Let the Skating Begin!

Right about now, my favorite winter sport starts all over Boston - ice skating. No need to have any fancy equipment, super warm outfits or crazy skills. No need to rent a car and drive out to some mountains and get a chalet. You can go skating right here in Boston. Or Cambridge, or JP, or wherever!

For a full list of city-owned rinks check out the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Most are free entry and offer cheap rentals, like Stony Brook's $2 skates. Unfortunately, you are no longer allowed to skate on the Jamaica Pond as this old-timey picture shows.

Kendall Square Rink Opening Party Saturday 11 AM - 9 PM

Free entry to the rink, ice show at 2 PM and free refreshments, which I'm hoping means hot chocolate and cookies.

Charles Hotel Rink Opening Party Sunday 12 -6 PM

This was supposed to be last week, but it was too warm. What's going on New England? So here's your chance - free performances at noon, free skating and rentals all day.

College Night at the Frog Pond Tuesday 5 - 9 PM

The Common's Frog Pond freezes over every winter to make the most picturesque, though pricey, skating spot. Tuesdays those with a college ID get a break - just $2 entry. Now where did I put that old ID?

There's a ton more going on this weekend - I Love Latkes Party in Harvard Square, Illumination Tour of Somerville, Battle of the Belgians at City Feed, Caroling Mob in JP - so check out the full calendar at the bottom of the site.

Two Christmas Events and a Soccer Match

While it gets darker and darker earlier and earlier, at least you can light up the night with these events. And just to throw a curveball, one really good looking soccer watching party this weekend.

Beacon Hill Holiday Stroll

Thursday 6-9 PM

Beacon Hill already has that quite perfect colonial Christmas feel. Combine that with Victorian carolers, brass bands, buggy rides and you've got quite a holiday feast. Shops will be luring you in with free drinks and food. So just go straight here from the office for a free dinner.

Ice Chimes on the Greenway

Thursday 6-7 PM

Now that the highway is gone, there's been tons of great public art going on on the Rose Kennedy Greenway. (Anyone catch the hammock?) Now they're unveiling Ice Chimes which apparently will make rain and snow stick to it, forming icicles. As icicles grow, they will cause the chimes to sound. Interesting, but have any icicles formed yet? Websites say there's a reception and a nightcap at Vintage Lounge afterwards. While the art is free, I have a feeling the nightcap is not.

Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona

Saturday 3:30-6PM

Hey soccer fans out there! Twice a year Madrid plays Barcelona and this is nothing true football fans want to miss - El Clasico. Join the MIT Spanish Club to watch the game at the Thirsty Ear Pub on the MIT campus. Looks open to us regular folk. Free treats like Jamon serrano and queso. Buy your own drinks, unless there are some happy drunk FC Barcelona fans that you can get to buy you a round when they win.

As always, these events and more on the Beantown on the Cheap Calendar, just scroll to the bottom of the site.

Pass it on!

Sometimes you score something free and you don't want to share it. Like raiding that awesome lesbian wardrobe at the end of the day of a yard sale. Or a free lunch. Or a ticket to see an REM's last concert.

But the Beantown on the Cheap blog? Share that thing! There's enough free events to go around. And get this, free events are even more fun when you share.

So share, share away. Two ways to subscibe: tell folks to email me at lindymegan@gmail.com or go to site Beantown on the Cheap and type in your email in the box.

Have fun and stay cheap,

Megan

The Festival Season goes out with a bang!

Warm weather has lingered and so has festival season. This is about the last really great weekend of outdoor events. As the weather retreats inside, so does the fun. But while it's still 70 and (hopefully) sunny - let's party!

Honk Fest Friday - Sunday

This festival is for all of us recovering high-school marching band members - and all lovers of brass, music, funky costumes and dancing in the street. The event spans three days and goes all over Somerville, centered around Davis, and down to . . .

Harvard Square Oktoberfest and Honk Parade Sunday 12 - 6 PM

Honk Fest's finale is a parade down Mass Ave., all the way from Davis down to Harvard Square. This is your chance to see all the Honk bands at once and soak up a bit of the gemuchlichkeit of the German street festival.

Boston Local Food Fest Saturday 11 AM - 5 PM

Best outdoor food fest hands-down. All local, all free. Almost 100 vendors dishing out samples of delectable delights. Demos of things like making mozzerella and *gulp* butchering a pig. It all goes down on the Fort Point channel waterfront and to boot, it's a zero-waste event.

Somerville Oktoberfest Sunday 12 -6 PM

Somerville gets in on the Oktoberfest action. Much more German than the Harvard Square event. Here you'll be able to get sauerkraut and bratwurst. No Honk bands, but you'll catch some of New England's finest leiderhosen-wearing oom-pah bands.

**Bonus Tip: Restaurant.com is having a 90% off sale. Today only!

Events Galore

Need something to do this weekend? Never fear . . .

What the Fluff? Saturday 3:00-7:00 PM

Union Square's biggest event of the year. A celebration of all things Fluff. Yup. That white marshmellowy stuff you put on sandwiches when you were little. Contests and costumes galore.

JP Open Studios Saturday and Sunday 11:00 AM-6:00 PM

It's no secret that Jamaica Plain is filled with artists and this weekend, they whip it all out for a two-day long feast of art .

Most studios are people's apartments and nearly everyone offers free food and booze. The best galleries are in the industrial building on your right if you're walking South on Green Street from the T.

Smithsonian Free Museum Weekend Saturday All Day

Smithsonian Museums are always free, but they're in DC, so how does that help? But one day a year, hundreds of museums across the country go Smithsonian-style - Free! Pick out the museum you want to go to and print out your ticket today. I recommend tickets for the normally pricey MFA and Mapparium (Mary Baker Eddy Library).

As always, scroll to the bottom of my page for a full calendar.

The Bard in the Park

There's no better place to see Shakespeare than outdoors. When the Bard is performed outside, the setting's the thing.

I have vivid memories of when I was young seeing All's Well that Ends Well in an open air barn in New Hampshire, with a lightening storm raging all around us. In Newport, Julius Caesar, became super eerie as the sun set and a fog rolled in. And my first week in college at NYU, my room mate and I walked down to Chinatown to see Shakespeare in the Parkinglot, which was interrupted by oblivious residents walking through.

Now it's time to make your own memories. Here's your chance to see Shakespeare outside this summer in Boston.

This year's Shakespeare on the Common debuts with All's Well That Ends Well. Pick up a picnic dinner at Bina Alimentari, disguise your drinks, bring a chair or blanket to sit on and settle in early to get a good view.

Showtime is at 8PM Tuesday through Saturday and 7PM Sunday, right in the middle of the Common.

In addition, the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company will be traveling to parks all over Boston to put on scenes of the Bard. Catch them July 31 at 5pm on the North End waterfront; August 6 2pm on the Common or August 13 with circus performers at 2pm on the Common.

And of course, all this is free.

Walk-in Movie Theaters

Boston's parks and playgrounds turn into movie theaters all summer. Just about every night you can find someplace with a free film playing. It's always cool to just show up on a whim, but even better to pack yourself a picnic, have a blanket in tow and stow away some beers.

Catch your free flicks this summer at these places. Make sure to check the calendar at the bottom of the page for full listings. Movies typically start at sundown.

Somerville Thursday

Movie for the masses shown at a different Somerville Park every week. Hankering for some Karate Kid or Twilight Saga? It's hard to tell who picked this series of strangely diverse blockbusters.

Jamaica Pond Sunday

Some weeks it's live music or Shakespeare and some movies. Really all I have to do is walk a block away, so it's all good to me. Plus, Toy Story 3 has been on my list for a while. Wonder if brown-bagging is acceptable in JP . . .

Harbor Hotel Friday

The classiest movies of the bunch. The Boston Harbor Hotel shows mostly classic films like An Affair to Remember outside on the waterfront.

Hatch Shell Friday

You can't beat the great Charles-Riverfront setting of the Hatch Shell. The movie selection is excellent (despite the showing of Daddy Daycare for Father's Day we biked by last week). It's mostly kids movies made with adults in mind - things like Despicable ME and Tangled.

The Pru Saturday

Well, gosh, you have about zero excuses not to see Toy Story 3, cause here's another free outdoor showing. Also, they've got Gnomeo & Juliet which got a great review on NPR's Fresh Air.