Boston Event Calendar February 2013

Boston Discovery Guide recommends best February fun!

The Boston Event Calendar for February 2013 includes Boston Beanpot hockey, the huge New England Boat Show, and Lunar New Year celebrations, including a big parade in Chinatown to welcome the Year of the Snake.

February brings 2 big holidays:  Valentine's Day on February 14, and President's Day on February 18, with most schools in New England on winter vacation for the entire week.

More to look forward to during February: the Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, art show openings at Museum of Fine Arts and Wheelock College, and Simply Sublime at the Boston Opera House.

 

Add your event to the Boston Event Calendar for February

 

Valentine's Day 2013

When:  Thursday, February 14

Lots of Boston's top hotels offer romantic Valentine's Day packages to save you money while giving you a special experience. 

Enjoy the Be My Valentine at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, the Romance your Special Someone at the Boston Marriott Long Wharf, or the Be Mine? special at Fifteen Beacon - or one of other special Valentine's Day offers from Boston hotels.

More romantic options:  Boston hotels with fireplaces.

Now that you have your reservations, start planning your celebration - check out Valentine's Day events.

 

Chinese New Year Events - Lion Dance Parade - 2013

When:  Sunday, February 17, 11am - 5pm
Where:  Chinatown, Boston
Closest T station: Orange Line/Chinatown (or walk over from any Downtown Boston T station
Cost: Free

Chinese New Year for 2013 officially starts on February 10 to welcome the Year of the Snake.  One of the most popular activities in Boston for Chinese New Year is the huge Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown featuring Lion Dances, held this year on February 17.  More Parade info and photos

 

Boston Beanpot Hockey 2013

When: 
Week 1: Monday, February 4
- 5pm - Boston University vs Northeastern
- 8pm - Boston College vs Harvard
Week 2: Monday, February 11
- 4:30pm - Consolation Game starring Week 1 losers
- 7:30pm - Championship Game starring Week 1 winners
Where: TD Garden, Boston
Closest T station: Orange and Green Line/North Station
Parking:   Garages near TD Garden
Find best seats: Boston Beanpot tickets

In the legendary Boston Beanpot rivalry, teams from Boston's 4 major hockey schools battle on the ice during the first two Monday nights in February to determine who's the best.  

Here's how it works:  Week 1 features 2 games, as the teams pair off against each other.  In Week 2, winners battle each other for the championship and #2 slot, while the losers play each other to see who will be in 3rd place.  

How do the schools stack up?  Here are the number of Boston Beanpot Hockey Championships won by each team during the 61 years since the tournament began in 1952:

Boston University - 29 Championships
Boston College - 17 Championships
Harvard - 10 Championships
Northeastern University - 4 Championships

Photo credit:  Derek Yu

Where to Stay near TD Garden

 

Bugs Bunny Film Festival - 2013

Just in time for school vacation week (in case you need an excuse), Brattle Theatre in Cambridge is hosting their 18th Annual Bugs Bunny Film Festival.  The festival features 3 different programs:

- All Bugs Revue
- That Fantatic Friz - Best shorts directed by Friz Freleng including Looney Tune as well as Bugs
- Looney Tunes Review

When:  February 15 - 23, 2013 - multiple viewing times
Closest T station: Red Line/Harvard
Tickets:  Brattle Theatre website
Hotels:  Harvard Square Hotel, Charles Hotel, Sheraton Commander Hotel, The Inn at Harvard

Find more Boston Film Festivals

 

Half-price tickets for Boston events in February

Find half-price Boston Theatre tickets for February

Most half price tickets usually start becoming available 3-4 weeks before an event, so check back for updates.

- Disney on Ice presents Rockin' Ever After at TD Garden
- Paco Pena Flamenco Dance Company at the Berklee Performance Center
- You for Me for You at Boston Center for the Arts - Plaza Theatre
- Turn of the Screw at Cutler Majestic Theatre
- Jersey Boys at Citi Emerson Colonial Theatre
- Owen Wingrave at Boston University Theatre
- From the Top Live: NPR Concert Taping - Young Musicians - Jordan Hall
- Improv Asylum
- Oliver! at Wheelock Family Theatre
- Top Stars and Rising Comedians at Nick's Comedy Stop
- Blue Man Group at the Charles Playhouse

Find even more half-price events! Admission: Free

 

The Next Thing (TNT) Festival

Ten days of high-energy performances at Arts Emerson's Paramount Center let you experience the latest cutting edge contemporary theater, music, art performances, workshops, and films.  Look for 4 theatrical performances,

When:  February 14-23
Where:  Paramount Center at 559 Washington Street in Boston's Theatre District
Closest T (subway) station: Green Line/Boylston
Cost:  Tickets start at $24 for non-members for individual performances with various options up to a $100 festival pass to most performances; member pricing also available
More information:  https://artsemerson.org

 

Jody Picoult Book Signing

If you're a fan of former Boston resident Jody Picoult's novels (My Sister's Keeper, Vanishing Acts, Perfect Match), come meet the author as she signs copies of her latest book, The Storyteller, which will be released the day before the signing.

Read more about The Storyteller  

The event takes place in the Back Cafe at Barnes & Noble, Prudential Center (800 Boylston St, Back Bay neighborhood). 

When:  12 noon - 2pm, February 27, 2013
Closest T station: Green Line/Hynes
Stay:  Back Bay Hotels

 

SailFest:  New England Boat Show 2013

When:  February 16 - 24
Where:  Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 415 Summer Street, South Boston Waterfront
Closest T station: Silver Line from Red Line/South Station
Stay: South Boston Waterfront Hotels
Cost: $15 adults, Children 15 and younger free (when accompanied by adult); cash only accepted for ticket purchases at the show (ATM in lobby)
More information: Boat Show website

New England's biggest boating event has something for everyone, including sailboats from 8' to 42'.  Check out all the exhibits, attend free daily boating and fishing seminars, and find out everything you need to know about owning a boat.  Special events include SailFest, with over 100 booths devoted to sailboats, a power boat docking challenge, and a remote control sailing pond where you can test your navigational skills as you try to becom the Power Boat Docking Champion. 

Stay in nearby hotels, and enjoy Boston Harbor views from the top floors: 

• Boston Westin Waterfront - Closest to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, connected to it by a skywalk.
• Seaport Hotel - Just a block or two away from the BCEC.
• Renaissance Boston Hotel - Also a block or two away from BCEC.

Get a head start on the season - check out best places for sailing lessons in Boston

Boston Art Show Openings - February

Museum of Fine Arts

New Blue and White opens at Museum of Fine Arts on February 20 and runs through July 14, 2013. 

Blue and white porcelain has been popular for centuries in Asia, Europe, Islamic cultures, and the Americas. 

However, this new show at Boston's MFA takes a fascinating look at how contemporary artists from around the world continue to use this blue and white motif in ceramics, fashion, furniture, and other media to explore ideas, issues, and aesthetics.

Museum admission: $25/adult; free entrance with GoBoston or Boston CityPASS discount card

Rose Art Museum

Abstract photographer/installation artist Walead Beshty will collaborate with Rose Art Museum director Christopher Bedford to create two galleries of exhibits comprised mostly of the museum's collection of post-war abstract art, along with a few exciting new acquisitions.  Beshty will also layer on his own work: mirrored, multi-layered glass floors that will crack as you walk across them.

Art in the Rose Museum is always exciting, and this show promises to be particularly interesting.

Date:  Opens Wednesday, February 13.
Directions: Rose Art Museum is on the Brandeis University campus, 415 South St, Waltham (approx. 10 miles west of Boston; take the Fitchburg Line of the Commuter Rail from North Station to the Brandeis station on the campus)
Admission: Free

 

Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival

When:  February 8 - 18, 2013
Where:   Somerville Theatre, Davis Square, Somerville
Closest T (subway) station: Red Line/Davis
Parking:  Forget parking around Davis Square.  If you must drive, park at the Alewife parking garage in Cambridge, only 1 T stop away from Davis Square
Cost:  $8 for a single ticket; $55 for fanatics attending the "24-hour 'Thon'"; $80 for 10-day Festival
More information:  617-901-7280;  www.bostonsci-fi.com

The 37th annual Boston Sci-Fi Festival features 11 days of features and shorts from all over the world, as well as a 24-hour marathon, "The 'Thon," that separates mere fans from committed fanatics.  Can you sit through 1,440 minutes of sci-fi classics, premiers, cartoons, and more?  The 'Thon is not for the faint-hearted!

If you're coming to the Sci-Fi Film Festival from out of town, you'll find the most convenient hotel options close to the Red Line of Boston's subway in Cambridge. 

Check rates at these hotels near Cambridge T stations:

• Alewife T station: Hotel Tria Best Western
• Harvard Square T station:  Harvard Square Hotel, Charles Hotel, Sheraton Commander Hotel, The Inn at Harvard
• Kendall Square T station:  Le Meridien, Boston Marriott Cambridge

Shen Yun 2013 at the Boston Opera House

Shen Yun Performing Arts brings their brand new show of spectacular Chinese music and dance back to Boston's Opera House on February 8-10.

With incredible costumes, a full orchestra featuring Chinese and Western instruments, talented dancers, and animated backdrops, this mesmerizing show spans 5,000 years of Chinese dynasties, legends, and regions, including ethnic and folk dances, martial arts, drums, and powerful vocalists.  You'll be dazzled by this unforgettable journey to the Middle Kingdom.

When:  February 8-10, 2013
Where:  Boston Opera House, 539 Washington Street, Boston's Theatre District

Find best seats and reserve your tickets now

 

20th Annual Boston Wine Expo - 2013

When:  February 16-17
Where:   Seaport World Trade Center and Seaport Hotel (look for special Wine Expo rates), 164 Northern Ave, South Boston Waterfront
Closest T station:  Silver Line to World Trade Center (Seaport Hotel)
Tickets:  Seminar only tickets start at $25, and wine tasting tickets start at $85
More information

Visitors from across the U.S. and around the world gather annually for Boston's biggest wine-tasting event - in fact, the largest consumer and trade wine event in the United States.

Choose tasting samples from among 1,800 wines from 300 international wineries, and watch cooking demos by local celebrity chefs such as Andy Husbands (Tremont 647 and Sister Sorel), Chris Coombs (Deuxave), Patricia Yeo (Om), Chris Douglas (Ashmont Grill), Jose Duarte (Taranta), and lots more!  You can also attend wine making seminars (accompanied by tastings) by wine experts from large and small wineries, reviewers, writers, and oenophile celebrities from around the world. 

 

Boston discount passes for Boston attractions

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Use these Boston discount passes for museums, the New England Aquarium, plus admission to lots of other attractions, tours, day trips, and cruises - check out the savings!

Boston Sports for February

Basketball and hockey dominate the Boston sports calendar for February, and between the two teams, there's a game at TD Garden almost every night. 

Although snow piles can grow high in February, the Garden's location next to North Station makes it a snap to get to on the T or Commuter Rail. 

Boston Team Schedules and Tickets for February 2013

• Boston Celtics Schedule and Tickets for 2013
• Boston Bruins Schedule and Tickets for 2013

Get your tickets - and then make reservations at one of the hotels near TD Garden.

Photo courtesy of Henry Zbyszynski

 

Winter Break Week in Boston

Most public schools through New England close for a week's holiday in February.  This can be a perfect time to visit Boston.  Hotels offer their lowest rates for the year during the winter months, you'll find plenty of winter outdoor activities, lots of shows and performances, museums, shopping, and more.  Check our recommendations for what to do in Boston during winter break week.

The Large Bathers at MFA

Don't miss this opportunity to see two magnificent French masterpieces hanging side-by-side at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts:  Paul Cezanne's The Large Bathers, on loan for just a short time from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and MFA's Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? by Paul Gauguin. Ponder the artists' visions of idealized paradise, immortalized on canvas as the 19th century ended and the 20th century began. 

Dates:  On exhibit February 2 - May 12, 2013 
Location: Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston's Fenway neighborhood
Admission:  $25 at the door; or free when you have a Boston Discount Pass

 

Jersey Boys at the Colonial Theatre

The glamorous Colonial Theatre provides the perfect setting for Jersey Boys, the Tony award-winning Broadway musical about 4 blue-collar boys from New Jersey and their meteoric rise to star-studded fame in the 1960s.  Come sing along to their biggest hits, "Oh What a Night," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Sherry," and lots more! 

You'll love the story, the music, and the magic of seeing this heart-warming story unfold before your eyes in one of Boston's most splendid historic theaters.

When:  January 30 - March 3, 2013
Where:  Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston's Theatre District
Closest T station: Green Line/Boylston

Get your tickets now!

Find more Boston theatre shows in February

 

More February Activities near Boston

 

New England Patriots at the Super Bowl

When:  Sunday, February 3, 2013

Will we see the Patriots play in New Orleans? 

Well, no . . . but you can still check out the best places to celebrate Super Bowl in Boston.

And remember, show your loyalty by wearing New England Patriots jerseys, t shirts, and jackets.

After all, there's always next year . . .

 

Weekly noon concerts on the Freedom Trail

When:  February 5 - and every Tuesday at 12:15pm
Where:   King's Chapel on Boston's Freedom Trail
Closest T station:   Red and Green Lines/Park Street
Cost:  Suggested donation of $3 at the door

If you're touring the Freedom Trail on a Tuesday, drop by King's Chapel at noon to hear a 30-40 minute concert.  Performers vary each week, and perform a wide variety of music ranging from jazz to folk, medieval to modern.  Particularly special are those featuring King's Chapel's renowned C.B. Fisk organ. 

King's Chapel's music programs date back to 1713 when it became the first church in New England to get an organ.  The current C.B. Fisk organ is its 6th.

 

More Boston Concerts during February

Photo courtesy of LadyGaga.com

Weekly Noon Concerts - King's Chapel - Every Tuesday Passion Pit - Agganis Arena - February 9 Bruce in the USA-Springsteen Tribute - Paradise Rock Club - Feb 9 Tony Bennett - Boston Opera House - Feb 14 Pink Martini - Boston Opera House - Feb 16 Valentine's Day Concert - Museum of Fine Arts - February 10 Born This Way Ball Tour: Lady Gaga - TD Garden - Feb 27

 

Lunar New Year Celebration

2013 welcomes the Year of the Snake in the Lunar Calendar, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem celebrates the New Year with a family fun day filled with performances such as the Lion Dance being performed in the photo, Lion Dances, storytelling, crafts, and a chance to explore the museum's rich collection of Asian art and the Yin Yu Tang house acquired from China.  Perfect for children, teens, and adults.

When:  Saturday, February 2, 10am - 3:30pm
Cost:  Free, with museum admission - adults $15, seniors $13, Students $11, Youth (16 and under) and Salem Mass residents admitted free; or get free admission with GoBoston card
Where:   Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA
More information:  978-745-9500
Stay:  Enjoy a night in a Salem hotel and have another day to explore Salem's witch museums, the House of the Seven Gables, and other attractions

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Photo courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum

Boston Burrito Bowl

To rev up for Super Bowl Sunday, the 3rd annual Boston Burrito Bowl pits Chefs Brian Poe (Poe's Kitchen, Tip Tap Room), Andy Husbands (Tremont 647), Jose Duarte (Taranta), Josh Rush (Church), Jason Hutchinson (Bolocco), and others against reigning champion Brian Roche (Lolita) in a contest to produce the championship burrito of 2013. 

To add to the challenge and fun, each chef will create a signature burrito reflecting the city of their favorite NFL team (that would be the Patriots, right?)

When: Saturday, February 2, 1pm
Where: Poe's Kitchen @ the Rattlesnake Bar & Grill, 384 Boylston, Back Bay
Tickets: $20, www.rattlesnakebar.com

The Running of the Brides - CANCELLED

Sadly, due to Filene Basement's bankruptcy filing and liquidation in 2012, Running of the Brides has reached the finish line.

Boston Discovery Guide will continue to make available our Running of the Bride articles in tribute to this legendary Boston event (and because we loved this extravaganza too much to delete the pages).

Check out the beautiful gowns and gorgeous brides-to-be in our photos from an earlier event:

• Running of the Brides
• Running of the Bride photos
• Wedding Gown Tips from Carson Kressley ("Queer Eye for the Straight Guy")

 

Need more ideas about what to do in Boston in February?

Check out Boston Discovery Guide's top recommendations for things to do in Boston in February.

Quick Links to more Boston events calendars:  January   l   March  l  Other Months

Continuing during February in Boston

Boston Wine Festival at Meritage Restaurant

First Fridays at Museum of Fine Arts

 

Looking ahead to March: 

• St. Patrick's Day Parade
• Restaurant Week
• More Boston Events during March
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

 

Best Boston Events All Year!

 

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