Of the thousands of flowering plants in the Arboretum, only one, the lilac, is singled out each year for a daylong celebration. Mainly located on the edge of Bussey Hill Road in the heart of the landscape, the lilac collection at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is among the premier collections of these plants in North America. Lilac Sunday has been celebrated at the Arnold Arboretum since 1908.

Tours of the lilacs and family activities are available from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., but the Arboretum is open as usual from dawn to dusk.  Learn more about picnicking rules, tours, parking options, and accessibility on the Arboretum's event website.

This year, the celebration revolves around the infrastructure in the Fort Point Channel of the Seaport District. You can learn more about the event on the Celebrate Infrastructure website.

Take a tour that showcases three centuries of architecture, including the oldest community theater company in the United States and the Eliot School, founded in 1689.

Meet up outside the historic Loring-Greenough House. This event is sponsored by the Jamaica Plain Historical Society.

This free event will be held at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library.

The Brighton-Allston Historical Society has invited Architectural Heritage Foundation to give an update on plans for the creative reuse of the Speedway Administrative Headquarters, Brighton's newest Landmark. There will be a question and answer session after the update.

This is a free event sponsored by Brighton-Allston Historical Society.

Limited space is available, so please RSVP for the event. Please contact the Brighton-Allston Historical Society for more information.

In 1903, Frederick Ayer and his wife Ellen Banning Ayer led a comfortable life at their Tiffany-designed mansion on Commonwealth Avenue. Preservation Advisor Jeanne Pelletier lifts the curtain on the unseen portions of the Ayer Mansion, giving a glimpse into servants’ lives using:

• an extraordinary 400-page inventory
• surviving architectural clues, and
• the annual census.

The reception starts at 6:30 p.m., and the presentation begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10, but space is limited. RSVP is required.

This event is sponsored by the Ayer Mansion.

This event was rescheduled to May 31.

The Neighborhood Coffee Hours give residents a unique opportunity to speak directly with Mayor Walsh about open space and other needs in their neighborhoods.
For more information and updates on possible weather cancelations, please contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 617-635-4505. Also see full schedule of Mayor Walsh's 2017 Neighborhood Coffee Hours.

Phillis Wheatley arrived in Boston in 1761 in what is now Chinatown. Purchased as a slave, ten years later she was an internationally famous poet.

At this event, Barbara Lewis, director of University of Massachusetts Boston's Trotter Institute, explores Phillis Wheatley's world.

The Wake Up the Earth Festival began in 1979 when a group of local neighbors and activists banded together to stop the Interstate 95 expansion into Jamaica Plain. The festival began as, and still is, a celebration of what can be accomplished when people of all traditions, cultures, ages, and beliefs come together.
The annual Wake Up the Earth Festival (WUTE) takes place each year on the first Saturday in May and is currently attended by well over 10,000 individuals of all ages. The event features four stages that include:

• music and dance performances
• popular theater
• the Youth Stage, and
• story telling for all ages.

In addition to performances, WUTE features over more than 50 craft, non-profit, and food vendors. The festival is anchored by a massive parade (with branches that start in JP Center and Roxbury) with several thousand people marching. A great many individuals, local artists, community groups, and schools join forces every year to create this unique community collaboration.