Your Boston Weekend: June 11-13

Published June 11, 2010

Take your dog for a cruise in Boston Harbor this weekend (Courtesy of City Water Taxi)

With so much going on in Boston every weekend, how does the culture lover choose, or even find, the best of what Beantown has to offer? Let Hubbub do some of the sleuthing for you.

Boston’s Pride Week turns 40, the sailboats get some fierce competition on the Charles, and the Harbor Islands open their arms (and grassy expanses) to man’s best friend. Whether you want to be in the streets or on the water, there’s something for everyone.

SHOP
TJ Douglas and wife Hadley, owners of The Urban Grape (Photo Courtesy of Urbangrape.com)

TJ Douglas and wife Hadley, owners of The Urban Grape (Photo Courtesy of Urbangrape.com)

The Urban Grape Opening

  • June 12
  • 7 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill

Cheers, it’s the weekend! Pick up a bottle from Chestnut Hill’s newest wine shop, which stocks over 850 bottles of biodynamic, organic and kosher wine in addition to craft beer, liquor and sake. The store will also be featuring weekly tweets from @UrbanGrape every Tuesday, which will announce the staff’s favorite wines of the week to the twittersphere and offer them up at a 20% discount until Saturday.

DO

Boston Harbor Islands Dog Cruise

  • June 12, 11a.m.
  • Departs from Long Wharf by Columbus Park
  • $35/Person, Dogs and kids free

If you’re going to experience the beauty of Boston’s Harbor Islands, bring your best friend along — your dog. Every Saturday starting this weekend, your pooch is invited to romp and play on one of the islands after a 25-minute cruise. The only request is that your hound is socially well-adjusted — no barking or fighting on board, please.


H+ Summit

  • June 12 to 13, 8a.m. to 5:30p.m.
  • Harvard University Science Center, One Oxford St.

Wondering what the iPad, the Kindle, the Droid, and the next new gadget are doing to us? Then stop by the H+ Summit, a two day event that explores how humanity will be radically changed by technology in the near future. Speakers such as Robert Tercek, the president of digital media for the Oprah Winfrey Network and Ed Boyden, a professor at the MIT Media Lab will explore the potential of technology to change our world, for better or for worse.


The 40th Annual Pride Parade

Celebrate and support Boston’s LGBT community at the 40th annual Pride Parade, which begins on Tremont Street between Berkeley Street and Rutland Street and runs through the city to finish up with a festival at City Hall Plaza.


LISTEN

Gospel Night at The Boston Pops

  • Saturday, June 12, 8 p.m.
  • Boston Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave.
  • $20-$89

Boston Pops conductor Charles Floyd, American Idol’s Melinda Doolittle and the Boston Pops Gospel Choir get soulful this weekend with their ever-popular Gospel Night. Don’t miss this down-home gospel church feel right in the heart of Boston.


Get your guitar on at Boston's 5th Annual Guitar Fest (Mickey G. Ottawa/Flickr)

Get your guitar on at Boston's 5th Annual Guitar Fest (Mickey G. Ottawa/Flickr)

Boston Guitar Fest

  • Wednesday through Sunday, June 13
  • New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Ave.
  • $10-$35, $75 for a day pass

A five-day long, one stop shop for all things guitar, the 5th annual Boston Guitar Fest features ongoing afternoon concerts, master classes, seminars and of course, friendly competitions — or, as I like to think of them, “guitar-offs.”


SEE

Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival

  • Sunday, June 13, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Charles River
  • Free

In case you were getting bored of the whole sailboat scene, this weekend will bring dragon boats (yep, that’s right) to the Charles. Watch the races in the morning, and head down Memorial Drive for arts and crafts, Asian food, Tae Kwon Do demonstrations and more.

The Phoenix Landing in Central Square is all World Cup, all the time for the next month (Photo Courtesy of The Phoenix Landing)

The Phoenix Landing in Central Square is all World Cup, all the time for the next month (Photo Courtesy of The Phoenix Landing)

The FIFA World Cup

The Olympics of soccer kicks off this Friday, as teams from all over the world put down their political differences and pick up their sports rivalries (which are sometimes fiercer). While it’s always nice to watch in the comfort of your own living room, get in the thick of the action at The Phoenix Landing in Central Square, which will be broadcasting the games. You might even see a fist fight over soccer.


The Boston Jewish Film Festival: Encores and More

  • Sunday, June 13, 5:10 p.m.
  • MFA Remis Auditorium, 465 Huntington Ave.
  • Students and seniors, $8; general admission, $10

Fifty years after they met on a 1953 flight to New Zealand — carrying 26 young Dutch brides-to-be to join their already-settled fiancés — three women meet at the funeral of a fellow passenger and discover just how intertwined their lives have been over the past half century. This sweeping melodrama from the director of “Twin Sisters” tells the story of the friends’ friendship, love and passion, the choices they made and the lives they have lived.