ARTery’s Ultimate Guide To 100+ Summer Parades, Festivals And Amazingness

Summer festivals, parades and spectacles are a way we love connecting with our neighbors, connecting to our roots (and other people’s roots), and launching new traditions. From strawberry festivals and pirate pub crawls to Juneteenth celebrations and the annual Boston Dyke March, these events show who we are in all our glorious richness.

Greg Cook is co-founder of WBUR’s ARTery. Let him know what your favorite summer event is @AestheticResear and Facebook.

JUNE
June 13: Boston Dyke March begins at Boston Common Gazebo at 7 p.m.
June 13 to 15: Greek Festival at Annunciation of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church, Woburn.
June 13 to 15: Gaspee Days in Warwick, R.I. Parade on June 14. Burning of the Gaspee at 4 p.m. June 15.
June 13 to 15: Festival of Historic Houses in Providence, R.I.
June 13 and 14: Waltham River Fest.
June 14: Boston Pride Parade begins at 11 a.m.
June 14: Matt Light’s Second Annual Cornhole Commotion game at Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, noon to 7 p.m.
June 14: Dance for World Community Festival in Boston.
June 14: Fire Apparatus Parade and Firematic Flea Market at Edgewater Park, Wakefield. Parade will begin at Lynnfield High School at 10 a.m.
June 14: Squeezebox Slam accordion festival at Davis Square, Somerville.
June 14: Pirate Crawl, pub crawl and boat cruise (pictured above), begins at noon.
June 14: Festival by the Lake in Wakefield, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
June 14: Strawberry Festival on Topsfield Town Common, 10 to 4 p.m.
June 14 to 22: Laconia Motorcycle Week in Laconia, N.H.
June 14: Boston Sneaker Expo at Boston Basketball Club, Waltham.
June 15: Baseball played by 1860 rules at Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury. Games continue throughout the summer: June 29, July 13, July 20, July 27, Aug. 3.
June 15: Battle of Bunker Hill Parade in Charleston, noon.
June 15: St. Anthony’s Procession at St. Anthony’s Church, Cambridge.
June 18: Adult Night at Legoland Discovery Center, Somerville, 7 p.m.
June 20 and 21: Rockport Garden Club’s Hidden Gardens Tour.
June 20 to 22: Paulie’s New Orleans Jazz and Blues Festival, Worcester.
June 20: Summer Solstice Bike Tour of Historic Roxbury.
June 20 and 21: 25th annual Portsmouth Pocket Garden Tour in New Hampshire.
June 20 to 25: Great Salem Fire Centennial.
June 21: Lynnfield Tricentennial Celebration and Parade.
June 21: Cosplay Music Jam Picnic at Boston Common.
June 21: Make Music Boston Summer Solstice Celebration, live music at various Boston parks including Boston Common, Paul Revere Mall, Copley Square, Jamaica Pond.
June 21: 5K Foam Fest at Kimball Farms, Haverhill. Obstacle course fun run that they say is like running through a car wash.
June 21: Joe’s Jazz and Blues Fest, Powderhouse Park, Somerville.
June 21: “Hemmings Motor News Great Race” of vintage cars dating from 1959 to 1914 passes through Lowell.
June 21: African Festival, Lowell.
June 21: North Shore Pride Parade, Salem, noon.
June 21: Strawberry Festival at Connors Farm, Danvers.
June 21: Roxbury Pride Day / Juneteenth Celebration at Franklin Park Playstead.
June 21: “Monster [truck] Jam: Path of Destruction” at Gillette Stadium, Foxboro.
June 21: Midsummer Faerie Festival at Washington Park, Martha’s Vineyard.
June 21: 20th annual Summer Solstice Ritual at America’s Stonehenge in Salem, N.H., 2 p.m.
June 21: Scandinavian Midsummer Fest with the Stambandet vocal ensemble plus traditional dancing and foods at Spiran Hall, Broadway and School Street, Rockport, 11 a.m.
June 21: South End Garden Tour in Boston.
June 21 to 22: Star Trek Convention at Hynes Convention Center, Boston.
June 22: Day of Portugal Parade in Cambridge and Somerville, 2 p.m.
June 22: Chinatown Main Street Festival, Boston.
June 25 to 29: St. Peter’s Fiesta in Gloucester includes religious processions, rowing races, and Greasy Pole contest.
June 27 to July 6: Brockton Fair.
June 27 to 29: Newport Flower Show in Rhode Island.
June 28: Annual Underwood Faery Festival at Wenham Museum.
June 28: Maine Whoopie Pie Festival at Dover-Foxcroft, Maine.
June 28 to July 6: Charles W. Morgan Homecoming to New Bedford. Return of vessel billed as the oldest wooden whaling and commercial ship still afloat.
June 28: Boston JerkFest in South End.

JULY
July 1 to 5: Annual Lexington Fourth of July Carnival at Hastings Park, Lexington. Fireworks after dusk July 2.
July 2 to 6: Harborfest in Boston.
July 3: Fishtown Horribles Parade in Gloucester, 6 p.m.
July 3 to 5: Red White & Brew Pub Crawl, Boston.
July 4: Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on Boston Esplanade at DCR Hatch Shell.
July 4: Beverly Farms Horribles Parade in Beverly, 8 a.m.
July 4 to 6: Mashpee Wampanoag Powwow at Barnstable County Fairgrounds, East Falmouth.
July 4 to 6: UCarnival, sales showcase of Indian ethnic garments, at Courtyard Boston in Cambridge.
July 5: Cape Verdean Recognition Parade and Carnival in New Bedford.
July 5 to 6: New Bedford Folk Fest.
July 10 to 13: Hispanic Family Festival and Western Mass Puerto Rican Parade in Holyoke.
July 10 to 12: Wareham 2014, celebration of 275th anniversary of the town’s incorporation, with parade at 10 a.m. July 12.
July 11 to 13: Moxie Festival in Lisbon, Maine.
July 11 to 13: Whaling City Festival in New Bedford.
July 11 to 13: Skate Boston inline skating festival.
July 12: Gloucester Garden Tour.
July 12: Urban Raid obstacle course race begins at Boston City Hall Plaza.
July 12 to 13: Green River Festival of music in Greenfield, Mass.
July 12 and 13: Newport Kite Festival in Rhode Island.
July 13: Secret Garden Tour in Provincetown.
July 17 to 20: Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music, Amherst.
July 18 to 19: Artbeat, arts festival in Somerville.
July 18 to 20: Revere Beach National Sand Sculpting Festival.
July 18 to 19: Festival Betances at Plaza Betances, 100 W. Dedham St., Boston, by Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion.
July 19 to 20: Abbadia Mare Festival at Hammond Castle, Gloucester.
July 19: Black Picnic at Salem Willows. (Traditionally held on the third Saturday in July.)
July 19: Fifth annual Starlabfest with rock, comedy, film and flea market in Somerville.
July 19: Third Eye Open hip-hop festival in Buttonwood Park, New Bedford.
July 19: Dirty Girl Mud Run (women only) at Kimball Farm, Haverhill.
July 19: Jamaica Plain Porchfest music festival, noon to 4 p.m.
July 21 to 27: Barnstable County Fair in East Falmouth.
July 25 to 27: Lowell Folk Festival (pictured above).
July 25 to 27: Newport Folk Fest in Rhode Island.
July 25 to Aug. 3: Cape Cod Canal Centennial, including Parade of Lights through the canal on July 26.
July 26 and 27: Figment arts festival on Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston.
July 26 and 27: “The American Civil War Comes to Red Apple Farm,” civil war reenactors encampment with battles at 2 p.m. each day  at 555 Highland Ave., Phillipston.
July 26 to Aug. 2: LGBTQ Family Week in Provincetown.
July 27: Cape Verdean Day Festival in Brockton.
July 27: Roaring Twenties Lawn Party at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, Ipswich.
July 31 to Aug. 3: 100th annual Portuguese Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, New Bedford.

AUGUST
Aug. 1: Maltese Fur-Con, furries convention at Hilton Boston Logan Airport.
Aug. 1 to 3: Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.
Aug. 2: Banditos Misteriosos water-gun fight. Location somewhere around Boston to be announced.
Aug. 3: Salem Maritime Festival.
Aug. 8 to 10: Boston Comic Con, Seaport World Trade Center.
Aug. 9: AS220 Foo Fest, art and music festival in Providence, R.I.
Aug. 9: Gloucester Blues Festival at Stage Fort Park.
Aug. 10: Puerto Rican Cultural Festival, Lowell.
Aug. 10: Gospelfest on Boston City Hall Plaza.
Aug. 10: Boston Chinatown August Moon Festival.
Aug. 14 to 17: Fisherman’s Feast with Flight of the Angel (pictured at very top) on Aug. 17, Boston’s North End.
Aug. 15 to 17: Boston GreenFest “multicultural environmental music festival” on City Hall Plaza.
Aug. 15 to 24: Marshfield Fair in Marshfield.
Aug. 16 and 17: Gloucester Waterfront Festival.
Aug 16: Southeast Asian Water Festival, Lowell.
Aug. 16: 42nd annual Sandcastle and Sculpture Day by Nantucket Island School of Design & the Arts at Jetties Beach, Nantucket.
Aug. 16 and 18: Provincetown Jazz Festival.
Aug. 16 to 22: Provincetown Carnival with parade at 3 p.m. Aug. 21.
Aug. 20: Grand Illumination Martha’s Vineyard. Century-old tradition in which cottages of Oak Bluffs hang Asian-style lanterns on their porches.
Aug. 21 to 25: Great Feast of the Holy Ghost in Fall River.
Aug. 23: Boston Caribbean Carnival Parade (pictured above).
Aug. 23: King’s and Queen’s Equestrian Championship at Quintavia Summer Celebration by the East Kingdom of the Society for Creative Anachronism at Havel Grove Park in Groton.
Aug. 24: Fire on the Mountain Chili Fest in Henniker, N.H.
July 27 to Aug. 3: Yankee Homecoming in Newburyport includes a lighted boat parade and race of beds pushed down a downtown street.
Aug. 29 to 31: Boston Tattoo Convention at Boston Back Bay Sheraton Hotel.
Aug. 29 to 31: Gloucester Schooner Festival with boat parade of lights at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30.
Aug. 29 to 31: 95th annual St. Anthony’s Feast, Thatcher and Endicott Streets, North End, Boston, includes a 10-hour procession of the statue of St. Anthony through the neighborhood.
Aug. 29 to Sept. 1: Spencer Fair in Spencer.
Aug. 30: Myopia Hunt Club Horse Show in Hamilton.
Aug. 30 and 31: Vermont Stinks: Annual Southern Vermont Garlic and Herb Festival at Bennington, Vermont.