We usually kick of the list with the Halloween Happenings events that are put on by the City of Cambridge in various locations across the city.  As mentioned parties and shows take place this weekend as well as next.  You can also catch movies at the library (Scary Movie) as well as “Spooky PuppetShow” for the younger kids.  another good pick for kids are the Ghost and Halloween stories at the Curious George Store.

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What follows are some of the details for the event:

Harvard Square’s 36th Annual Oktoberfest!
Sunday, October 12, 2014 – 12:00pm to 6:00pm

The Harvard Square Business announces the 36th Annual Oktoberfest and legendary HONK! Parade on Sunday, October 12th, 2014. Annually attended by over 200,000 people, Harvard Square’s Oktoberfest features food from all over the world, arts, crafts, vintage goods, sidewalk sales and one-of-a-kind gifts.

Oktoberfest in Harvard Square was started 1978 by the late Frank Cardullo, a Square mover and shaker and owner of the renowned Wursthaus, which served up traditional German food from 1917 until it closed in 1996. The early festivals were in keeping with the old world customs. Over the years, however, the festival has taken on a most discerningly Cambridge vibe to become an Oktoberfest unlike any other.

More Details regarding performers and restaurants that are participating visit HarvardSquare.com

We are including a video from one of the performers last year to get you into the spirit…

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MIT Officer Sean Collier

WBZ recently did a story on the Collier family and how they are dealing with the death of MIT Officer Sean Collier.  Murdered last year in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings he has become known for so much of what is good about being in law enforcement and for just being an overall amazing person.  Interestingly enough my niece knew him briefly in school and echoes those sentiments.  This story though sad is also inspiring because it focuses on what his family and others are doing to commemorate this brave young man.  Thanks for the report Lauren Leamanczyk…

Support Team Collier Strong —>>>https://www.facebook.com/teamcollierstrong

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The full weekend before Halloween is coming up and we have updated our listing of Cambridge Mass Halloween events.  Most of us like weekend events so we can sleep in if things run too late and though some events are taking place this upcoming weekend there are plenty of events that are taking place during next week too and on Halloween Day/Night itself.  We have added some events that we may have missed in the past so the list keeps getting bigger and bigger each year.

Along with the usual favorites like Harvard Scare and Gorefest we have added Halloween Stories readings at the Curious George Store in Harvard Square and 2 Cambridge Ghost Tours.  These tours may have you thinking twice about walking around Cambridge at night.

As usual we have included a link to the City of Cambridge’s listing of Halloween Happenings at their community centers and schools as well as fire stations… This is a big list of different events at different times.  Harvard Scare is also a multievent type of event where there are a variety of events that they are listing(including our favorites like the Halloween Costume Party at UpStairs on the Square).  Though we have kept the Great Pumpkin Festival on the list as mentioned below you need to plan on buy tickets for that much earlier.

As a side note, sadly Upstairs on the Square will be closing this year.  According to the Cambridge Chronicle “the decision was prompted by the landlord deciding to sell the building.”  So this will be the last chance to go to their Halloween event.  I know I will be making it a point to visit them as much as I can before they close (boooo! and I don’t mean the Halloween Boo…).

Halloween Happenings 2013 PDF

Superhero 5k Run

Harvard Scare

Halloween at CambridgeSide Galleria

http://www.cambridgesidegalleria.com/events

Halloween Stories at the Curious George Store

http://thecuriousgeorgestore.com/shop1/index.php/calendar

Nashoba Witches Wood

Upstairs on the Square Annual Halloween Party

Halloween Events at the Brattle Theatre

Gorefest:  Macabr-et at ImprovBoston

The Middle East Halloween EDM Dance Party put on by Throwed for the 18 and over crowd.

Cambridge Brewing Company’s Great Pumpkin Festival – This sadly may already be sold out…apparently it was so popular it needed to be changed to a ticketed event.  We’ll try to get this out sooner next year…

Cambridge Historical Ghost Tours

Cirque of the Dead at Club Oberon

Cambridge Haunts more ghost tours

Mystery Lounge October Shows

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

If you want to include your Cambridge Area Halloween event on our annual list please feel free to contact us.

The post Cambridge Halloween Events Update 2013 first appeared on Cambridge News - DirectoryofCambridge.

As most people in the Boston area are, we were wondering if there will be any changes to this year’s event given the Boston Marathon.  Mr. Frederick Schloch who is executive director of the Head of the Charles mentions increased security and police presence similar to what happened at the July 4th event on the Charles.  He was on NECN mainly discussing the long term sponsorship of BNY Mellon.  We were not able to find out much more than that and that is probably a good thing. We would  recommend packing light in case your bags get a thorough searching.  Business as usual with a heightened awareness is the way to go.  Let’s remain “Boston Strong“.

Whether you like rowing or not spending time on the Charles River on these last few weeks before we get hit with colder and snowier weather is great family fun.  There are vendors not just along the river on both sides but also in Harvard Square.  My son and I love photography and he was my assistant last year getting photos of all the action.  We put the slide show video together that we included above.

For details regarding event logistics the main HOCR.org website is great.  It has a whole section for spectators.  We also have some posts from previous years that may be helpful and will give you more of an idea of what the races are like if you have never attended.  They should be referenced below.

Enjoy the Races!

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The details from the Harvard Square.com release are below:

8th Annual HONK! Parade featuring 24 outrageous and energetic marching bands, hailing from 12 states and 3 countries!

 

6 stages of musical entertainment – country, rock, folk, pop, world, Latin and more – something for everyone!

 

50+ food vendors selling delectable festival fare and authentic international cuisine!

 

1 hot air balloon in Cambridge Common providing panoramic views of the festival and Cambridge!

 

150+ stalls of unique crafts, vintage items, artwork and one-of-a-kind gifts!

 

4 festive beer gardens hosted by Grafton Street, FiRE +iCE, John Harvard’s Brewery & Ale House, and Charlie’s Kitchen.

 

6 hours of merriment and dancing in the streets!

The above video is from McAlister Drive’s performance of City Breathing in 2011.

More on OktoberFest in Harvard Square.

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Fashion and Science seem to be an odd combination but in usual Cambridge form the MIT Media Lab is showing that combining both can bring advances to the fashion industry.  Boston Fashion Week is officially starting on Friday and in what seems to be one of 2 Cambridge located events the MIT Media Lab is hoping to explore how technology can interact with art to produce:

more moving, interactive, personal and immersive experiences than ever before.

The other Cambridge based event will be at Flat Top Johnny’s in Kendall Square.  That event will be a more traditional fashion show showcasing Dawnamatrix Designs and Ashley Rose Couture.  Check out the Boston Fashion Week site for more details.  Please keep in mind that both these events are not free so you have to buy tickets.

Other events on the science side this weekend are 2 events that were rescheduled from the Cambridge Science Festival due to the Boston Marathon attacks.  Both on Sunday Rocket Day takes place at Danehy Park.  This is a free event where you can build and launch rockets.  You do need to bring a 2 or 1 liter bottle and a tennis ball in order to participate.  The other event later in the day is the Living in the Future event at the MIT Museum.  This is their description:

Flying cars? Talking holograms? How do today’s technologies reflect what we’ve seen on the big screen? Sit back, grab some pizza and popcorn, and enjoy short clips from the fantastic and futuristic movies of yesterday and today. Then, hear from scientists and inventors, including Anna Dietrich from Terrafugia, Rana el Kaliouby from Affectiva, and Peter Dilworth from 3Doodler about how close we are to realizing Hollywood’s hopes for the future! Learn about the real life technology that may or may not take us back to the future.

This is a great event to tie in something that kids like “cool futuristic movies” with the science behind what might be developed in the here and now.

As a closing note please don’t forget that this Saturday is Free Museum Day and as usual you can can get free passes to many of Cambridge’s museums including the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.  You just need to get the tickets in advance at the Smithsonian website.

The highlighted video above is an overview of what the MIT Media Lab is all about.

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Two annual traditions take place with a great focus on Family Fun.  The Danehy Park Family Day takes place tomorrow.  This event takes advantage of the huge park in North Cambridge.

Enjoy a fun-filled day of children’s amusement rides, arts and crafts, music and roving performers, plus free hot dogs, chips, sodas and T-shirts while supplies last! Check out performances throughout the day at the children’s stage.  Other special giveaways include colorful kites that appeal to kids of all ages! The rain date is Sunday, Sept. 22.

Who can turn down free hot dogs?

The second annual tradition taking place is the Revels organization RiverSing Event that welcomes in the Fall.

This year marks Revels RiverSing’s 10th anniversary and includes 5pm pre-show festivities in Harvard Square followed by a puppet-filled parade to the Charles that all can join!  Once at the Weeks Footbridge (at Dewolfe and Mem Drive) there’ll be singing, poetry and more, all starting at 6pm sharp.

It is hard to believe this is the 10th year.  You can prepare yourself for the singing by making sure you download the lyric sheets beforehand.  If your children love to sing this will definitely keep their attention.

The last event we will highlight for this weekend is the Harvard Square Folk Festival.  This is the kickoff year for the event but odds are it will be around many more years since Harvard Square has been such a “folk music hub” since way back.  It will be hosted by Scott Alarik writer of the novel”Revival” which was set in the Cambridge music scene.  To check out the list of performers visit the official announcement.  The performances will take place on Palmer street where you can also end your day with a free outdoor movie Bugs Bunny Superstar.

Here are the links to the events for more details:

Danehy Park Family Day

RiverSing

Harvard Square Folk Festival

Bugs Bunny Superstar OutDoor Movie

Don’t miss these free events!  We have also included a slideshow of last year’s RiverSing above.  Start those vocal exercises now!  La, la, la, la, la, la, laaaa…

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I was not able to physically go to the service but was able to view most of it live on TV.  Whether you are a Biden fan or not our vice-president game a memorable speech which relayed his perspective on loss(he has personal experience losing a child) and his perspective on the question we all ask ourselves when something so inexplicable happens.  Why?

He basically says that “terrorists motives are not just to instill fear in us but to change who we are and what we/the Unites States stands for”.  Besides the basic freedoms given to us in the United States, I believe terrorists underestimate the strength of our resolve.  Not just for our United States ideals (and yes I know we sometimes fall short of these) but also for our value of human life.

I found James Taylor’s song(Shower the People)comforting since it reminds us that every day is a gift and we should never leave our love for others unsaid or undemonstrated.  Rest in peace Officer Sean Collier and to the men and women who keep us safe, Thank You.

Previously I erroneously stated that James Taylor had indicated he is giving the proceeds of sales from his song to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.  It’s actually Neil Diamond who is doing so for the current sales of his Sweet Caroline song that he performed at Fenway.  Both can be downloaded on ITunes…

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A cultural district is a compact, walkable area of a community with a concentration of cultural facilities, activities, and assets. MCC’s Cultural Districts Initiative grew out of an economic stimulus bill passed by the Massachusetts Legislature in 2010. It is designed to help communities attract artists and cultural enterprises, encourage business and job growth, expand tourism, preserve and reuse historic buildings, enhance property values, and foster local cultural development.

Central Square Cultural District, Cambridge

Cambridge’s Central Square Cultural District is home to a mix of small, funky independently-owned shops and creative start-ups, with larger, well-established corporations, all fueled and supported by existing cultural resources such as public art, resident working artists, dynamic cultural organizations, ethnic restaurants, and leading educational institutions like Cambridge College and MIT. Central Square is home to a number of large cultural events, including Cambridge Science Festival, Cambridge River Festival, Central Square World’s Fair and the City Dance Party, together drawing an annual audience to the square in excess of 500,000. Property-owners in the Square are committed to the vision of the District and support attracting new businesses that will maintain a positive balance of size, diversity and industry. The Central Square Cultural District amplifies an authentic, urban neighborhood that is constantly evolving while maintaining a core identity as a unique and eclectic place to live, work and play.

Having worked in Central Square and often walked it’s streets and visited many of businesses and restaurants up and down Mass Ave I am happy to see that Central Square is getting some visibility!  We found a nice video from the Boston Globe that puts a spotlight on Central Square.

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