Special Events in Boston

     In March, the New England Spring Flower Show offers reassurance that winter is nearly over. Held at the Bayside Expo Center, this event is one of the largest and longest-running flower shows in the world and features five acres of exhibits, including some 50 designer gardens.
     Up to 600,000 people attend Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade, a city tradition for more than a century. A week of traditional Celtic music and food--not to mention Harp's Lager and Guinness Extra Stout--leads up to a huge parade on the Sunday after March 17. The 3-hour procession of marching bands, bagpipers and floats is best viewed along Broadway, where parties spill out of the local Irish pubs.
     The Boston Marathon, the city's signature sports event, attracts top long-distance runners and wheelchair participants from around the world. The 26-mile race starts in Hopkinton and ends at Kenmore Square. Runners must meet qualifying times to enter--and they can't take a shortcut on the subway. The marathon runs on the third Monday in April, which coincides with Patriots' Day in Boston. This New England holiday commemorates the Battle of Lexington and Concord and "the shot heard 'round the world." Events along the Freedom Trail include a parade, a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of Paul Revere and a reenactment of his historic ride.
     Come summer, the city celebrates its Colonial and maritime heritage with the six-day Fourth of July festival known as Boston Harborfest. The downtown and waterfront districts host most of the 200 daily activities for this event, including historic reenactments, concerts, boat rides, chowder cook-offs, walking tours and family activities. If you can get near it, the Esplanade along the Charles River is the place to be on the evening of July 4th. You'll have plenty of company as an estimated half-million people attend this annual extravaganza that features the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and one of the nation's top fireworks displays.
     On Dec. 16, 1773, thousands of colonists rallied at the Old South Meeting House to protest a tax on English tea, one of the first political protests in American history. The event is re-created each year at the re-enactment. The first 600 people are allowed inside the meeting house to hear a spirited debate, and a crowd follows the parade to the harbor. The event is free if you're dressed in Colonial garb.
     Theater, opera, ballet, music--the arts are alive in Boston. Nowhere is that more evident than in the annual November concert at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Christmas Tubas features more than 200 portly brass instruments playing your favorite holiday carols.
     The city celebrates New Year's Eve with a festival of the arts. This event kicks off early in the afternoon on December 31 and runs well past midnight. With a schedule of more than 250 theater, film, dance, music and visual art events, you can choose specific offerings or make an entire day and night of it. In the days leading up to New Year's Eve, Copley Square is abuzz with chainsaws as artists compete to carve colossal ice sculptures. High-tech lighting illuminates the works after dark, a stunning sight.
     First Night events at the Hynes Convention Center include the Family Festival where the activities are great fun and geared to children. For instance, what happens when Tchaikovsky, hip-hop and ballet meet onstage? It's called the "Urban Nutcracker," which gets everybody in the place dancing. Around 5 p.m., costumed performers and huge puppets sweep through the downtown streets as part of a Mardi Gras-style procession. The countdown to midnight begins in earnest as thousands gather in Copley Square to ring in the New Year and watch fireworks burst over Boston Harbor.