Tuesdays with Roses
2022-09-20 17:30 - 19:30, 2022-10-04 17:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Kelleher Rose Garden, Back Bay Fens, Boston, MA, 02115
Join Emerald Necklace Conservancy staff and volunteers in the Kelleher Rose Garden to deadhead and prune roses and to weed the rose beds and borders. Training and tools are provided.
Registration is required in order to participate. Those who register will automatically receive an email with further details, including the necessary waiver to sign and specific information on where to meet and what to expect on the day of the event.

Emerald Necklace Parkfest
2022-09-24 13:00 - 18:00 | Emerald Necklace, MA, United States
When:
1-6pm, Saturday, September 24. Rain date: Sunday, September 25
Where:
All 5.5 miles of the Emerald Necklace, including Charlesgate Park, Back Bay Fens, Riverway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond, Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park
Presented by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Emerald Necklace Parkfest marks Frederick Law Olmsted’s 200th year with afternoon activities at seven sites across the park system he designed.
Parkfest Activities (Click here to view the site map)
All Parks
Scavenger Hunts, Picnic Zones and Parade Decorating by CultureHouse

Charlesgate Park (North Lawn) 1-4PM
– Tree Care Tours: 1PM and 3PM
– Tour of Charlesgate Park: 2PM (register here)
– Pétanque play and lessons: 1PM-4PM
– Hip-hop by Bridgeside Cypher: 1PM-4PM

Back Bay Fens (Shattuck Visitor Center) 1-4PM
– Lawn Games: 1PM-4PM
– Trivia & refreshments by Verizon: 1PM-4PM
– Fenway Victory Gardens Pollinator Garden Grand Opening: 1PM-3PM
– Book talk by author Stanley Greenberg (Olmsted Trees): 2PM-3PM
– Intro to Volunteer Field Work: 3PM-4PM

Riverway (Brookline Ave. and Parkway Road) 1-4PM
– Lawn Games by Emerald Necklace Conservancy and Verizon: 1PM-4PM
– Nature Immersion: 1PM and 3PM

Olmsted Park (Allerton Overlook) 1-4PM
– Triveni Classical Indian Dancers: 2PM and 3PM
– Music by DJ KO’d: 1PM-4PM
– Lawn games by REI: 1PM-4PM
– Central Park Design competition: 1PM-4PM
– Food Truck (TBA)

Jamaica Pond (Boathouse) 1-6PM
– Analog Photography with Edie Bresler: 1PM-4PM
– Drag Queen Story Hour: 1PM-4PM
– 1-hour Sailing Rentals: 1PM-6PM
– Photo booth by Verizon: 1PM-6PM
– Pop-up learning stations by National Parks Service Rangers: 1PM-6PM
– Food Truck: Kush by Saba

Arnold Arboretum (Hunnewell Visitor Center) 1-4PM
– The Caterpillar Lab: 1PM-4PM
– Tours of the Arnold Arboretum: 1PM-4PM

Franklin Park (Shattuck Picnic Grove) 1-6PM
– Learn about Shattuck Hospital Advocacy: 1PM and 3PM
– Music by A Trike Called Funk: 1:30PM-3:30PM
– Community Art with Canvas Studio: 1PM-6PM
– Puppet Making with Mothers Out Front: 2:30PM-5PM
– Lawn games by Verizon and Emerald Necklace Conservancy: 1PM-6PM
– Youth opera: “Mr. Twister“ by Mothers Out Front: 4PM and 5PM
– Park Parade with music by DJ KO’d: 5:30PM-6PM
– Food Truck: Zaaki

Interested in sponsoring Parkfest? Reach out to Claire Curran at ccurran@emeraldnecklace.org.
Seeking Volunteers:
Are you 18+ and eager to meet people and learn more about the parks? The Conservancy welcomes you to volunteer with an amazing team of site leaders to make Parkfest fabulously fun, accessible and welcoming. Shifts start at 11:30AM and end by 7:30PM. Benefits include access to cool performers, photo ops, snazzy snacks, learning some new place-making skills, a limited-edition Olmsted Now T-shirt and more! Learn more and sign up here.

Programs like Emerald Necklace Parkfest would not be possible without our Olmsted Now champions—supporters like you! As our bicentennial programming reaches its crescendo this fall, give a gift today to help support the impact Olmsted Now is making throughout Boston and beyond!

This event is part of Parks as Platform, a program of Olmsted Now: Greater Boston’s Olmsted Bicentennial.
Stay up-to-date with Olmsted Now by following @olmstednow on Instagram!
Olmsted Now is made possible by Emerald Necklace Conservancy and Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (Fairsted), with generous support from Paul and Katie Buttenwieser, National Collaborative for Health Equity, Kate and Ben Taylor, Ashley and Jamie Harmon, Verizon, Brooke and Jeff Cook, Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation, Davis Family Charitable Foundation, Four Lucky Dogs, Marjorie and Nicholas Greville, Hastings Family Foundation, Sarah Freeman, Highland Partners Charitable Fund, Lois R. Kunian, The Caroline Loughlin Fund, The Lawrence & Lillian Solomon Foundation, the “Come Together” Fund of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy Board and other individuals, organizations and businesses.
Additional support for Emerald Necklace Parkfest is provided by the Urban Connections Program of the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Trillium, Colleges of the Fenway, Focus Real Estate, Bluebikes, Mission Hill/Fenway Neighborhood Trust, Inc., Boston Red Sox, Faithful Flowers, Reed Hilderbrand, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cervone Deegan & Associates at Coldwell Banker, Charlesgate Alliance, Longwood Collective, Roxbury Tenants of Harvard Association and Harvard Medical School. The Conservancy is a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is the fiscal agent for Olmsted Now. In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.

Charlesgate Park Tour
2022-09-24 14:00 - 15:30, 2022-10-01 12:00 - 13:30, 2022-10-01 14:00 - 15:30, 2022-10-12 12:30 - 14:00, 2022-10-17 15:30 - 17:00, 2022-10-21 12:30 - 14:00 | “The Grove” at Charlesgate Park, 4 Charlesgate East, Boston, MA, 02115
Join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for a tour of Charlesgate Park!
Charlesgate is the start of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. We hope you’ll join us to learn about the park’s history, as well as present restoration efforts designed to repair park access issues, improve the water quality of Muddy River and create new park amenities.
This tour will be led by Conservancy President Karen Mauney-Brodek and Charlesgate Alliance Co-Founder Parker James. The exact meeting location for this tour will be provided upon registration.

Parks as Platform: Charlesgate Park
2022-10-01 11:00 - 15:00 | Charlesgate, Boston, MA, 02215
October Parks as Platform:
Presented with Charlesgate Alliance
Join the Conservancy and Charlesgate Alliance for a free, fun afternoon in Charlesgate Park’s North Field, capping off our Parks as Platform season at the tip of Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace!
Enjoy:

Free snacks
Tours with Charlesgate Alliance at 12PM and 2PM (registration encouraged)
Live music
Charlesgate Boulodrome pétanque with free lessons
Education/engagement from the National Park Service and CultureHouse
Community art activities by Canvas Studio
And more!

For Olmsted Now, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy expands its annual free event series Summer on the Emerald Necklace into a shared resource for cross-neighborhood collaboration and community-generated public events from April through October 2022.
Each month, the Conservancy will collaborate with a site partner to anchor programming with extra support: securing permits, coordinating volunteers and providing amenities like signage, presentation/performance/convening space, portable utilities and restrooms, food trucks and more. The goal is to increase park access, amplify partner capacity to welcome expanded audiences and maximize impacts of diverse public offerings using the parks as platform.

Second Saturdays: Volunteer Stewardship in Olmsted Park
2022-10-08 10:00 - 14:00 | Olmsted Park, 217 Jamaicaway, Boston, MA, 02130, United States
Join Emerald Necklace Conservancy staff and volunteers with land stewardship and invasive species removal work in the Emerald Necklace parks on Saturday, October 8! We will be planting in Olmsted Park.
Registration is required in order to participate in this event. Those who register will automatically receive an email from Alyx Britton, the Land Stewardship Coordinator, with further details, including the necessary waivers to sign and specific information on where to meet and what to expect on the day of the event.

Charlesgate Park Tour
2022-11-05 10:00 - 11:30, 2023-01-23 11:00 - 13:00, 2023-01-28 11:00 - 13:00, 2023-02-13 13:00 - 15:00, 2023-03-09 10:00 - 12:00, 2023-03-18 12:00 - 14:00, 2023-04-14 12:00 - 14:00, 2023-04-27 13:00 - 15:00 | “The Grove” at Charlesgate Park, 4 Charlesgate East, Boston, MA, 02115
Join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for a tour of Charlesgate Park!
Charlesgate is the start of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. We hope you’ll join us to learn about the park’s history, as well as present restoration efforts designed to repair park access issues, improve the water quality of Muddy River and create new park amenities.

Second Saturdays: Volunteer Stewardship in the Back Bay Fens
2022-11-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Shattuck Visitor Center, 125 The Fenway, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Join Emerald Necklace Conservancy staff and volunteers with land stewardship and invasive species removal work in the Emerald Necklace parks on Saturday, November 12! We will be maintaining shrub beds in the Back Bay Fens.
Registration is required in order to participate in this event. Those who register will automatically receive an email from Alyx Britton, the Land Stewardship Coordinator, with further details, including the necessary waivers to sign and specific information on where to meet and what to expect on the day of the event.

Charlesgate Park Tree Lighting
2022-12-01 20:00 - 20:30 | Commonwealth Avenue Mall, 15 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02116, United States
This winter, the trees on Commonwealth Avenue at Charlesgate Park are shining emerald green to spotlight the intersection of the Emerald Necklace and Commonwealth Avenue Mall!

Complementing the annual lighting of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, ten Japanese zelkova trees will be lit at Charlesgate and adorned with green lights to distinguish Charlesgate as the connecting point between the Commonwealth Avenue Mall and the rest of the Emerald Necklace, and to raise awareness of the ongoing efforts to restore Charlesgate Park.
The lighting ceremony will take place Thursday, December 1 at approximately 8PM around 15 Commonwealth Avenue, in conjunction with the lighting of the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. The green Charlesgate lights will be located along the intersection of Commonwealth Avenue and Charlesgate East, and will remain lit each night through March 2023.

Happy New Year!
2020-01-01
In observance of the holiday, Conservancy offices at the Shattuck Visitor Center are closed.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day
2019-01-21
In observance of the holiday and Martin Luther King, Jr., Conservancy offices at the Shattuck Visitor Center are closed.

Vol-entines Day: A Celebration of Our Volunteers!
2023-02-15 18:00 - 20:00 | James Michael Curley House, 350 Jamaicaway, Boston, MA, 02130, United States
In the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s 2022 volunteer season, nearly 900 volunteers donated their time and energy to keeping the Necklace safe and beautiful for all, and we at the Conservancy are incredibly grateful.
Before the 2023 season gets underway, please join us in thanking the many volunteers who have made our work possible. There will be snacks, tours of the historic Mayor Curley House, opportunities to get to know other volunteers and community members and abundant gratitude. Past and prospective volunteers of all ages are welcome!
Register for this event below:

Presidents' Day
2019-02-18
In observation of the holiday, Conservancy offices at the Shattuck Visitor Center are closed.

Charlesgate Park Tour
2023-02-23 16:00 - 17:00, 2023-03-23 16:00 - 17:00 | “The Grove” at Charlesgate Park, 4 Charlesgate East, Boston, MA, 02115
Join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for a tour of Charlesgate Park!
Charlesgate is the start of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. We hope you’ll join us to learn about the park’s history, as well as present restoration efforts designed to repair park access issues, improve the water quality of Muddy River and create new park amenities.
Note: this is an abridged one-hour tour of Charlesgate Park.

Patriots' Day
2019-04-15

2023 Muddy River Cleanup
2023-04-22 10:00 - 12:00
We hope you will join us for this year’s Muddy River Cleanup!
The Muddy River Cleanup is a part of the Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup; this event takes place throughout the Charles River Watershed and builds on a national effort as part of American Rivers’ National River Cleanup® which, to date, has removed over 25 million pounds of trash from America’s waterways. From 2016 to 2019, the Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup was recognized by American Rivers for the Most Pounds of Trash Collected and Most Volunteers Mobilized.​
The Charles River Cleanup brings together over 3,000 volunteers each year to pick up litter, remove invasive species and assist with park maintenance along all 80 miles of the Charles River. Residents are drawn to the popular Charles River Cleanup from a desire to give back to their community while enjoying the beauty and wildlife along the river. Volunteers hold onto the connections they establish during this day of stewardship by returning to the Charles to exercise, play and enjoy nature throughout the year.
For corporate volunteer groups of 100+ people, please contact Volunteer and Field Maintenance Coordinator Alyx Britton at abritton@emeraldnecklace.org to inquire about pricing. For non-profit volunteer groups seeking to sign up, please contact volunteer@emeraldnecklace.org.
Registration has closed for this event. Sign up for our next volunteer cleanup on May 13 here!
Keep an eye on our Volunteer page for more cleanups this summer, and stay connected by signing up for our monthly eNewsletter!

Demystifying the Muddy: 2023 Annual Meeting of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy
2023-04-27 18:00 - 19:30
Delve into the role of the Muddy River as it runs through the Emerald Necklace and empties into the Charles River, and learn about the importance of a healthy watershed for greenspaces and the communities that depend on them.
On Thursday, April 27, join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for our virtual 2023 Annual Meeting, all about the Muddy River—the central waterway of the Emerald Necklace linear park system—and the year of achievements that your support made possible!
Conservancy President Karen Mauney-Brodek will share highlights of our accomplishments in 2022, before being joined by guest speakers Thomas Green, Tribal Council Member of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, Kate England, Director of Green Infrastructure for the City of Boston, and Bob Delhome, Founder and President of Charter Contracting Company—currently at work on the Muddy River Restoration Project. Kate and Bob will dive into the importance of a clean and healthy Muddy River for the plant and animal species who call it home alongside the dozens of neighborhoods that make up its watershed, and look ahead to the project’s long-term impacts.
