By Karen Klinger

While in recent years Cambridge has been named as "America's walking city" by one national publication and given high marks as a town for bicyclists by another, city officials are hoping to give people another reason to get around without cars through a pilot program that aims to use social marketing techniques to promote the virtues of moving on two feet, two wheels or public transportation. read more...

By Karen Klinger

The Cambridge Historical Commission finally gave the go ahead July 1 to a controversial condominium complex in Porter Square linked to the historic St. James's Episcopal Church, following the latest installment of a protracted public hearing that stretched incrementally over seven months.

The six commission members who were present voted unanimously to grant a "certificate of appropriateness" that Oaktree Development needs to tear down the church's deteriorating parish hall as the first stage in the construction of a four-story, 78,000-square-foot structure comprising 46 upscale condo units on land partly owned by the church and partly by Oaktree adjacent to St. James's iconic 1888 sanctuary at the intersection of Beech Street and Massachusetts Avenue. read more...

Hundreds came with their dancing shoes on to show off their moves June 25 at the City of Cambridge's Dance Party, an annual event in front of city hall first held back in 1996 as part of Cambridge's celebration of its 150th anniversary. It proved so popular the city decided to reprise it every year, now incorporating a light show with images illuminating the city hall facade and spotlights moving over the crowd and the night sky. It's the simplest of community celebrations--no food, no agenda, no professional performers, just a do-it-yourself good time.

By Karen Klinger

As good weather prevailed, the 31st Cambridge River Festival went off smoothly June 5, attracting an anticipated crowd of 200,000 to the riverfront along Memorial Drive with a kickoff processional tribute to legendary storyteller Brother Blue, followed by a potpourri of musical acts, performances by actors and poets, much dancing, interactive demonstrations by local visual artists, public art installations and a vast array of ethnic foods and artisans' booths selling everything from jewelry and clothing to brightly decorated latter-day versions of hula hoops. read more...

By Karen Klinger

Standing on a knoll above a remnant of geological history, where a glacier moved mountains of rocks and gravel to the sea and flanked on both sides by a forest of tall trees, Chip Norton said that if not for the distant roar of a highway, you might think you were somewhere in the vast, verdant wilderness of Maine.

This was no wilderness, though, but a place so close--and yet, in a way--so far from the dense, urban streets of Cambridge that no one not in the know might have guessed that it is actually a part of the city. Only minutes by car from Harvard Square, there are 1,200 acres of hiking trails, vernal pools, towering white pines and oaks, habitats for deer and a variety of other year-round wildlife, plus migrating birds and plants ranging from abundant blueberry bushes to mountain laurel, phlox, wild geranium and a red-coated lichen with the delightful name of "British soldiers." read more...

By Karen Klinger

With a science-themed laser show accompanied by a thumping rock beat and scores of exhibitors eager to talk about subjects ranging from dinosaur footprints to robots, worm composting, designing and building race cars, Newton's laws of physics, fruit flies as "model organisms" and much more, the nine-day run of the 2010 Cambridge Science Festival got underway April 24 with a "carnival" at a new site adjacent to the main library on a picture-perfect day that drew throngs of visitors. read more...

For the fourth year, the Cambridge Science Festival is returning with a nine-day run, kicking off in spectacular fashion at noon on April 24 with a carnival featuring over 80 booths and demonstrations outside the city's main library at 449 Broadway and a laser show commemorating the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser.

The festival is the first of its kind in the nation, now being followed in places such as New York, Philadelphia and San Diego, with more than 30,000 visitors last year and this year slated to have over 200 events in 30 different locations around the city, almost all of them free. read more...