Tag: Easter sunday

What’s Happening Around Boston in April 2015
April is a busy month with the Boston Marathon and other events making hotel rooms expensive and restaurant reservations scarce.

Easter Sunday April 4th & Passover April 4th-11th

On Easter Sunday, you'll find special menus in many restaurants. If you have suggestions for places not doing this or alternative dining suggestions for Easter, please add them. And, Passover is a great time to enjoy some of the special kosher foods that are easier to find at this time.

Related BostonZest Post: Where to Dine in Boston on Easter, April 5, 2015

Do you have a favorite place to buy chocolate for Easter Baskets?

Patriots Day Weekend/Boston Marathon & other BAA races 18th to the 20th

The Boston Athletic Association is expecting 30,000 runners and half a million spectators for the Marathon on April 20th. There are other races and marathon related events all weekend.

There will be road closures and changes in MBTA routes surrounding the Marathon course. Here are some links to information on those aspects of the race.

If you need to get somewhere on Marathon Monday – before the roads close – try to place yourself on the side of the course that will allow you to get where you're going.

Related Posts: A collection of tips for Marathon Weekend, some from past years, that we'll be updating between now and Marathon Monday.
Other Events

For a long list of events for people with varied tastes, check out The Boston Calendar for April 2015.

For free and budget events, follow along with Kate from Boston On Budget.

For a curated list of historic events, you can depend on historian Liz Covart.
- April 1st – New Food Truck Schedules go into effect with a few new trucks and new spots for some of your old favorites.
- April 3-5 is the Anime Boston event at the Hynes Convention Center. This is a fun time to walk the area and take photos of the people dressed as their favorite characters. Most of them love to pose. If you're in town for some other reason, this is just a short lived event, not how Bostonians dress.
- April 18 – Greenway Spring Food Festival: Noon to 4:00 p.m. Some of our favorite food trucks will be on hand.
- April 18 – The Swan Boats will sail out from under the bridge onto the Boston Public Garden Lagoon
- April 26 – 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. - Fresh Paint, Sunday! "View Copley Society artist members at work creating their "fresh" canvases around the city."
Who Are all These Conventioneers?

Here are the dates of conventions that will impact hotel pricing and availability:
- April 9-10 – Boston National College Fair, estimated attendees – 15,000
- April 16-18 – National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Annual Meeting 2015, estimated attendees – 17,000
- April 29-May 2 – American College of Physicians Internal Medicine 2015, estimated attendees - 7,000
Graduation Season kicks off on April 25th

Every year, we publish a list of the spring graduation dates that make hotel and restaurant reservations harder to find in the weeks ahead. This year, we've added Wentworth Institute of Technology on April 25, 2015. If you need restaurant reservations or hotel rooms for friends and family from that date to June 5th, make them now.

You're up Next

What are your favorite April events or things you look forward to doing in Boston in April? Add your thoughts in the comments below. Tweet them to @BostonZest or send us an email and we'll add your suggestions to this post as an update.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012-2015 Penny & Ed Cherubino (graduation caps are from istockphoto.com)
.

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Make Your Spring Reservations, Here Are Reasons to Do It Now!

Do you have a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary that you'd like to celebrate at an area restaurant in the next couple of months? Or, do you have family or friends coming to Boston who need hotel and restaurant reservations? Were you hoping to dine out on Easter Sunday or Mother's Day?

If so, put "Make Reservations" at the top of your to-do list this week.

Why?

Because Boston is expecting a lot of visitors between now and mid-June. Here are some of the dates when you will be competing with big crowds here for graduations, conventions, or events.

Graduation Season

Each year, we publish a calendar of the area's major college commencements and graduations. Here's a link to this year's edition.

Boston Area Commencement Dates, Spring 2014

This list runs from May 4th to June 6th with a blockbuster weekend hosting eleven commencements between May 17-19th. Many visitors are shocked at the price of hotel rooms during our commencement season and are having difficulty reserving tables for family meals during this time.

Events

March 15-17, Saint Patrick's Day Weekend – If the questions over on Trip Advisor are any indication, visitors from the UK come to Boston to join in our festivities. As always, this is on March 17th when a strange holiday called Evacuation Day was created that just happens to coincide with a desired date for celebration. With the 17th on a Monday, plans for a long weekend of green beer are on more than a few calendars. (Plus two conventions noted below.)

April 18-21, Patriots' Day Weekend will host the largest Boston Marathon in years with an official field of 36,000 runners and an estimate of twice the traditional half-million spectators.

This is also a weekend of other BAA races as well as sporting events elsewhere in the city. Some locals look forward to this annual happening, others will leave the city until it's over. Oh, and it's also Easter Sunday this year!

May 11, Mother's Day is always a day with a shortage of reservations since it happens during our graduation season. There are five schools holding commencement that weekend.

May 24-26, Memorial Day Weekend is a traditional time to open summer homes and perhaps enjoy a first summer weekend away. If you want the best choice of hotel, Zipcar, or to be assured of a table at your favorite restaurant in places from Portland, Maine to Provincetown, reserve soon.

Move-Out Season – Many of the two hundred thousand plus students will be moving out of Boston in late May and early June. In some neighborhoods, this is a major event impacting traffic, parking, and trash collection.

Conventions

Spring is also a time for large conventions in Boston. Here are a few dates when 10,000 people or more will be added to the city's population. Fortunately, many of these large events are out in the Seaport District and will not impact most residents. A few are at the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay and will be more noticeable.

March 16-18, two conventions in the Seaport District are expecting 26,000 attendees. This is also Saint Patrick's Day Weekend so it will make a difference throughout the city.

March 21-23, the Anime Boston event at the Hynes will have colorful characters roaming the Back Bay and scattered throughout Boston. There is also a a smaller convention in the Seaport District for a total of 25,000 attendees.

April 3-5: 20,000 in the Seaport District

May 1: 16,000 in the Seaport District

May 8-10: 15,000 in the Seaport District

May 18: 11,000 in the Seaport District

June 8: 13,000 in the Seaport District

Then, we switch to summer tourists with the next big convention in October.

Don't Forget

You may need reservations for a pet sitter or childcare so get that underway too.

If you travel on the MBTA, use UBER, or taxis, some of these events will have a big impact on those means of travel with crowded trains and shortages of cars and taxis.

All these visitors will also give you a wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the world. If you see someone who seems to be in need of help or looks lost, be a good host and offer a hand.

When you see a group posing for photos, offer to take one of the entire gang. It only takes a minute, but gives the visitors a great memory of both the photo and the friendly Bostonian.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: (Crowd scene iStockphoto), (Marathon & Tourists © 2012-2014 Penny Cherubino), (Anime photo from the Weekly Dig used under this creative common's license.)

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Make Your Spring Reservations, Here Are Reasons to Do It Now!

Do you have a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary that you'd like to celebrate at an area restaurant in the next couple of months? Or, do you have family or friends coming to Boston who need hotel and restaurant reservations? Were you hoping to dine out on Easter Sunday or Mother's Day?

If so, put "Make Reservations" at the top of your to-do list this week.

Why?

Because Boston is expecting a lot of visitors between now and mid-June. Here are some of the dates when you will be competing with big crowds here for graduations, conventions, or events.

Graduation Season

Each year, we publish a calendar of the area's major college commencements and graduations. Here's a link to this year's edition.

Boston Area Commencement Dates, Spring 2014

This list runs from May 4th to June 6th with a blockbuster weekend hosting eleven commencements between May 17-19th. Many visitors are shocked at the price of hotel rooms during our commencement season and are having difficulty reserving tables for family meals during this time.

Events

March 15-17, Saint Patrick's Day Weekend – If the questions over on Trip Advisor are any indication, visitors from the UK come to Boston to join in our festivities. As always, this is on March 17th when a strange holiday called Evacuation Day was created that just happens to coincide with a desired date for celebration. With the 17th on a Monday, plans for a long weekend of green beer are on more than a few calendars. (Plus two conventions noted below.)

April 18-21, Patriots' Day Weekend will host the largest Boston Marathon in years with an official field of 36,000 runners and an estimate of twice the traditional half-million spectators.

This is also a weekend of other BAA races as well as sporting events elsewhere in the city. Some locals look forward to this annual happening, others will leave the city until it's over. Oh, and it's also Easter Sunday this year!

May 11, Mother's Day is always a day with a shortage of reservations since it happens during our graduation season. There are five schools holding commencement that weekend.

May 24-26, Memorial Day Weekend is a traditional time to open summer homes and perhaps enjoy a first summer weekend away. If you want the best choice of hotel, Zipcar, or to be assured of a table at your favorite restaurant in places from Portland, Maine to Provincetown, reserve soon.

Move-Out Season – Many of the two hundred thousand plus students will be moving out of Boston in late May and early June. In some neighborhoods, this is a major event impacting traffic, parking, and trash collection.

Conventions

Spring is also a time for large conventions in Boston. Here are a few dates when 10,000 people or more will be added to the city's population. Fortunately, many of these large events are out in the Seaport District and will not impact most residents. A few are at the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay and will be more noticeable.

March 16-18, two conventions in the Seaport District are expecting 26,000 attendees. This is also Saint Patrick's Day Weekend so it will make a difference throughout the city.

March 21-23, the Anime Boston event at the Hynes will have colorful characters roaming the Back Bay and scattered throughout Boston. There is also a a smaller convention in the Seaport District for a total of 25,000 attendees.

April 3-5: 20,000 in the Seaport District

May 1: 16,000 in the Seaport District

May 8-10: 15,000 in the Seaport District

May 18: 11,000 in the Seaport District

June 8: 13,000 in the Seaport District

Then, we switch to summer tourists with the next big convention in October.

Don't Forget

You may need reservations for a pet sitter or childcare so get that underway too.

If you travel on the MBTA, use UBER, or taxis, some of these events will have a big impact on those means of travel with crowded trains and shortages of cars and taxis.

All these visitors will also give you a wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the world. If you see someone who seems to be in need of help or looks lost, be a good host and offer a hand.

When you see a group posing for photos, offer to take one of the entire gang. It only takes a minute, but gives the visitors a great memory of both the photo and the friendly Bostonian.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: (Crowd scene iStockphoto), (Marathon & Tourists © 2012-2014 Penny Cherubino), (Anime photo from the Weekly Dig used under this creative common's license.)

Related articles

Boston Area Commencement Dates, Spring 2014

Mother's Day Dining 2013, Reserve Now for May 12th!

6 ways to cure the winter blues this March

March 10, 2014
Make Your Spring Reservations, Here Are Reasons to Do It Now!

Do you have a special occasion like a birthday or anniversary that you'd like to celebrate at an area restaurant in the next couple of months? Or, do you have family or friends coming to Boston who need hotel and restaurant reservations? Were you hoping to dine out on Easter Sunday or Mother's Day?

If so, put "Make Reservations" at the top of your to-do list this week.

Why?

Because Boston is expecting a lot of visitors between now and mid-June. Here are some of the dates when you will be competing with big crowds here for graduations, conventions, or events.

Graduation Season

Each year, we publish a calendar of the area's major college commencements and graduations. Here's a link to this year's edition.

Boston Area Commencement Dates, Spring 2014

This list runs from May 4th to June 6th with a blockbuster weekend hosting eleven commencements between May 17-19th. Many visitors are shocked at the price of hotel rooms during our commencement season and are having difficulty reserving tables for family meals during this time.

Events

March 15-17, Saint Patrick's Day Weekend – If the questions over on Trip Advisor are any indication, visitors from the UK come to Boston to join in our festivities. As always, this is on March 17th when a strange holiday called Evacuation Day was created that just happens to coincide with a desired date for celebration. With the 17th on a Monday, plans for a long weekend of green beer are on more than a few calendars. (Plus two conventions noted below.)

April 18-21, Patriots' Day Weekend will host the largest Boston Marathon in years with an official field of 36,000 runners and an estimate of twice the traditional half-million spectators.

This is also a weekend of other BAA races as well as sporting events elsewhere in the city. Some locals look forward to this annual happening, others will leave the city until it's over. Oh, and it's also Easter Sunday this year!

May 11, Mother's Day is always a day with a shortage of reservations since it happens during our graduation season. There are five schools holding commencement that weekend.

May 24-26, Memorial Day Weekend is a traditional time to open summer homes and perhaps enjoy a first summer weekend away. If you want the best choice of hotel, Zipcar, or to be assured of a table at your favorite restaurant in places from Portland, Maine to Provincetown, reserve soon.

Move-Out Season – Many of the two hundred thousand plus students will be moving out of Boston in late May and early June. In some neighborhoods, this is a major event impacting traffic, parking, and trash collection.

Conventions

Spring is also a time for large conventions in Boston. Here are a few dates when 10,000 people or more will be added to the city's population. Fortunately, many of these large events are out in the Seaport District and will not impact most residents. A few are at the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay and will be more noticeable.

March 16-18, two conventions in the Seaport District are expecting 26,000 attendees. This is also Saint Patrick's Day Weekend so it will make a difference throughout the city.

March 21-23, the Anime Boston event at the Hynes will have colorful characters roaming the Back Bay and scattered throughout Boston. There is also a a smaller convention in the Seaport District for a total of 25,000 attendees.

April 3-5: 20,000 in the Seaport District

May 1: 16,000 in the Seaport District

May 8-10: 15,000 in the Seaport District

May 18: 11,000 in the Seaport District

June 8: 13,000 in the Seaport District

Then, we switch to summer tourists with the next big convention in October.

Don't Forget

You may need reservations for a pet sitter or childcare so get that underway too.

If you travel on the MBTA, use UBER, or taxis, some of these events will have a big impact on those means of travel with crowded trains and shortages of cars and taxis.

All these visitors will also give you a wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the world. If you see someone who seems to be in need of help or looks lost, be a good host and offer a hand.

When you see a group posing for photos, offer to take one of the entire gang. It only takes a minute, but gives the visitors a great memory of both the photo and the friendly Bostonian.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: (Crowd scene iStockphoto), (Marathon & Tourists © 2012-2014 Penny Cherubino), (Anime photo from the Weekly Dig used under this creative common's license.)

Related articles

Boston Area Commencement Dates, Spring 2014

Mother's Day Dining 2013, Reserve Now for May 12th!

6 ways to cure the winter blues this March

March 10, 2014