Harvard Square Business Association
November 2020 Newsletter
Deals, News, Events and More!
|
|
Dear Friends,
Happy Friday the 13th!
We are so excited to announce that the Cambridge Edition of Monopoly was released today! This is a long-anticipated event for us. As far back as last January, we began organizing the celebration of this release with plans that included dozens of Monopoly games being played on the streets, sidewalks and plazas of Harvard Square with food, music, beer gardens and a grand prize winner. That was, of course, prior to COVID.
Instead…we will celebrate this pre-holiday event with a fiercely competitive game of Monopoly with a showdown between two well-known and beloved Harvard Square mavens, Mary Catherine Deibel and Rachael Solem. The ladies will be equipped with face masks and hand sanitizer…and despite their trash-talking for days, will be fortified with a very proper afternoon sherry or fine port.
Mary Catherine is the former Co-owner of UpStairs at the Pudding and UpStairs on the Square. She is currently the Director of Development at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Rachael is the Owner and Manager of Irving House at Harvard. We have it on good authority that Rachael will be playing with the top hat and Mary Catherine will choose the thimble.
We will be live streaming this event direct from The Charles Hotel. Our gracious host, Alex Attia, General Manager at The Charles, is providing a beautiful setting for this Monopoly challenge. Please join us via Facebook at @harvardsq as these ladies vie to purchase iconic Cambridge sites such as the Longfellow House, Mount Auburn Cemetery and Kendall Square!
Looking forward to you tuning in at 3:00 p.m.
Denise Jillson
Executive Director
Harvard Square Business Association
|
|
Please join us in welcoming our newest members!
Opening soon!
|
|
Celebrate Thanksgiving in Harvard Square
Come to Harvard Square where tempting and delectable dining and take-out options await you and yours! Each restaurant listed offers unique, scrumptious fare created specifically for Thanksgiving. Leave the work to us and enjoy time with your family and friends. More information can be found here.
|
|
The holidays are just around the corner
If you’re looking to buy a special present but are unsure which of your favorite Harvard Square businesses to patronize, new e-gift cards are available to purchase – in any denomination! E-Gift Cards take the guesswork out of shopping and give your recipient immediate access to stores, restaurants and more! Obtaining these e-gift cards is fast and easy!
|
|
25% off
Open daily 11-5 with our beautiful annual calendar and holiday collections to help bring joy to this difficult year. Connect with loved ones that you can't be with in person via a personal greeting card or gift that lets them know you are always thinking of them. We continue to carry our regular selections of puzzles, journals, writing instruments, photo frames and albums, gift wrap, as well as office and art supplies.
We are offering a fine pen promotion over the Thanksgiving weekend, from Friday, November 27 through Sunday, November 29, with a selection of overstock gift pens at 25% off, while supplies last.
|
|
Shop this week's sale!
The holidays are fast approaching, shop us early. Beat the rush, especially if you need us to ship for you. The special pricing on these items will only be available for a short time. Look for the red sale tags on our site!
Now offering the private shopping experience!
Scheduling service for reserved and private shopping appointments. Reserved appointments take place during our regular store hours which are currently Friday, Saturday and Sunday 12-6. Schedule your shopping trip!
|
|
70% off Sale
Large sale at the Harvard Shop located at 52 JFK Street, including discounts of up to 70% off. Sale Begins November 16th through December 31st.
If you prefer to shop online, the promotion will run November 23rd - 29th
Exciting Online Advent Calendar Campaign:
Each day in December 1st - December 25th (Christmas Day) one premium item will be on sale.
|
|
Fall Specials
Playa Bowls fall specials available through November 30th! From our Harvest Acai Bowl to our Pumpkin Pie Smoothie, we have all the fall vibes you need.
|
|
Two Free Diagnostics Tests
During the holiday season, Signet is offering new clients a set of free SAT & ACT diagnostic tests with consultation for students looking to get started on their college admissions journeys. This offer, valued at $200, includes two free diagnostic tests with thorough score reports that break down the types of questions students need help on the most and a free consultation to help you decide which test your student should focus on. With the biggest tests of 2021 coming up fast in March and April, now's your chance to get the ball rolling on your student's study schedule and college education! Valid Through December 31st, 2020
|
|
Select sale tables stocked with necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and hair goods...prices as low as $2 with savings up to 75% off.
Also, select sale glass towers filled with gorgeous sterling, semi-precious and designer jewelry *Buy One, Get One Free* (of equal or lesser price). Through November 27th, 2020
|
|
Harvard Square's Thanksgiving Trees |
|
The Harvard Square Business Association, in partnership with its longtime and treasured member, The Friends of the Longfellow House, is pleased to present Harvard Square’s "Thanksgiving” trees. These whimsical trees, festooned with autumn leaves and Wadsworth poems, are installed on Deguglielmo Plaza which is situated at 31 Brattle Street.
Folks are encouraged to take the laminated cards which feature beautiful photographs of the Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. The Longfellow house is located at 105 Brattle Street, just a short walk from the plaza. The grounds are open year-round from dawn to dusk. Please stop by!
|
|
Folk Music Month
Harvard Square is known for many things: ivy laden halls of higher learning, sites of historical importance dating back to the earliest settlers in New England, beloved restaurants featuring delicacies from all over the world and esteemed museums and concert halls, to name a few. In addition, the Square has long been an epicenter of critical thinking and social and political reform and nowhere was it more prevalent than in the folk music scene that had its inception in the late 1950s at Club 47. For the past 14 years, The Harvard Square Business Association, in partnership with FOLK New England and Passim, has been celebrating Folk Music month in Harvard Square. More information available here.
|
|
Al Fresco Dining Extended
Layer Up and Come on Down!
Additional Harvard Square restaurants have opened outdoor seating and have implemented strict protocols that place the health and safety of restaurant staff and patrons as the top priorities.
While social distancing, frequent sanitizing and mask-wearing staff are de rigueur, the hallmarks of our al fresco dining scene await you: delicious food, fabulous drinks and decadent desserts! Layer up and come on down to support your favorite restaurants!
A list of outdoor patio dining options can be found here.
|
|
Open Businesses in the Square
Harvard Square businesses are opening deliberately and thoughtfully.
Please click here for an updated list of open businesses. These establishments are operating within the guidelines set forth by federal, state and local authorities.
We appreciate your patronizing the Square. Please do so with confidence, knowing that the safety of workers and the well-being and enjoyment of our customers are top priorities.
|
|
COVID-19 Testing Site in Harvard Square
The City of Cambridge is offering COVID-19 testing for residents seven days a week at expanded locations, as part of a strategic initiative to coordinate testing and COVID-19 vaccine distribution. The initiative is led by the City’s newly established Cambridge Pandemic Collaborative (CPC).
More information available here.
|
|
Restaurant Dos/Don’ts
How to Support Your Favorite Restaurants
from
Harvard Square Restaurant Owners & Chefs
Harvard Square Business Association restaurant members, under the leadership of Restaurant Committee chair, Kari Kuelzer, owner of Grendel’s Den, encourage folks to continue supporting their favorite restaurants.
Kuelzer, along with owners and chefs including Jody Adams, Michael Scelfo, Michael Pagliarini and Peter Davis, have outlined a short list of dos and don’ts for winter dining. Easy and helpful tips can be found here.
|
|
Since 1930, Bob Slate Stationer has provided an immersive analog experience of distinctive writing papers and instruments, backed by expert consultative staff, located in the heart of our beloved Harvard Square. Unfortunately, as we conclude our 90th year in business, we are faced with an existential threat that can only be met by calling on our global community for assistance. I am asking for your kind donation to help us sustain our store dedicated to the fine art of written communication.
This year we have experienced two catastrophic events: the COVID-19 pandemic, which has decimated small businesses world-wide; and recently, a building flood that decimated our back office and inventory backstock.
While community support of the store by in-store, phone, email ordering has been tremendously helpful and heartening, it simply isn’t enough to ensure that we can meet our immediate operating expenses, including paying the staff who have held us together during these long and difficult months, rent and our supplier partners. We have tried to keep afloat using our hardy New England grit and creativity, but simply can’t overcome the current extended challenges on our own. Funds given to this campaign will provide us the cash resources to address our immediate operating needs and build infrastructure to support the store into the future.
This fundraising campaign is just one way in which writing enthusiasts can support us. Please continue to shop in-store, where we have adopted recommended safety procedures to help you feel comfortable during your visit, or remotely by emailing us at NewBobSlate@gmail.com. Please share this message widely within your communities. And please support local independent businesses everywhere!
|
|
New November Hours
MOTTO offers a collection of artisan made American jewelry, select textiles, leather goods, handbags and home accessories.
|
|
October 19th - November 16th
Now more than ever, as we move through this pandemic, we need connections, community, and compassion as the ground shifts beneath us and we hear rumblings, and maybe even screams, to shed the past, change, and move into an unexpected future.
Regina Carey, a Strength-Based Coach, and Erika Salloux, a Certified Professional Organizer, will journey with you through five weeks of extraordinary barrier busting techniques! Commit to yourself and you will witness the changes your heart has been wanting! Release heaps of stuff that is not serving you and move on to the next level! We are here to help and guide you through the process. Grab your seat around this transformational table of women.
|
|
November 16 at 6 pm
You are invited to discover HOW TO MAKE MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION with author and designer, Fred Dust who has been looking at this area for some time. Dust was originally an architect but found that constructive conversation was critical to problem-solving in all sorts of environments, from schools to governments.
Dust will be joined by Seth Henderson from Aspen Institute's Better Arguments Project, a new national civic initiative created to help bridge ideological divides and help train Americans to conduct better dialogues.
Register now on Zoom and and tell your friends, family and colleagues - and even adversaries! After registering, you will receive a confirmation email.
Hopefully, you will find December's Forums equally compelling. On December 4 at 3pm, we will be talking to the latest breed of young journalists from The Ground Truth Project, who are injecting fresh energy into the field of journalism and in doing so, re-establishing respect for our free press, which is the corner stone of a healthy democracy.
|
|
November 27th at 6pm
Join us for the virtual premiere of Jack and the Beanstalk! By purchasing a household ticket, you can watch the event starting November 27 at 6PM.
The annual family holiday show goes virtual this Thanksgiving with a new, streaming musical that takes us on an epic journey through Storyland. The vivid imaginations of Harvard undergraduates Julia Riew and Ian Chan (the creators of last season’s Thumbelina) transform the classic fairy tale into a contemporary celebration of the power of kindness, courage, determination, and creativity to overcome life’s obstacles. Rebecca Aparicio makes her A.R.T. directorial debut with this production after serving as Assistant Director on Endlings and Gloria: A Life.
|
|
2020 RED Exhibit
Juried by Layla Bermeo, the Kristin and Roger Servison Associate Curator of American Paintings, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Due to the continued closure of University Place Gallery, RED will be presented in two parts. Our juror, Layla Bermeo, curated each part as a stand alone exhibit, reflective of the theme.
Our Kathryn Schultz Gallery remains open by appointment, Tuesday through Friday, noon-4pm Click here to schedule your visit or call 617-876-0246 24 hours in advance. For the RED exhibit, we have added Special Viewing Days on Saturday, November 14 & Saturday, December 5, Noon-4:00pm each day.
|
|
December 18 – 31 (Video-On-Demand)
Directed by Patrick Swanson; George Emlen, music director
Join us for this year’s Christmas Revels featuring some of our favorite artists plus a special performance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma! For the first time in 50 years, the annual Christmas Revels will not be celebrated live in Harvard’s historic Sanders Theatre. The shortest day will come and the year will die – but as Revels fans across country know, that is never the end of the story!
|
|
Bringing Tradition to Life
Revels engages today’s audiences in theatrical and musical experiences that bring the world’s cultural traditions and celebrations to life. Since our founding in 1971, nearly two million people nationwide have joined in the song and dance of Revels’ seasonal celebrations.
Revels creates a truly unique blend of music, dance and storytelling in our staged celebrations of the winter solstice and other seasons. Our creativity stems from a rich heritage of cultural celebrations, and from the tradition bearers from the communities we celebrate. The Revels theatrical vision encourages participation by all, builds connection between diverse people and cultures, and helps fulfill the human need for celebration.
|
|
Harvard Square Business Association
Two Brattle Square, Mezzanine
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 491-3434
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
