🍁 Take it or leaf it

Happy Friday, Boston!

☕ And a happy National Coffee Day! Dunkin’ Rewards members can get a free medium iced or hot coffee with any purchase today, and Kane’s Donuts is giving out free cups of coffee even if you buy nothing. You can see the full list of coffee freebies/deals here.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Some good MBTA news

• Wicked fast runners

• Mass. brands stan Swift

Up first …

OUT & ABOUT

A local’s guide to leaf-peeping

Peak week is almost here. The Smoky Mountains’ Fall Foliage prediction map indicates we’re just a week or so away from seeing the most colorful trees of the year in Massachusetts. Which means it’s time to start mapping out your leaf-peeping plans.

Whether you’ve got a car, a bike, or are taking the T, here are the best spots in Mass., according to leaf-peeping experts:

NO-CAR-REQUIRED LEAF PEEPING

🪦 Take the bus to Mount Auburn Cemetery or the Orange Line to the Arnold Arboretum. A 10-minute ride from Harvard Square will get you to America’s first landscaped cemetery, which feels like something out of Alice in Wonderland. Climbing to the top of Washington Tower is a must for city and foliage views, according to Jim Salge, a foliage expert for Yankee magazine. He’s equally obsessed with the arboretum since “there’s a lot of oak, which turns this beautiful flame orange, flame red.”

🦢 Enjoy late-season color on the Common and Public Garden. The beauty of these two spots is the color comes in a little later due to factors like elevation, proximity to water, and how the city cools, Salge said. So while the rest of the region peaks, these two are just getting started. And he’s not kidding: This is what the Common looked like in November 2018 on my morning stroll to work.

DAY-TRIP-WORTHY LEAF PEEPING

🚘 If you’ve got a car, take a drive up Route 2. That’s the recommendation of the Mass. Office of Travel and Tourism. Once you get to Lexington, hop on Route 2A to Concord’s famous North Bridge for quintessential New England vibes (also where the “shot heard ’round the world” happened), then head through Sudbury and take Route 20 through Waltham and back to Boston.

🥾 Blue Hills and The Fells offer great fall hikes without a two-hour drive. Stretching across parts of Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedham, the Blue Hills boast 125 miles of hikes for all skill levels. The best foliage views are at the top of the 635-foot summit of Great Blue Hill, the highest peak on the 7,000-acre reservation. You can also hit the Skyline Trail on Stoneham’s Middlesex Fells Reservation, a 6.9-mile loop with spectacular city views.

LONG-WEEKEND-WORTHY LEAF PEEPING

🎯 For sweeping vistas, throw a dart at a map of Western Mass. Whether it’s North Adams or the Berkshires, Western Mass. gives Vermont foliage a run for its money. County Living magazine just named the Pioneer Valley and Lenox among the best destinations in the U.S. for fall foliage, and U.S. News & World Report just named the Berkshires among the top places to go leaf peeping.

🍁 Taking a trip out to Wales is well worth the drive, according to meteorologist Dave Epstein. He takes the gorgeous 40-minute trip on Route 20 west from Worcester County to Brimfield, then stops at The Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary. They offer three scheduled hikes a season (there’s one this weekend!) where you can explore the reservation’s 8,000 acres.

POP QUIZ!

🌳 Which pigments are responsible for trees with red and purple leaves?

TOGETHER WITH THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE TREASURY

A hidden fortune with your name on it (literally)

🎥 Who says treasure hunts are just for the big screen? Thanks to the Massachusetts State Treasury, you can discover your very own loot of unclaimed riches — no clues or map necessary. Simply search your name online (it takes under a minute) to see if you are eligible for a share of over $3 billion in unclaimed property. With 1 in 10 citizens already discovering unclaimed property with the Massachusetts State Treasury — totaling a whopping $787 million in the past five years — there’s a chance you may be the lucky one to strike gold. See for yourself.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🚇 Despite the GLX headlines, there’s actually some good transit news. The MBTA announced plans to create the Office of Climate and Resiliency Policy and Planning, focusing on reducing its environmental impact and improving climate resiliency. The big goal in sight? Electrifying the bus fleet by 2040. And Commuter Rail service to Foxboro isn’t just for Pats fans anymore: The weekday service pilot from Boston to Foxboro was a hit, so the 10 weekday round trips will remain in effect with the start of the fall/winter Commuter Rail schedule.

🏃 Boston Marathon qualifiers are wicked fast this year. Talk about a blow: Over 11,000 runners who qualified for the prestigious marathon by running a speedy time at another marathon were denied entry this year due a record 33,000 applications. To get in this year, you had to run almost five-and-a-half minutes under the qualifying time. Translation: Men in the 18-35 age group had to run a marathon faster than a 2:54:31. The cutoff times tend to fluctuate yearly, but interest in distance running has skyrocketed post-COVID, ultimately tightening qualifying times.

📚 The Boston Public Library is fighting the nationwide book bans. Depending where you live in the U.S., you might not be allowed to read every book on your wishlist. So the BPL has joined the Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned initiative to fight censorship and book banning by offering anyone in the country from ages 13 to 26 to sign up for a free eCard, giving them unrestricted access to the books and audiobooks in their digital collections. Want to sign up? Here’s the quick application.

⛵ This event gives “shipping up to Boston” a whole new meaning. Get ready to celebrate, 1776-style. Sail Boston has announced that tall ships will be sailing into Boston in July 2026. Can’t picture a tall ship? Think classic, old-timey boats with big white sails. They will be coming into the city as a part of Sail250, a global gathering of tall ships to celebrate the semiquincentennial (that’s 250th) anniversary of the nation’s founding. Officials say the event is expected to bring 5 million visitors to Boston, too, generating a nice boost for the economy.

THINGS TO DO

Weekend plans

🐴 Continue (or start) your fall fair streak. The Topsfield Fair kicks off today (it’s smaller than The Big E but half the driving time). And yes, there will be giant pumpkins, chocolate-covered bacon, and all the classic fair staples.

🍺 Follow the smell of pumpkins to Cambridge. This Friday, Lamplighter Brewing is coming in hot with Pumpkin Palooza, featuring pumpkin beer with a cinnamon-sugar rim, pumpkin treats, and pumpkin decorating.

😂 Celebrate a Boston comedy birthday. It’s Laugh Boston’s 10th birthday, which means Friday’s comedy event is both a show and an after-party with local favorites like Jimmy Dunn and Andrew Della Volpe.

🍂 Fall in love with Brookline porchfest. Porchfest is already a recipe for happiness. And with the added backdrop of charming, tree-dotted streets, it’s gonna be euphoric. Plus: There are too many bands to count. 

🌏 Heal the Earth one tune at a time. Friday’sStart Where We Are Earth Music Festival on the Common is about more than just music. You’ll also find eco-conscious vendors, food, and conversations about sustainability.

🎉 Want more things to do recommendations? Refer five friends to unlock five bonus items. For those who already have, enjoy below.

— Written by Claire Nicholas

 ONE LAST THING

Mass. brands stan Swift

It’s not just the NFL capitalizing on Taylor Swift’s appearance at the Chiefs’ game this past weekend.. Or Heinz. Or … the Empire State Building. Two Mass. businesses are trying to get a piece of the pie.

After Swift was photographed drinking what looks like a cranberry juice beverage at the game, Middleborough-based Ocean Spray tweeted out the image with the hashtag #seeminglycranberry. Another pic of Swift wearing a pair of red and white New Balance 550s spiked sales for the Boston-based shoe brand so much that they landed on the brand’s trending list (even without Swift’s approval, they’re still cute).

I can already imagine the tweets Dunkin’ is cookin’ up for the Pats v. Chiefs game in December.

☕ Thanks for reading! How about this: If Taylor shows up, everyone in Mass. gets free coffee?

💜 Special Shoutout to today's sponsor, the Massachusetts State Treasury, for helping residents reclaim what’s rightfully theirs.

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