Fri, Nov 20
The Move
Where should you go?
We picked our favorites from over 2,000 Boston places. Tell us what you’re up for and we’ll recommend up to three.
Meetups
Screenings, watch parties and nights out with Secret Boston.
-
Sports & social
Morning Touchdown with Secret Boston
Sun, Nov 15, 2026 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Time Out Market Boston
Watch the game with Secret Boston. You don't need to be a sports person, but we love those too. Come to meet people, root for the Pats or spend the morning with some fellow fans.
RSVP → -
Social
Wharf Social with Secret Boston
Thu, Nov 19, 2026 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Night Shift Brewing, Lovejoy Wharf
Cocktails on the wharf with your current and future favorite IG handles. Put faces to usernames and have a little pre-holiday fun.
RSVP → -
SECRET BOSTON MEETUP
Tweed Night at The Haven
Tue, Dec 8, 2026 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
The Haven
Trade the inbox for a proper Scottish pub. Come solo or bring a friend and put some faces to the Secret Boston crew.
RSVP →
Upcoming events in Boston
Wed, Dec 2
Sat, Dec 5
Sat, Dec 5
Get more out of Secret Boston
Become a member
Members-only perks, free and discounted tickets, priority guest lists, access to giveaways 24-hours before anyone else. $9.99 a month or $99 a year. Cancel anytime.
See what members getPlaces to go
-
Mr Bartley’s Burger Cottage
- Casual
- Old-School
-
Aeronaut Brewing Company
- Casual
- Lively
-
Umami Crudo
- Upscale
-
Sarma
- Lively
- Trendy
- Upscale
Guides
20 Boston holiday markets, including one with 175 artists under one roof
Last updated: Saturday, November 7, 2026. We refresh this guide every season, so check back before you head out. Boston’s holiday craft season kicked off Fri, Nov 6, when the Snowport Holiday Market opened at 100 Seaport Blvd, and it doesn’t let up until Christmas Eve. More than 125 makers set up there every day through Sun, Dec 27, with food, cocktail bars and live music, and the general admission line is free. In the South End, the free SoWa Open Market has two Sundays left, Nov 8 and Nov 15, and the SoWa Christmas Market moves indoors on Fri, Nov 20, with more than 100 makers under one roof. Below is every Boston craft fair, makers market and holiday market we could confirm with the organizer, in date order, with the weekend each one falls on. Every listing links straight to the organizer, so you can double-check hours before you go. Open now through Sun, Dec 27 Snowport in the Seaport The Snowport Holiday Market opens Fri, Nov 6 at 100 Seaport Blvd and stays open seven days a week through Sun, Dec 27, with 125+ makers, food, cocktail bars and live music. Getting in is free every day through the general admission line. On Saturdays and Sundays you can also buy a Fast Pass through the Seaport Insider app if you'd rather skip the wait. Through Dec 6, hours are Monday to Thursday 3 to 8 PM, Friday 11 AM to 9 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 9 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 8 PM. From Dec 7, weekdays open earlier, at 11 AM. Snowport is closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day and closes at 6 PM on Christmas Eve. Sundays through Nov 15 The last SoWa Open Markets of the year The SoWa Open Market runs Sundays only, and its final day of 2026 is Sun, Nov 15. That leaves two Sundays, Nov 8 and Nov 15, both 11 AM to 4 PM and free. It's one of the biggest open-air farmer and artist markets in the city, set among the artist studios, galleries and shops on pedestrian-only Thayer Street in the South End. Weekend of Nov 13 to 15 Topsfield, the art book fair, the MFA and Cambridge This is the busiest craft weekend of the fall, with four good options. The New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair is in its 30th year at the Topsfield Fairgrounds Indoor Arena, 207 Boston St in Topsfield. Hours are Fri, Nov 13 and Sat, Nov 14 from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sun, Nov 15 from 10 AM to 4 PM. A $12 adult ticket is good for all three days. Back in the South End, the Boston Art Book Fair brings more than 140 exhibitors, artists and publishers to the BCA Cyclorama at 539 Tremont St. Think artist books, zines, comics, prints and experimental publications, many of them handmade. It's free to the public on Sat, Nov 14 (noon to 6 PM) and Sun, Nov 15 (noon to 5 PM). If you want first look, the ticketed preview party on Fri, Nov 13 opens to exhibitors at 7 PM. On Sat, Nov 14 only, the MFA Artisan Market sets up in the museum's Shapiro Family Courtyard from 10 AM to 5 PM, with local jewelry, fashion, ceramics, stationery and other gifts. It's included with general admission, and MFA members get 10 percent off everything. Author Eric Jay Dolin and chef Joanne Chang are signing books from 11 AM to 1 PM. That same afternoon, the Unruly Maker's Market from Rebel Rebel Wine Bar fills Dear Annie at 1741 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge from 2 to 6 PM with local artists and craftspeople. Entry is free, and the RSVP on Eventbrite is optional. Starting Fri, Nov 20 The SoWa Christmas Market The SoWa Christmas Market opens Fri, Nov 20 (4 to 9 PM) inside the SoWa Power Station, 550 Harrison Ave in the South End, and runs through Sun, Dec 27. Expect more than 100 makers, artists, designers and specialty food vendors under one roof. Admission is $10, kids 12 and under are free, and there's no re-entry, so finish your coffee first. In November, the market is open Tuesday to Thursday 4 to 8 PM, Friday 4 to 9 PM, Saturday 10 AM to 9 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 7 PM, plus Black Friday from 10 AM to 7 PM. Starting Dec 1, hours stretch to 9 PM on weeknights, 10 PM on Friday and 10 AM to 10 PM on Saturday, with Sunday still 10 AM to 7 PM. It's closed Mondays, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, and open 10 AM to 4 PM on Christmas Eve. Weekend of Nov 20 to 22 Marlborough, Somerville and Union Square Paradise City Arts Festival brings 175 artists and makers to 181 Royal Plaza Dr West in Marlborough on Nov 20, 21 and 22, with live demonstrations and two cafes. Hours are Friday and Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM and Sunday 11 AM to 5 PM. General admission is $16 ($14 early bird), students pay $10 with ID, a three-day pass is $24, and kids 15 and under get in free. Parking is free. On Sun, Nov 22, Somerville has two. The Holiday Plant Market fills two floors of Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, from 10 AM to 4 PM with local artists, small businesses and handcrafted goods for the plant lovers on your list. A few blocks away in Union Square, the Boston Women's Holiday Market takes over Warehouse XI, 11 Sanborn Ct, from 11 AM to 4 PM with about 35 vendors. Thanksgiving weekend, Nov 27 to 29 Wilmington, Worcester and the Armory The day after Thanksgiving is a big one for craft shows. The Original Castleberry Faire, now in its 31st year, is back at the Shriners Auditorium, 99 Fordham Rd in Wilmington. Hours are Fri, Nov 27 from 9 AM to 5 PM, Sat from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sun from 10 AM to 4 PM, and a $12 adult ticket covers all three days. Out in Worcester, the 44th Holiday Festival of Crafts turns the Worcester Center for Crafts, 25 Sagamore Road, into a juried holiday market that usually has more than 50 fine craft artists. It runs Nov 27 and 28 from 10 AM to 5 PM and Nov 29 from 11 AM to 4 PM. Admission is $5, and parking is free. Closer to home, the Boston Women's Holiday Market at The Armory fills two floors at 191 Highland Ave in Somerville on Sun, Nov 29, from 11 AM to 4 PM, with about 35 vendors. Fri, Dec 4 SoWa First Fridays On the first Friday of every month, the studios, galleries and shops at 450 and 460 Harrison Ave open their doors from 5 to 9 PM for SoWa First Fridays. It's free and family friendly, and you're buying straight from the artists in their own workspaces. The next one is Fri, Dec 4, and the SoWa Christmas Market is open next door until 10 PM that night, so you can do both. Sat, Dec 5 A French market in Back Bay, a German one in Allston and Arlington Brewing's holiday market The French Library's Marché de Noël is in its 23rd year at 53 Marlborough St in Back Bay, from 10 AM to 4 PM. Shop French-inspired jewelry, housewares, books and gourmet treats, grab crêpes, and sample food, wine and spirits. Tickets are $5, or $3 if you buy early, and members and kids under 14 get in free. That afternoon, the German International School Boston hosts its Christkindlmarkt at 57 Holton St from 3 to 7 PM, with music, shopping, kids' activities, food and drinks. The school notes the event is pending license approval from the City of Boston, so check the page before you go. Arlington Brewing Company runs the Arlington Holiday Market on Sat, Dec 5 from noon to 6 PM, with more than 100 local vendors split between Arlington Town Hall and Mill Cafe. You'll find handmade gifts from local artists and crafters, neighborhood shops, food and Arlington Brewing beer, and admission costs nothing. Santa does story time at Town Hall at 1 PM and again at Mill Cafe at 4 PM, so plan to hit both. Weekends of Dec 11 to 13 and Dec 18 to 20 Harvard Square The Harvard Square Holiday Fair has been running since 1986, and admission is free. It's a juried fair with craftspeople from around the region alongside importers, on the lower level of the Galeria building at the corner of JFK and Winthrop Streets. It runs two weekends, Dec 11 to 13 and Dec 18 to 20, with hours of noon to 7 PM on Fridays, 11 AM to 7 PM on Saturdays and noon to 6 PM on Sundays. Sat, Dec 12 and Sun, Dec 13 Cultural Survival Bazaar The Cultural Survival Bazaar brings a winter solstice Indigenous art holiday market to the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, from 10 AM to 6 PM both days. You can meet the artists, make an Indigenous craft, catch music and dance, and swap a gently used Indigenous book. Suggested admission is $10, anyone under 18 is free, and if you bring a friend on day two with your day-one ticket, you both get in free. Sat, Dec 19 Holiday market at Night Shift Brewing The Boston Women's Holiday Market at Night Shift Brewing, 87 Santilli Hwy in Everett, runs from noon to 5 PM. The organizer describes it as a family-friendly holiday party with giveaways, ornament decorating and special cocktails, plus a food truck and parking on site. How to find craft fairs this weekend Start with our Boston events calendar. Tap "This weekend" and the Markets & Shopping category, and you'll see every market submitted to us, with the venue linked to its page. Our things to do in Boston this weekend guide rounds up the best of it, and the weekly calendar email goes to 45,000 subscribers every Thursday, just in time to plan. Then go to the organizer. Craft fair dates move, hours change for the holidays, and a market that ran in a church hall last year can move across town. The organizer's own page is always the final word, which is why every listing above links to it. A few organizers run several markets a season, so they're worth bookmarking. SoWa runs the Open Market, First Fridays and the Christmas Market in the South End. Castleberry Fairs runs juried craft festivals north of Boston, on the Cape and in New Hampshire. The Boston Women's Market pops up all over Greater Boston. Markets for Makers holds its Boston markets at the SoWa Power Station, and its Boston page is the place to watch for the next one. FAQ Are there craft fairs near me this weekend? Snowport in the Seaport is open every day through Sun, Dec 27 with free general admission, so there’s a market to hit any weekend before Christmas. For everything else, find this weekend’s date heading in this guide, or use the “This weekend” filter on our events calendar. What are the best craft fairs in Massachusetts this weekend and next? The weekend of Nov 13 to 15 is the busiest of the fall, with the New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair in Topsfield, the free Boston Art Book Fair in the South End, the MFA Artisan Market and the Unruly Maker’s Market in Cambridge. Paradise City Arts Festival in Marlborough follows on Nov 20 to 22, the Original Castleberry Faire in Wilmington and the Holiday Festival of Crafts in Worcester both run Thanksgiving weekend, and the Harvard Square Holiday Fair takes two December weekends. Where can I find craft shows next weekend near me? Find next weekend’s date heading in this guide, since every market is listed in date order through Christmas. Snowport is open every day through Dec 27, and the SoWa Christmas Market is open Tuesday through Sunday from Nov 20. Organizers keep adding markets through the season, so check our events calendar too. What is the biggest Boston craft fair? Of the markets in this guide, Paradise City Arts Festival lists 175 artists and makers, Snowport lists 125+ makers, and the Boston Art Book Fair lists more than 140 exhibitors. The SoWa Christmas Market has more than 100 makers and food vendors and runs the longest stretch indoors, from Nov 20 to Dec 27. Are there free craft fairs in Boston? Yes. Snowport (free general admission every day), the Harvard Square Holiday Fair, SoWa First Fridays, the SoWa Open Market and the Boston Art Book Fair (Saturday and Sunday) are all free to get into. The Arlington Holiday Market (Sat, Dec 5) has no admission charge either. The SoWa Christmas Market is $10, and kids 12 and under are free. What's happening in Boston in November 2026? Snowport opened in the Seaport on Fri, Nov 6, and the SoWa Christmas Market opens in the South End on Fri, Nov 20. In between, Nov 13 to 15 brings the Boston Art Book Fair, the MFA Artisan Market and the New England Craft & Specialty Food Fair in Topsfield. Somerville has two markets on Sun, Nov 22, and Thanksgiving weekend has craft shows in Wilmington, Worcester and Somerville. For concerts, shows and everything else on in November, browse our events calendar. What happened to the Boston Christmas Festival? The Boston Christmas Festival's old web address, bostonchristmasfestival.com, now goes to the New England Christmas Festival, held at the Mohegan Sun Earth Expo Center in Connecticut (Nov 6 to 8 in 2026) with 400+ artisans. If you want a big holiday craft show in Massachusetts, Paradise City in Marlborough and the Original Castleberry Faire in Wilmington are the closest matches.
6 Boston bars more than half a century old
Boston has no shortage of bars with old stories. The harder thing is finding places that have stayed open long enough to become part of everyday neighborhood life. These six bars all opened at least 50 years ago and are still operating in Boston. A note on the wording: “continuously” is difficult to prove literally because bars have had temporary closures, including during the pandemic. I’m using it here to mean long-running establishments that have kept the same identity and location, rather than newer businesses borrowing an old name. J.J. Foley’s has been family-owned and operated since 1909. It is still at 117 East Berkeley Street in the South End, making it one of Boston’s oldest Irish bars and one of the city’s most established family businesses. The bar has a pre-Prohibition feel without turning itself into a museum. There is a dining room, sports on television, Guinness, and a crowd that includes longtime regulars alongside people discovering the place for the first time. Foley’s history is tied to the city’s political and labor history, too. In 1919, Boston police officers voted to strike at Fay Hall above the bar. You do not need to arrive looking for a history lesson. Order a drink, find a table, and the room will do the rest. Sullivan’s Tap opened on December 5, 1933, the day after Prohibition ended. It became a gathering place for people heading to the Garden, and it has kept that role as the neighborhood around TD Garden has changed. Sully’s is Boston’s oldest sports bar by its own account. It is a straightforward place with a narrow room, cold beer, and a crowd that knows exactly what it is there to do. On game days, it fills up with Bruins and Celtics fans. On other days, it is simply a good place to sit near the Garden without dealing with a polished sports-bar production. The Tam first opened sometime in the 1940s and has remained a small downtown watering hole ever since. Even the bar’s own history page does not pin down a precise opening year, which feels right for a place that has never needed to explain itself too much. The Tam is small, cheap, and direct. It is useful before a show, after work, or whenever you want a drink without a reservation, a dress code, or a menu full of explanations. The crowd changes throughout the night, but the basic character does not. The Galway House has been a Centre Street fixture since 1960. It is a family-style restaurant and Irish pub with Italian and American food, a full bar, sports on television, and a steady Jamaica Plain crowd. This is the kind of place that feels like a neighborhood business first and a destination bar second. People come in for dinner, a drink, a game, or because they have been coming here for years and see no reason to stop. Some older coverage dates the business slightly differently, so 1960 is the safest version to use. Corrib Pub has been open on Market Street since 1969. It is the sort of Irish pub that works for a quick pint, a plate of bangers and mash, live music, or a long conversation with someone who has been coming in for years. The pub is named for Lough Corrib in County Galway. Its Irish identity is straightforward rather than theatrical: Guinness, sports, music, and a neighborhood crowd. Corrib has stayed part of Brighton’s daily life while plenty of other bars have come and gone. Cask ’n Flagon opened in 1969 beside Fenway Park. It has spent more than five decades serving baseball fans, sports writers, visiting bands, and people who came for the atmosphere even when there was no game. Cask is louder and busier than the other bars on this list, particularly around Red Sox games. That is part of the point. It is a Fenway landmark, a sports bar, and a reliable place to start or end a night around Lansdowne Street. The bar’s appeal has remained simple: a drink near the ballpark, baseball on the walls, and a room that expects to get crowded. These places do not offer the same kind of night. Foley’s is a South End institution. Sullivan’s belongs to the Garden. The Tam is a downtown dive. Galway House is a Jamaica Plain neighborhood restaurant and bar. Corrib is a Brighton pub. Cask ’n Flagon is Fenway at full volume. What they share is more useful than an old date on a sign. They stayed long enough to become part of the city’s routine.
Get to know Boston
Whitey Bulger forced a family to sell him this Southie liquor store
Stephen and Julie Rakes had only recently opened their South Boston liquor store when James “Whitey” Bulger decided he wanted it. They told him it wasn’t for sale. He and his associates threatened the family until they surrendered the business. The address is 295 Old Colony Avenue, where Rotary Liquors appears in Boston’s licensing records today. Before that name, it was associated with Stippo’s Liquor Mart and the South Boston Liquor Mart, a business that became part of Bulger’s criminal operation. The story behind Whitey Bulger’s liquor store involves more than a gangster meeting place. It also involves a family who sought police help and an FBI agent who passed information to the man threatening them. The liquor store the owners didn’t want to sell Stephen Rakes and his then-wife, Julie, opened Stippo’s Liquor Mart in 1983. In January 1984, Bulger, Stephen Flemmi and Kevin Weeks went to the Rakes home to acquire it. The federal appeals court’s account of the takeover describes Rakes refusing both a sale and an unwanted partnership. Bulger responded with a death threat. The men returned later that evening with weapons. Flemmi picked up the couple’s young daughter while threatening her father’s life. Bulger handed Rakes roughly $65,000 and promised another $25,000. The gangsters treated that payment as making them the owners, despite the family’s refusal to sell. The pressure continued afterward. The family briefly fled to Florida, then returned and tried to hold on to the store. They eventually signed it over. The request for help that reached Bulger Julie’s uncle, Joseph Lundbohm, was a Boston police detective. When the couple asked for help, he approached FBI agent John Connolly. Connolly was handling Bulger and Flemmi as informants. The information Lundbohm brought him should have prompted an investigation into the threats. Instead, the federal court’s findings in United States v. Salemme describe Connolly failing to record the report or alert his supervisor, then telling Bulger about it. Bulger subsequently pressured Rakes to have Lundbohm back off. The family’s attempt to obtain protection had reached the person they needed protection from. That detail explains why this address matters beyond its association with Bulger. The store’s takeover was also an example of the protection his corrupt relationship with an FBI agent afforded him. The court found that the FBI did not investigate the extortion of the Rakes family. Before the liquor store, there was a garage Bulger and Flemmi had previously conducted business at the Lancaster Street Garage, 131 Lancaster Street, in Boston’s West End. The West End Museum’s history of the garage describes bookmakers delivering payments there after Bulger’s rise within the Winter Hill Gang. George Kaufman owned the business, officially called Lancaster Foreign Motors. Massachusetts State Police bugged the building in 1980 and watched its visitors from across the street. Bulger and Flemmi learned that the location was under surveillance and stopped using it for a time. The garage and the liquor store were different addresses serving a similar purpose: functioning businesses that also provided places for the gang’s activities. The sale agreement appeared at Bulger’s trial Decades later, the liquor store appeared among the exhibits introduced at Bulger’s 2013 trial. GBH’s collection of trial evidence identifies an agreement selling the South Boston Liquor Mart to Kevin Weeks, with Bulger named as a silent partner. It also identifies the business as Stippo’s. That document connects the names readers encounter in accounts of the property. Stippo’s and South Boston Liquor Mart refer to the business involved in the takeover, while the agreement placed Weeks in the transaction and identified Bulger’s interest behind him. What is at 295 Old Colony Avenue today? A Boston Licensing Board notice for May 2026 lists Rotary Liquors at 295 Old Colony Avenue, South Boston, operated by Mahabali Corporation. The notice concerns a request to change the manager of its retail alcohol license. The current business has a different name from the store described in the historical records. Its presence at the address should not be taken to suggest any connection between its present operators and Bulger’s crimes. For other addresses connected to Boston’s organized-crime history, our article on 4 Boston-area gangster hangouts covers the North End and Somerville locations separately.
5 famous comedians with Boston roots
Steven Wright can make a sentence sound as though he has just noticed a small defect in the universe. Bill Burr sounds more likely to demand a conversation with whoever built it. Both passed through Boston’s comedy world, which is a useful reminder that a local connection does not produce one kind of comedian. These five famous comedians with Boston roots came through different hometowns, clubs and careers. Some studied at Emerson; others grew up nearby. Calling all of them Boston-born would be inaccurate, but the region belongs in the account of how they got started. Steven WrightWright’s delivery is so unhurried that the strangeness of a line can arrive before your brain has caught up. His act relies on deadpan observations and language taking an unexpected turn, rather than a large stage persona demanding attention. He is an Emerson graduate, part of the generation the college associates with clubs such as Ding Ho and the Comedy Connection. His work also extends beyond stand-up. Wright and Dean Parisot won the 1989 Academy Award for live-action short film for The Appointments of Dennis Jennings. That is a useful title to seek out if you know him only through one-liners: the same comic sensibility has room to operate inside a story. Denis LearyLeary grew up in Worcester and developed a lasting Boston connection through Emerson. The college’s comedy history places him among the founders of the Emerson Comedy Workshop. It also distinguishes his MTV appearances from the breakthrough performance of No Cure for Cancer at Edinburgh, rather than treating them as a single television event. For another side of his career, there is Rescue Me, the firefighter series he created with Peter Tolan and starred in. The Television Academy’s interview discusses both that collaboration and the personal connection behind the work. His television career gives the anger and speed associated with his stand-up a longer dramatic setting. Dane CookCook grew up in Arlington and built his act around animated storytelling and physical performance. In a Boston.com interview about Above It All, he discussed his early career as well as the newer special. Watching him after Wright makes the difference in delivery fairly obvious; these are not interchangeable versions of a “Boston comic.” His album Retaliation reached number four on the Billboard 200, a chart position documented in his Laugh Factory biography. The record is a place to start if you want to understand the scale of his midcareer audience, rather than relying on whatever short clip happens to turn up first. Bill BurrBurr also studied at Emerson, but his voice is very much his own: argumentative, quick to question an accepted opinion and willing to keep turning a complaint over. His official site collects specials including Paper Tiger and Live at Red Rocks, alongside the Monday Morning Podcast. The podcast is a useful contrast with a prepared special. One gives you the looser format of an ongoing conversation; the other gives you an act shaped for a particular performance. If you are considering tickets, use the current tour listings on his site. A Boston connection does not mean a Boston date is always available. Louis C.K.C.K. grew up in Newton and became known for stand-up and the television series Louie. His material has often dealt with family life, personal failings and uncomfortable observations. Those subjects account for part of his audience, but they are not a complete account of his public career. In 2017, he admitted to sexual misconduct reported by several women, and FX ended its association with him. Boston.com’s reporting on a later Saugus appearance records that history. His place in the region’s comedy story is real; so is the reason many former fans no longer want to buy a ticket. To hear performers discuss the work rather than just watch the finished act, try Emerson’s American Comedy Archives. Its oral histories include Steven Wright and Bill Burr, with interviews and available transcripts accessible online. The conversation can be as interesting as the punch line, especially when a comedian explains the years of work behind something that sounds spontaneous.