Mayor Michelle Wu announced Feb. 4 that the City will host a new series of outdoor events called the Boston Winter Express for residents looking for something fun to do over the following weekends.
The Winter Express will take place over four weekends starting Feb. 13. The program is an effort by the Mayor’s office to connect Bostonians together during the pandemic and support local businesses.
“This is an opportunity for us to bring some cold-weather joy to our neighborhoods,” Wu said in the statement. “We are excited to bring communities across our city together safely outside in the wintertime. I invite Boston residents to come join us at these events for family-friendly fun, hot chocolate, and more.”
The festivities will start off with a Lunar New Year celebration this Sunday from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Chinatown Gate. The event will feature food and drinks, free COVID-19 test kits provided by Boston Public Health Commission, free books provided by Boston Public Library and the “City Hall To Go” truck.
Bladar Velic, a freshman at Northeastern University, said he thinks the Boston Winter Express is “a good idea.”
“I am positive towards it,” Velic said. “I think community outreach and engagement is a very important thing for a government to have.”
Rob Barella, a landscape architect and a member of the Boston Society of Landscape Architects, took a leading role in developing the Winter Express pop up kit.
“This whole project is just a prototype of winter placemaking,” Barella said. “And we’re trying to build this kit that can be deployed in different neighborhoods and in doing so, it’s kind of activating our outdoor spaces during the winter months.”
The City said each pop-up location will include winter lighting, warm seating, music performances, along with hot drinks provided by local restaurants.
“Especially in the winter time, we have all these really wonderful outdoor places, but during the colder months, people are less likely to venture out to the cold weather,” Barella said. “Part of this project in general is to try making people want to visit the spaces.”
Barella explained the placemaking program is “helping the community” in a bigger picture.
“In doing so, you’re giving people more reason to get together and populating these outdoor spaces, which then in turn relate to local businesses where people are outside, people might be more willing to take lunch at a place or other small businesses,” Barella said.
The City will also collaborate with Fields Corner Main Streets — one of twenty Main Street organizations established by the City — to connect local businesses and Bostonians.
Jackey West Devine, executive director of FCMS, said she is “excited” to organize events to bring warmth and entertainment to the public.
Devine said they will invite three local restaurants — Coco Leaf, My Sister’s Crawfish III and The Blarney Stone — to provide food for the visitors during the weekend starting March 4.
The Boston Winter Express will be entirely outdoors and residents are encouraged but not required to wear masks.
Barella added that despite the obstacles created by COVID-19, the program focuses on using outdoor space to bring “that sense of fun and playful kind of interaction” to the community.
“That’s kind of my hope is just kind of showing a different idea on how events don’t just have to be programmed during the summer,” Barella said. “You can do plenty of really fun things outside during the winter.”
