🫡🛝 The Cop Slide is healing America

🚲 RUN BIKE, don’t walk! Get a free $5 Bluebikes credit through the app with code BCBSMABOSTON250. You’re welcome ;)

☀️ BTW … are you pumped for the Best Day Ever? Your dream menu is here: byChae matcha, Bardo’s pizza, Anna’s Taqueria tacos, Cocorico pastries, and much more are waiting for you at PKL in Southie on Aug. 1. The best part? It’s all included with your ticket — get yours now!

🥳 And a special HBD to B-Side Members Cara Pizzorusso and Mikaela! We hope you take the scenic route today. <3

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

The Tartan Army hasn’t been the only source of good news this month. Yes, there were the traffic cones, the bagpipe parades, and the wild pronunciations of Billerica, but June was all-around stuffed with wholesome moments that made us go, “awwww.”

Here are the feel-good stories you might’ve missed:

🐶 Tired: Kissing booths. Wired: Puppy kissing booths. Waltham resident Haley Scott recently opened a “smooch a pooch” window in her home where her adorbs golden retriever, Driver, gives passersby free licks. He’s a big fan of people-watching, so Haley thought it would be fun for Driver to spread his love for the people and give them a much-needed puppy break. There’s even a little baggie of treats outside for you to feed him on his smooch o’clock. I mean, how can you say no to this face?

🏀 This Brockton star made it to the big leagues. 19-year-old A.J. Dybantsa was THE No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards, making him the first Mass. player to be the No. 1 pick since Patrick Ewing in 1985. And all of Brockton is cheering him on. His old elementary school went all out for draft night with a big watch party for the community — and when Dybantsa’s name got called first, his school went wild.

🍋 When life gave them lemons, these kids made more lemonade. Literally. After two children hosting a lemonade stand in Southie were robbed at gunpoint (we promise this has a good ending), they saw *overwhelming* support from neighbors and friends. Local businesses even donated lemonade and money, allowing the kiddos to open up shop two days later. And the entireeeeee community showed up, including local leaders like Mayor Michelle Wu. The cherry on top? Half of the proceeds will be donated to a gun violence prevention group.

🛝 The Cop Slide is literally healing America. Thanks to the Boston cop who got rocket-launched out of the slide three years ago, World Cup fans are traveling thousands of miles — from South Carolina to Glasgow — to cross it off their bucket list. It’s now considered a “historical landmark” on Google Maps lol. So, why is everyone risking the bruises? “To be part of the culture,” one fan said. So the Scots might have bagpipes and cone-ing, but WE have the Cop Slide. 

🦆 Mass. staties really said, “Make way for ducklings.” A state trooper flashed his cruiser lights after seeing a mother goose and her eight goslings on the shoulder of the Mass. Pike. He, with the help of two other cruisers, escorted them to safety, creating a path to get them off the highway into a grassy wooded area. A.k.a., the only reason we’ll gladly sit in traffic.

🍷 🖼️ If your going-out plans involve art, late-night café stops, and a $0 cover charge, then yes. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum now offers Free Thursday Nights from 5–9 p.m., with free admission, creative engagements, and Café G open late for drinks and dinner. Just make sure to reserve in advance — “free” tends to fill up fast. (And if your name is Isabella, your admission is free year-round. Congrats on winning at life.)

🥵 This week’s forecast is giving tropical (not in the fun way). You can kiss those recent gorgina days goodbye, as the Boston area is bracing for a potential *record-breaking* heat wave. Temps will crank up early this week, officially cracking the 90s come Wednesday. But Thursday is the real doozy, with “feels like” temps between 105 and 110 (!!!) in some areas. So here, you’ll need this: a map of the city’s cooling resources, including local pools, splash pads, and more. Stay safe out there!

🚃 Chat, is this new MBTA map real? It turns out that controversial Orange Line extension proposal featured a map design with a LOT of AI-generated errors. On the Green Line alone, it added two more Kent Streets (on the wrong branch, no less), nixed nearly every BU stop, and ran express all the way from Hynes to Heath Street (we wish). And don’t get us started on the missing Braintree branch … The councilors behind it said the mistakes don’t minimize the idea, calling the AI mock-up just a visual aid. 

💰 Boston’s budget is officially official. And city councilors are feeling the pinch. Councilors finally accepted Mayor Wu’s $4.9 billion budget, after fighting over the lowest increase in years. They were deadlocked over Wu’s proposal that put several programs on the chopping block, but eventually approved $11.8 million of changes that restored many of those funds. That said, there are cuts to come, like 400+ jobs that were slashed in the new BPS budget. And this tension between Wu and some councilors is likely only brewing …

⛴️ Take the Blue Line BOAT to Logan. Introducing: The F10 “Harbor Loop,” the MBTA’s new year-round, weekday ferry service that’s designed to add another accessible transit option in Boston. The route will zip passengers to four stops around the harbor: North Station, the aquarium, the Seaport, and Logan. Starting TODAY, it’ll operate every half hour during peak travel times in the morning and evening. Bonus: It’s still only $2.40 for a one-way fare, just like the T!

🍿 Ask me if I like … cheese. You can recite all your fave “She’s The Man” quotes at this Fenway outdoor movie night TONIGHT. 

💌 Pour your heart out to a phone booth. Join Love Letters on June 30 for a convo about advice columns and the Tell-A-Booth inside the BPL, a phone booth where you can call with all your problems. 

🎆 Start July 4 week off with a BOOM. Literally! Somerville’s Independence Day party will be popping off June 30 with a night of music, carnival bites, and ofc, fireworks!

🍋‍🟩 Cheers to cheap tequila tastings. June 30 is Cisco’s Tasting Tuesday event, where your ticket includes a guided tasting of gin, tequila, rum, and vodka, plus a complimentary cocktail. Bonus: They’re running a sweet two-for-2 deal! 

🍩 Let Dunkin’ do your hair. Revlon and Dunkin’ are teaming up on the Common on June 30 with free coffee, doughnuts, giveaways, and quick hair refreshes to celebrate the launch of the new VersaStyler hair tool.

🎨 Create your own cozy reading corner. That’s exactly what you’ll be painting at Trident’s sip and paint night on June 30 (it’s actually adorable). Supplies are included! 

🍷 Start a new Hump Day wine night tradition. These $12 wine flights at Tilde Cafe & Wine Bar on Wednesdays might be the closest thing to happy hour. 

🖼️ Spend a night at the museum (and in the AC). Friendly reminder that the ICA is free on Thursdays from 5 to 9 p.m. Just grab your ticket here!

🎵 Grab your tickets while you still can! Berklee's Homecoming Block Party is on Sept. 19, featuring some of the music school’s most well-known alums. Think: Susan Tedeschi, Tiwa Savage, Fabiola Méndez, Dogs in a Pile, and Dreion. This is a Boston music moment the city will be buzzing about, so get your tickets here!

Things that happened during the World Cup: Lionel Messi breaking scoring records, Scots putting cones on statues … and tourists chugging ranch at airport security.

Boston tourists have been *obsessed* over our clam chowder, Carmelina’s chicken parm, and Raising Cane’s sauce. But what’s making the biggest splash? Ranch.

The craze has reached the point where people from all over the world are buying the condiment in BULK to take home with them abroad. 

TSA even issued a warning for passengers to put their full-size condiment bottles in checked luggage (and also to NOT to chug them in the security line). In response, Kraft obviously created travel-friendly ranch packets to fly home with.

One user commented, “Long live RANCHGATE 2026.” 

— Written by Kelly Chan and Emily Schario

👍 Thanks for reading! As long as no one dips haggis into it, we endorse.

💜 Special shoutout to today's sponsor, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, for supporting local journalism and bringing culturally rich experiences to our city. 

🚶 The results are in: 40% of B-Siders have probably walked around 15 miles in one go. But one of you who’s only done up to five miles, said “I like to take my time.” Period.

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