Mayor Thomas M. Menino and First Lady Angela Menino invite you to the 16th Annual Rose Garden Party on Thursday, June 28, from 5:30 – 8 in the Kelleher Rose Garden, Back Bay Fens. The event features the popular Hats Galore! contest (hat below was designed for this year’s Boston Flower & Garden Show, and would be a smash at the party.) To purchase tickets and learn about sponsorship opportunities, please call 617-635-4032, or visit www.cityofboston.gov/parks.
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy will shed new light on the connections between 19th Century Women Activists and Reformers and the Back Bay Fens on Sunday, May 13. The free guided tour will begin at 1 pm at the Shattuck Visitor Center. For more information, visit www.emeraldnecklace.org.
Join The Emerald Necklace Conservancy on Sunday, May 6, from 1 – 2:30 pm, for a walk with Mr. Olmsted through the Back Bay Fens. This free guided tour will beginning at the Shattuck Visitor Center. For a map and complete information, visit www.emeraldnecklace.org.
Learn more about the history of the Back Bay Fens at a fascinating docent talk on Sunday, January 22, from 1 – 3. Meet at the Emerald Necklace Gatehouse, 125 The Fenway. Free, no reservations required.
Come on a bird walk through the Back Bay Fens , led by Arnold Arboretum’s Marc Devokaitus, on Saturday, November 12, from 8 – 9:30 am, and/or come on a bird walk of Jamaica Pond on Saturday, November 19, from 8 – 10, led by Gerry Wright of Jamaica Pond Boathouse. Free, but please rsvp to projectassistant@emeraldnecklace.org for information on the assembly site.
Mrs. Angela Menino and Commissioner Antonia Pollak cordially invite you to the 15th Annual Rose Garden Party to benefit Park ARTS on Thursday, June 16, from 5:30 – 8:00 at The Rose Garden, Back Bay Fens, Boston. Garden party attire is enthusiastically encouraged – pictured below is the queen of the garden party hat, none other than HRH Queen Elizabeth II, not currently scheduled to attend (thank you www.telegraph.co.uk.) Wear a hat to enter the Hats Galore! contest, where judges will choose their favorites in the following categories: Best Garden Party Hat, Most Creative Hat, Most Elegant Hat, and Just for Men Hat. This year’s event is generously supported by the Boston Pops. Individual tickets $125, or be a sponsor at $500, or patron at $1,500. To reserve and make credit card payment by telephone, call 617-961-3039, or send a check made payable to The Fund for Parks & Recreation: Park ARTS, and mail to the Rose Garden Party Committee c/o Boston Parks and Recreation Department, 1010 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02118. Parking will be available on Park Drive and Agassiz Drive, and there will be Boston Park Rangers to direct you.
The Arnold Arboretum, in conjunction with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, will offer an evening of film and discussion on Thursday, May 12 in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum, from 7 – 8:30 pm. The documentary The Olmsted Legacy: America’s Urban Parks explores the formation of America’s great city parks, including Boston’s own Emerald Necklace, through the eyes of 19th Century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.  The film traces the life of Olmsted: his early struggles in school. his personal tragedies and his unorthodox career path. Olmsted and his firm carried out more than 500 commissions, nearly 100 of which were public parks. His work includes the linear park system that stretches from the Back Bay Fens to Franklin Park known as the Emerald Necklace. A Q & A session will follow the screening. For more information on the documentary, visit www.theolmstedlegacy.org. The admission fee is $10, and you may sign up by logging in to www.my.arboretum.harvard.edu.
Celebrate the grand opening of the Emerald Necklace Visitor Center at 125 The Fenway, Boston, on Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1. All events are free and open to the public. At noon, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will cut the ribbon along with special guests. From noon until 3:30, a very special Art in Bloom floral arrangement inspired by the Back Bay Fens will be on display, courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. From 12:30 until 2, Gerry Wright will appear in his “other” persona, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the Park Rangers Mounted Unit “Adopt a Horse” program will be featured. At 2, 2:30 and 3, there will be screenings of Stories from the Emerald Necklace, a documentary film depicting the variety of visitor stories found in the Necklace. Also, between 12:30 and 1:15, artist Dustan Knight will talk about the creative process as Dustan works in watercolors to capture the special Art in Bloom floral arrangement on paper.
From 12:45 – 3 pm, you may meet the gardeners at the Fenway Victory Gardens and visit the newly renovated Special Needs Garden, as well as participate in hands-on workshops. From 1 – 2:30, Alan Banks, Supervisory Park Ranger, will lead an interpretive walk through the Back Bay Fens beginning at the Visitor Center entitled “Garden in the Machine.” For the athletes, join a fun run with 3, 5 and 7 mile options led by Mark Lowenstein, author of Great Runs in Boston, with a route starting at the Visitor Center, continuing along the Necklace out to Jamaica Pond, and returning to the Visitor Center, starting at 1:15 pm.
Over at the Wentworth Institute, Frederick Law Olmsted, a one-man play written by performed by Gerry Wright, will begin at 3 pm, followed by a short reception, and at 4:30, in the same venue, there will be a screening of The Olmsted Legacy: America’s Urban Parks documentary. If you prefer, at 3 pm you may join Conservancy president Julie Crockford and City Councilor Mike Ross for a bike ride to Franklin park, and stay for the 4 pm Weeds as Feed walk led by a Franklin Park coalition naturalist. For complete times and directions, log on to www.emeraldnecklace.org/visitorcentergrandopening/.
The Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay has informed us of a Petition to Support H. 1169, An Act Protecting Sunlight in Certain Public Parks, sponsored by Representatives Martha Walz and Byron Rushing. To read the bill, go to www.malegislature.gov/Bills/187/House/H01169. This bill seeks to expand and clarify the current laws that protect the sunlight on the beloved Boston Public Garden and the Boston Common by limiting new shadows. Specifically, the bill would prohibit any new construction or building remodeling from blocking sunlight and casting new shadows on six additional public parks. The goal of the bill is to allow reasonably-scaled development near the parks while protecting sufficient sunlight for the health of the park environment and the enjoyment of its users.
The five Boston parks and one Cambridge park will be protected by the bill are:
* The Back Bay Fens
* Christopher Columbus Park
* The Commonwealth Avenue Mall
* Copley Square Park
* The Esplanade
* Magazine Beach Park
You can sign the petition immediately (through May 22) by logging in to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/sunlight2. However, if you have already signed the petition, please do not do so again. If you have any questions concerning this legislation, you may email Sue Prindle at sprindl@verizon.net. Photo from www.gardenvoice.com.
The Fenway Civic Association hosts a picnic at the Kelleher Rose Garden, Back Bay Fens, from 6 – 8 pm on Tuesday, June 8. There will be entertainment, with live music from The Whiskey Boys, a folk and bluegrass duo, plus dessert and beverages. You bring your own picnic, naturally. The event is free. For more information, log on to www.fenwaycivic.org.
