13th Annual Winter Carnival
January 12th – March 31st

The Harvard Square Business Association welcomes you to attend Winter Carnival 2023!

The temperatures may be dropping but we are gearing up for some of the most highly anticipated events of the year, including the “Some Like it Hot” Chili Cook-off, which is returning after a 2 year hiatus.  In addition to this signature event, there are activities and events happening in our restaurants, stores and cultural institutions.

More information available here.

DEALS

Hunt's Photo & Video

America’s Oldest Camera Store since 1889

15% OFF All Used Gear Sale at Hunt’s Photo Cambridge. Offer ends January 22nd. We also offer film processing, image printing, camera rentals, and photo education - we do it all at Hunt’s Photo!

For more information on savings and the latest gear, call or visit our Cambridge store.

Nubar

Nubar's Winter menu will debut on Friday January 20th for dinner.

Valentine’s Day Menu 3 course special “elevated” menu for $60/pp, in addition to the regular dinner menu.

Off the Beaten Path Food Tours

Fridays, Saturdays and private tours are available.

Calling all chocoholics! Join us for a delectable adventure through historic Harvard Square. You'll hear interesting stories about the Square, learn fun facts about chocolate and sample the best and most interesting chocolaty treats around. Harvard Square has a flourishing food scene with some of the best and most unique food in the city. Each tour is a fun 90 minutes and includes 4 stops with plenty of treats and less than a mile of walking. We can't wait to take you on a unique, chocolate adventure!

This tour is suitable for all ages. $40/pp. Guests must purchase tickets in advance. Use code HARVARDSQUARE and enjoy 10% off!

*NEW* Harvard Square Food Tour

Haven't been to Harvard Square lately? Do you know we have a new tiki bar?

Revisit Harvard Square on our new FOOD TOUR!

Booking Saturdays at 11:30am, this memorable experience is offered weekly. You'll eat a satisfying array of yummy eats, from Greek to Latin to the best pizza in the world. Tour also includes a Mai Tai or yummy mocktail.

Events

Passim
The Boston Celtic Music Festival
January 12th -15th

Locations: Club Passim, The Sinclair, The First Parish of Cambridge and more. passim.org/bcmfest

Commonwealth Wine School
Wine Trends and Fads
January 20th
6:30pm - 8:30pm

If your go-to is Yellowtail and you’re old friends with White Zinfandel, it’s time for an overnight eye serum - and this wine class!

Let’s explore why, when, and how these wine fads became all the rage. In this tasting, wine educator Christina Kach will pour these popular potables’ less prominent peers. Whether you prefer the new, flashy fads or the old school styles - that’s for you to decide. Either way, come visit Commonwealth Wine School to enjoy this trip down memory lane. Wind pants and leg warmers not required - but always welcome!

Cost: $85
Location: Commonwealth Wine School, 35 Dunster St.
Instructor: Christina Kach

Adam Centamore - Tasting Wine & Cheese - An Insider's Guide to Mastering the Principles of Pairing
January 25th at 1pm

Is there anything better than a great wine and cheese pairing? For some, it can be challenging, but fortunately creating a combination that makes your mouth sing is easier than you might think! Based on curriculum developed by teaching thousands of classes, seminars, and events, professional wine and cheese educator Adam Centamore guides you through the amazing world of flavor pairing while emphasizing understanding and developing your own palate and preferences.

Using Tasting Wine and Cheese as a guide, Adam will explain how to taste, evaluate and appreciate wine and cheese, helping you learn how 'taste' works, how to think about food and wine in general, and how to bring them together in combinations that will bring a smile to your face! Using specific pairings from the book, you'll get a sneak peek into pairing principles through individual chapters that highlight wines and the cheeses that love them.

More at Commonwealth Wine School:
Wine and Cheese trip to the Piemonte in Italy September 2023.

Barre & Soul
Free Weekend
January 20th - 22nd

Whether you've never taken a barre class in your life or you just want to fine-tune your form, you're invited! Join our phenomenal teachers in-studio the weekend of January 20-22 for an hour long class focused on helping you understand the what, why, and how of our signature barre workout. We'll break down some of our most common exercises and help you with any questions or adjustments you need!

Friday: 4:30pm w/ Sarah V
Saturday: 9:00am w/ Sarah L
Sunday: 10:00am w/ Julia

Sign up to reserve your FREE spot here.

Cambridge School Volunteers
Understanding Risk and Resilience Among Students with Reading Difficulties
January 26th
5:30pm

Open to the Cambridge Community at Large
Cambridge School Volunteers invites the Cambridge community at large to our latest virtual training for volunteers on reading difficulties in children and young people. Dr. Joanna A. Christodoulou, an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will be making the presentation. Dr. Christodoulou is also an MIT research affiliate and an associate professor in the Department of Brain Education, and Mind (BEAM) Lab in the Center for Health and Rehabilitation Research at the MGH Institute of Health Professions. Learning to read during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the several topics she will cover. Registration at: https://readingcsv.eventbrite.com.

Cambridge School Volunteers, a nonprofit partner of the public schools in the city for more than five decades, provides regular professional development for its volunteers every year. In addition to training geared toward literacy and math, volunteers have the advantage of CSV's workshops on diversity, equity and belonging; social-emotional learning; and other topics that prepare them for the most effective volunteering possible.

CSV has volunteer openings at every grade level in the city this month, many of which require only one hour per week. The Reading Buddies program (in photo) meets Thursdays for only 30 minutes per week.

Visit https://csvinc.org/volunteers or email [email protected] to learn how to join as a volunteer in any CSV program.

Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre
Open House
January 28th

Grolier Poetry Book Shop
February 3rd, 9th and 24th

Friday, February 3rd
Houman Harouni, Kythe Heller and David Rivard with an introduction by Ezra Fox
In person sign up
Virtual sign up

Thursday, February 9th
José Angel Araguz, Paul Hlava Ceballos and Levi Rubeck with an introduction by TBA
In person sign up
Virtual sign up

Friday, February 24th
Alex Braslavsky, Marguerite Feitlowitz and Danielle Pieratti with an introduction by Thomas Wisniewski
In person sign up
Virtual sign up

Swedenborg Chapel
Candlelight Taizé Service of Prayer
February 7th
7:30–8:30pm

Join us on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm for a Taizé service led by Stephanie Hollenberg (cantor) and Luke Concannon (guitar), and hosted by the Swedenborg Chapel community. These monthly services are contemplative, rooted in sung chants, prayer, and meditation – a quiet pause amid the busyness of daily life. We look forward to welcoming you. (free, in-person)

About Taizé:
The Taizé Community is an ecumenical Christian brotherhood in Burgundy, France, composed of over 100 brothers from all over the world, from Catholic and Protestant traditions, a true “parable of community” that wants its life to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples.

The brothers have opened their doors to the world, becoming a place of pilgrimage as they invite people to spend time with them
and participate in their daily practices of prayer, sharing, and communal work.
Learn more about the Taizé Community at here.

Lecture Series: New Church Visionaries
February 17th
3:00pm
(free, online)
You are invited to journey with us as we learn about some of the greatest visionary minds of the New Church lineage. The influence of Swedenborgian ideas and spirituality has been one of enormous diversity and dynamism. This free lecture series is offered by the Helen Keller Spiritual Life Center, an initiative of the Cambridge Society of the New Jerusalem at Swedenborg Chapel, with generous financial support from the Massachusetts New Church Union.

The first lecture of the series will be delivered by Dr. William Rowlandson, who will be discussing famed Argentine writer, essayist, and poet Jorge Luis Borges. Dr. Rowlandson is a Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the School of European Culture and Languages, University of Kent. He has written books and articles on Latin American cultural and political history, Cuban history, Cuban literature and film, Borges, Swedenborg, mysticism, psychedelics, the Imaginal, and the Daimonic. Among his numerous publications are Imaginal Landscapes: Reflections on the Mystical visions of Jorge Luis Borges and Emanuel Swedenborg (London: The Swedenborg Society, 2015) and Borges, Swedenborg and Mysticism (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2013).

Schedule of future lectures:
March 3: Rev. Sage Cole, on Helen Keller
April 7: Rev. Robert McCluskey, on Ralph Waldo Emerson
May 5: Dr. Devin Zuber, on Ivan Aguéli
May 19: Dr. Carl von Essen, on William James
June 2: Rev. Dr. James Lawrence, on John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)
July 7: Dr. Rebecca Esterson, on Immanuel Kant

Blue Heron
Fortuna & Fama: Josquin’s Missa Fortuna desperata & Dido’s lament
February 11th
3:00pm

A program we presented for the festival Laus Polyphoniae in Antwerp in 2021, on the themes of Fortune and Fama (rumour, reputation), Josquin’s sunny mass based on the song Fortuna desperata and a group of settings of Dido’s last words, Dulces exuvie, by Josquin, De Orto, Agricola and others.

New England Jazz Collaborative
FREE Jazz Concert - Unplayed/Unheard
Longy School of Music
February 17th
8:00pm

Jazz orchestra – right in the square!
Unplayed/Unheard at Longy features new music by the composers of the New England Jazz Collaborative, played by an all-star 17-piece professional orchestra. Tickets are required but free.Get yours here!

The Smoke Shop BBQ
Whiskey Dinners
February 17th and March 17th

Virginia’s Best Whiskey: Catoctin Creek Whiskey Dinner
2/17 at 6:30pm
Eventbrite ticket link & description of the event here.

St. Paddy’s Day: West Cork Whiskey dinner
3/17 at 6:30pm
Eventbrite ticket link & description of the event here.

Saint Paul's Choir School
Open House
January 29th

Saint Paul's Choir School provides a classically-inspired Catholic education for boys in grades 3-8 to support their service as choristers. All boys this age have a natural capacity to sing treble. Join us to learn more! www.saintpaulschoirschool.us

SAVE THE DATE

Diamond Jubilee
February 11th

Harvard Museum of Natural History
Swimming with Sharks: A Deep Dive into Shark Biology and Behavior
Ongoing

Nearly half a billion years ago, the first ancestors of a most remarkable group of fishes sprung forth from the evolutionary tree of life, exploding into a spectacular array of cartilaginous predators. Today, sharks are ubiquitous in and essential to our oceans, their lives intersecting with our own in important and surprising ways. In this remarkable exhibition, discover why the most massive sharks prey on some of the ocean’s smallest critters. Learn how to decipher dietary clues from jaws preserved in Harvard’s world-class collections. Explore how miniature teeth on shark skin help them move efficiently through water. Come to appreciate sharks not as deadly killers, but as fascinating creatures—more menaced than menacing—that play an outsize role in maintaining balance in marine ecosystems. Don’t miss this chance to come face-to-face with the ocean’s most famous, misunderstood megafauna!

Click here for a full calendar of Harvard Square events

News

Virtual Job Fair

Need a job? We can help!
The HSBA manages a job page on harvardsquare.com. Please take a look and see if you are the right fit for one of Harvard Square's favorite businesses.

Bob Slate Stationer

Celebrate the Season of Love with a heartfelt Valentine's Day card from Bob Slate Stationer! While you are here, be sure to check out other great products all over the store:
- stock up on office supplies to be ready for second semester, that next work project, or even taxes
- take advantage of our sale on remaining holiday items to stock up for next season at 50% off
- explore select Fine Pen styles on sale starting January 20, to help us make room for new styles in 2023.

Brick Marketing
Increase Your Sales in 2023!

Reach out to local digital marketing agency, Brick Marketing and get help to improve your SEO, social media, content, ads and email marketing to increase your business.

Cambridge Center for
Adult Education

Winter Term at Cambridge Center for Adult Education kicked off on January 9th! January through March will be full of events and classes for students online and in-person at our Brattle Street buildings. Join CCAE and other adult learners in cooking, literature, music, performing arts, languages, finance, and more! Flip through our virtual catalog to find what sparks your interest.

Distressed Children & Infants International

VOLUNTEER/INTERNSHIP POSITIONS:
Interested in human development and protecting child rights & preventing child labor & child marriage? Consider joining Distressed Children & Infants International (DCI) to help us manage our operational duties.

We strive to develop a plan for each volunteer/intern that both furthers our mission and helps them pursue their career goals. Work with us out of our Harvard Square office or remotely.

If interested, please visit https://distressedchildren.org/ and contact us by phone (857-292-9186) or email [email protected]

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel
Chill Over the Charles
Rooftop Igloo Bar Returns

With city skyline and river views under a glowing dome, the Chill Over the Charles igloo experience at DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Boston – Cambridge is back for the 2022-2023 winter season. From the comfort of your igloo, sample a collection of Framinghammer Baltic Porter Beers by local brewer Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers that pays homage to their hard-working hometown of Framingham Massachusetts. This unique line of special Baltic Porters spends a lengthy conditioning period in bourbon and rye barrels (and packs a punch with a 12% ABV!), or warm up with a hot winter drink meant to share like the Chamomile Tea Toddy for two or Toasted Cider for four. Dine à la carte or indulge in the three course pre-fixe menu, including housemade New England Clam Chowder, Hand-Rolled Garganelli and a Warm Spy Apple Blossom.

Available Thursday – Saturday from 5:30pm to 10:00pm (weather permitting and hours/days subject to change), guests can visit OpenTable to reserve an igloo for two hours for a group of up to 8 people, making this experience a great option for an intimate birthday gathering, special celebration or after-work happy hour.

Harvard Square Employees Credit Union

Reach your savings goals with a Certificate of Deposit from HUECU! Now available for a limited-time at special rates, a CD is the perfect way to boost your savings.

For more information, visit https://huecu.org/savings/certificates/

J.P. Licks

Valentine’s Day cakes go on sale January 14th

Give your loved ones a special treat this Valentine’s Day! Our Valentine’s Day Cake is made for you to share - Cookies 'n' Cream ice cream with a fudge center layer, covered in rich chocolate ganache and decorated with a loving red fondant heart! Available only online starting 1/14 for in store pick up. Be sure to order by February 10 for Valentine's Day pickup!

Tutoring Plus

Evening volunteers needed (after 6pm)

Tutoring Plus is seeking in-person volunteers to give one hour each week to help students in the 4th-12th grade with homework (6-7pm). 

Volunteers are paired 1:1 with a student for a minimum commitment of one semester. Volunteers pick the grade level and the day of the week that works best with their schedule. Volunteers also receive training and ongoing support.

Learn more about Tutoring Plus at our website.

For more information email Sheldine Jean-Baptiste, Volunteer Manager.

HSBA Member Spotlight

Harvard Dental Center

The Harvard Dental Center-Cambridge provides complete dental care and a full range of dental specialties. The state-of-the-art faculty practice located in Harvard Square serves the Harvard community and also welcomes patients from Cambridge and the surrounding communities. 

Make an appointment today.