10 things to do in Boston this weekend
BosTen is your weekly guide to events and cool happenings in and around Boston.
Skip Netflix this weekend — here are 10 ways to get out of your home and not be bored in the city. If you’d like BosTen delivered to your inbox every Thursday, click here. Want more things to do? Check out our events calendar at boston.com/events. You can also learn even more about awesome events around Boston by joining the BosTen Facebook group.
Roxbury International Film Festival
Now in its 21st year, the Roxbury Film Festival will once again bring a diverse array of films, workshops, and panels celebrating people of color to the Museum of Fine Arts. The festival technically started Wednesday night with a free screening of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” on the MFA lawn, but the official opening film is “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am,” an uplifting documentary about the life and works of the Nobel Prize-winning author. It will screen on Thursday. (Thursday, June 20 through Saturday, June 29 at various times; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; $10-15 per film; all ages)
Pabu Summer Kickoff Party
High-end Japanese restaurant Pabu and the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District will host a Summer Solstice sidewalk celebration Friday at the Downtown Crossing Steps, just outside the izakaya. Pabu staff will pass out free sushi rolls, a DJ will play summer hits, and there will be plenty of games, contests, and giveaways. While the free celebration will last only an hour, the restaurant will offer its discounted happy hour menu all night long. (Friday June 21 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Downtown Crossing Steps, Boston; free; all ages)
Summer Solstice Party at Harvard Museums
You can explore the science and history of the solstice at Harvard, which is offering free admission to four of its museums — the Harvard Semitic Museum, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments — on Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Outside of the museums on Divinity Avenue, experience all sorts of fun free activities, including circus performers, a flower crown-making station, food trucks, and an animal farm. (Friday, June 21 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Harvard Museums of Science and Culture, Cambridge; free; all ages)
Chefs in Shorts
With summer heat comes summer shorts, even for Boston chefs. The 22nd annual Chefs in Shorts event will unite dozens of area chefs who will grill up dishes for an outdoor barbecue at the Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center. Among the participating restaurants are Flour Bakery + Cafe, Local 149, Publico Street Bistro, and Tuscan Kitchen. Portions of the proceeds will benefit Future Chefs, a nonprofit devoted to helping prepare urban youth for early employment and post-secondary education opportunities in the culinary field. (Friday, June 21 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center, Boston; $90; 21+)
Dave Matthews Band
For diehard fans of Dave Matthews Band, it’s not really summer without a concert from the Virginia rock band. With a catalog of hits that spans decades, the improv-heavy roots rock collective will be back in Mansfield this weekend. (Friday, June 21 at 8 p.m.; Xfinity Center, Mansfield; $49-$115; all ages)
Boston Pickle Fair
The Boston Pickle Fair returns for a third year this weekend, bringing everything brine to the Innovation and Design Building in the Seaport on Saturday. The outdoor fest will feature local vendors offering pickles both sour and sweet, including Grillo’s Pickles, Horman’s Best Pickles, Mamaleh’s Delicatessen, and Pickle Me Pete. Other eateries like Flatbread Company, Gracie’s Ice Cream, and Moyzilla will have fermented goods of their own on hand, and Down the Road Brewing Company will be serving Sam-Sam the Pickle Man, a dill pickle sour ale made in partnership with Grillo’s. Advance tickets for the morning and afternoon sessions are sold out, but a limited number of walk-up tickets will be sold starting 30 minutes before each session. (Saturday, June 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Innovation and Design Building, Boston; $25; all ages)
Halloween in Summer at Notch Brewing
Halloween never really ends in Salem, so it makes sense that Notch Brewing is throwing a summer costumed bash at its Salem taproom on Saturday. Entry is free, and there will be prizes for best costumes. (Saturday, June 22 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.; Notch Brewing, Salem; free; 21+)
Dead & Company
After playing Fenway Park in July 2016 and June 2017 and TD Garden in November 2017, Dead & Company will complete a Boston sports venue hat trick of sorts when they play Gillette Stadium this weekend. The latest incarnation of the post-Jerry Garcia Grateful Dead, featuring three original members and John Mayer on lead guitar, are in the midst of a 19-date summer tour, set to conclude July 6. (Saturday, June 22 at 7 p.m.; Gillette Stadium, Foxborough; $39.50-$150; all ages)
Ariana Grande
In the past year, pop star Ariana Grande has had perhaps the best musical run of her career, releasing her enormously successful fourth album “Sweetener” and following it up only six months later with her fifth, the triumphant smash “Thank U, Next.” Grande will be in Boston this weekend to serenade her Arianators on Saturday at TD Garden. (Saturday, June 22 at 8 p.m.; TD Garden, Boston; $201-$245; all ages)
American Lamb Jam
The American Lamb Jam is a nationwide competition that stops in five cities and pits 16 of the area’s best chefs in a contest to become the Lamb Jam Master. This weekend, the tour will visit Boston, where chefs from 16 local establishments, including Cafe ArtScience, Sarma, and the Smoke Shop, will battle to become the top lamb. Along with tasting the chef’s lamb creations, ticket holders will be able to sip drinks from Allagash, Line 39 Wines, Mount Gay Rum, and more. (Sunday, June 23 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Seaport Hotel and World Trade Center, Boston; $75 GA, $125 VIP; all ages)
