features a local vendor market alongside a live brass band and delish eats.

• Sam Adams Brewery, Sept. 26 to 28. No matter what day you go, you’ll get a primo lineup of live music, brats, big pretzels, and a stein-hoisting competition. 

🐶 Want to celebrate … with your pooch? There’s only one Oktoberfest — sorry, we mean DOGtoberfest, celebration for you:

• Harpoon’s Dogtoberfest, Oct. 5. Yes, it’s a thing! There will be puppy yoga, costume, trick, and look-a-like contests, and even puppy beer.

TOGETHER WITH MFA BOSTON

A $5 fine art fiesta

💃🏽🎉 Call it culture, call it community, call it your Thursday night plans. Latinx Heritage Night is bringing music, dance, and big fiesta energy to the MFA on Sept. 18. Catch DJ Montro and Rafa Moreno Band, dance with SambaViva, make some art of your own, and dive into spotlight talks in the Rituals for Remembering: María Magdalena Campos-Pons and Ana Mendieta exhibition. Admission is just $5 after 5 p.m, which is part of the Museum’s new $5 Third Thursdays series. ¡Nos vemos ahí!

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

👋 Josh Kraft is O-U-T of the mayoral race. After a rough few months capped by a blowout loss in the primary, Kraft took to IG to suspend his campaign: “What is right for the city,” reads his statement, “is not to get caught up in political mudslinging but to drive the conversation forward.” To start, he pledged the rest of his campaign cash to the Mass. and Cass crisis. As for November, it’s unclear if distant third-place finisher Domingos DaRosa will appear on the ballot. But Mayor Wu doesn’t seem too worried … like, at all.

🗳️ Meanwhile, Gov. Healey is very much in the race for Governor. Though that election is still a year away, a recent poll from CommonWealth Beacon found that Healey has a 56% approval rating in Mass. Unsurprisingly, she’s most popular with the Democrat, college-educated, women over 50 crowd, and least popular among voters without college degrees and Southeastern Mass. residents. Compare that to former Gov. Charlie Baker’s 68% approval rating back in 2022, and the 48% of voters who strongly disapprove of President Trump, and Healey comes out looking good, but not amazing. 

🤑 These Massholes are RICH rich. Forbes dropped its annual list of the 400 richest Americans, and nine Mass. residents made the cut. Of them, all are veterans of the list, including: No. 78 Robert Kraft, who’s worth $13.8 billion, in part thanks to the Pats’ $9 billion valuation; No. 295 Jim Davis and family, the owners of New Balance (whose $5.2 billion net worth dropped over $1 billion this year); and the richest Masshole of them all, No. 27 Abigail Johnson, the CEO of Fidelity worth a whopping $35 billion.

🎵 Calling all Little Monsters! ICYMI: Lady Gaga has added two Boston stops to her MAYHEM Ball World Tour, and tickets are going on sale today. Here’s the deal: Gaga is stopping at TD Garden on March 29 and 30, 2026, as part of the tour’s newly-added second leg. Wanna go? The general sale kicks off at 12 p.m. TODAY on LiveNation — and, shocker, they’re expected to go very fast, and likely, be pretty pricey. Good luck out there!

POP QUIZ!

💸 What’s the combined net worth of *all* the 400 richest Americans?

THINGS TO DO

Weekday checklist

🧶 Get crafty and “Clueless.” Gather Here and The Brattle are BACK for another movie slash craft sesh tonight! Grab tickets (and your current project) and watch “Clueless” while you craft. Yes, the lights will be half up! 

💍 Celebrate a true “Love Story.” Boston Landing is throwing Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce an engagement party Sept. 16 with complimentary on-theme sweets, plus music, wedding cake, and plenty of Swiftie-approved easter eggs.

🥤 Chug some dirty soda. Upstairs at Bow and Buenas are hosting a Real Housewives of Salt Lake City premiere viewing party Sept. 16. There will be games, empanadas, themed drinks, and, yes, dirty soda.

⚾ Take yourself out to the ball game. ‘Cause we found a SWEET Red Sox deal: Four tickets, four Fenway franks, and four fountain drinks starting at just $99 for their Sept. 16, 17, and 18 games. Grab ‘em here!

☁️ Pregame Somerville’s Fluff Fest. Yes, like marshmallow fluff. The main event is this weekend, but kick things off at Bow Market’s fluff-themed night market  Sept. 17 with fluffy eats (see: this toasted Nutella fluff sammy!), merch, and art.

🗡️ Enjoy some Medieval merriment. Hear ye, hear ye! The Brighton Bazaar’s Sept. 18 vintage and art market has a Ren Faire twist. There will be 90+ bards (vendors), grub and grog (food and drink), armored melee (performances in the courtyard), and more! Costumes are encouraged.

🎨 Paint your own … Labubu? Yes! Craft Loft Cambridge is offering a night of guided Labubu painting Sept. 18. No, they’re not legit Labubus (they’re made of resin), but you can use them as a piggy bank!

⛳ Putt with your new pals (for FREE). Make Friends After College is hosting a free night of mini golf at Puttshack (usually $18+) slash friendship-making event for 20- and 30-somethings on Sept. 18.

ONE LAST THING

The A-Listers take Mass.

Wait, was that … Dua Lipa at Neptune Oyster? YUP. And she wasn’t the only one in town.

Not one, not two, but THREE A-Listers graced Greater Boston this weekend: Dua Lipa, plus celeb couple Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker. 

The Kardashian-Barkers randomly dropped by Salem to take a Witch City Walking Tour and grab a bite at Gulu-Gulu Cafe on the way to Barker’s show in N.H. 

Meanwhile, Dua made local waves when she dedicated a whole IG post to her “day off in Boston,” where she raved so much about Neptune Oyster (“lobster roll so good I went twice,” she wrote); and The Red Fox (which had “perfect ‘tinis”), that it almost read like spon con.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Claire Nicholas

🤩 Thanks for reading! We wonder how Boston compares to her millions of other vacations.

🫖 The results are in: It was a tight race, but it looks like B-Side Certified is having a spot of tea at Broken Cup Teahouse! One reader said: “Why not all of them??!! They all sound scrumptious.” Hey, if someone wants to take us … 

💜 Special shoutout to today's sponsor, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for supporting local journalism and bringing culturally rich experiences to our city.

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