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A beautiful home in Cambridge, Massachusetts was the setting for an evening with Peter Balakian on Tuesday. “A totally unique ambience – I never read in a Victorian parlor before,” the guest of honor observed. Dozens of devotees filled the room to capacity and beyond in anticipation of an in-person reading by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author. The event was presented by the Grolier Poetry Book Shop and the Harvard Square Business Association, and thanks to the continuing pandemic, was also available over Zoom.

Balakian is the author of eight books of poems, including Ozone Journal, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, and Ziggurat, both published by the University of Chicago Press. His memoir Black Dog of Fate won the PEN/Albrand Award and was a New York Times notable book, and The Burning Tigris won the Raphael Lemkin Prize and was a New York Times bestseller and New York Times notable book. He is Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities in the Department of English at Colgate University.

BosTen is your weekly guide to the best events and coolest happenings in and around Boston.

Celebrate spring with the 2022 Harvard Square MayFair

After a two-year hiatus, the Harvard Square Business Association will have its own outdoor party this Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with its 37th annual MayFair. Along with local businesses selling food from outdoor tents, there will be 40 artisanal booths featuring local vendors, several outdoor beer gardens, and four music stages scattered around the square featuring a multitude of genres. The musical highlight comes at 4 p.m. on the main stage, where reggae-rock group Roots of Creation. For a full list of performers and additional details, check out the HSBA website. — Kevin Slane

A plan to transform a Harvard Square retail property that has had multiple previous redevelopment efforts fall through is set to be revived with a public hearing May 24.

The plan, a vertical expansion of the Crimson Galeria retail property at 57 John F. Kennedy St., would add three floors with 40 rental units on top of the existing two-story structure. Filed March 30 with the Cambridge Planning Board, the proposal would include eight affordable units. 

there is no time to smell the roses.

The shop is 107 years old and knows a thing or two about handling the Mother’s Day rush.

“It has been running around crazy as usual,” said Stephen Zedros, owner of Brattle Square Florist. “Through our experience, we have been able to know what we sell and what we will need. We got most of it this year.”

Harvard Square offers a cuisine crash-course you won’t find in a classroom. Hit the books (well, the menus) at these ten restaurants to discover ahead-of-the-curve farm-to-table fare, pizza with legacy sourdough starters, and sushi that’s a study in simplicity. Rounded out by house-made pastas swimming in sauce and more, the meals on the syllabus here ace the taste test.

Reopenings:Beat Brew Hall returns to Harvard Square (13 Brattle St.) on Friday, May 6, after a two-plus-year hiatus due to COVID. Chef Ryan Skeen calls his menu “New Cambridge Cuisine”: sesame and white bean dip with piquillo peppers on charred flatbread; brisket and smoked sweet potatoes; a burger with malted bacon jam, smoked tomatoes, bleu cheese, and truffle aioli. The restaurant also hosts all kinds of live music. Visit Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m.

More than five months have passed since an unhoused man known only as Michael was found dead in the early morning hours, in front of the Bank of America in Harvard Square.  

A memorial remains at the site, a reminder of the impromptu service that was held there on his behalf and of his impact on many business owners and other square regulars who met him. 

The cozy Bonde Fine Wine Shop in Harvard Square seems as if it’s been there for ages, although the store opened less than a year ago. The afternoon sunshine filters through the picture window and brightens the space, while a timeworn, comfy leather chair in one corner makes it tempting to sit and stay awhile. This is what owner Bertil Jean-Chronberg, a master sommelier and restaurateur born in France (a former co-owner of The Beehive, Beat Hotel, and others), invites you to do. He fills this 200-square-foot room with his own particular vibrancy in a one-man quest to teach customers about the bottles he carries: a carefully curated selection of organic, natural, and biodynamically made wines from small producers. “This is my drive, to find wines that limit the impact on the planet,” says Jean-Chronberg. The assemblage comprises what he calls “author wines,” unique types that are unrestrained expressions of the winemaker — all unlike others from their…

When one thinks of Harvard Square, familiar images come to mind: the flagship CVS, red bricks, blaring music, the laughter of college students, and, most notably, countless local businesses. In an area primarily serving college students, the rent for local businesses is quite high, meaning every inch of the square must be utilized for small businesses to remain profitable. Within this bustling, commercial zone of Cambridge, however, there lies a hidden gem: A small place for public art.

An attempt to delay the creation of separate bike lanes in Porter Square in Cambridge was quashed following public disapproval. Cambridge City Council members voted against policies in a general meeting April 25 that would delay the “quick build” lanes. 

The Porter Square Safety Improvement Project will install two separate bike lanes from Beech Street to Roseland Street as part of its wider efforts to improve bus, biker and pedestrian safety in the area. It would also eliminate metered parking along Massachusetts Avenue in Porter Square.

However, the project has received opposition from city council members.

Speaking at the April 25 meeting, Cambridge City Councilor Paul Toner, along with Councilors Denise Simmons and Dennis Carlone, introduced resolutions that would delay the project so that it can be added to the MassAve4 project — which will see the construction of the bike line from North Cambridge to Harvard Square as one initiative.