The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau announced new events in Boston for August and beyond.

BostonUSA Restaurant Week Summer -Aug. 10-15 & 17-22, 2008 news: There are now a record-breaking 185 restaurants participating throughout eastern Massachusetts. Menus for the 180+ restaurants - posted on the GBCVB www.BostonUSA.com/restaurantweek web site - offer incredible entrees ( from Georges Baked  Cod, Ratatouille Tapanade & Rustic Tomato Sauce  to Pan Roasted Wild Striped Bass, Lemon Scented Fregola, Wild Arugula & Tomato Vinaigrette- and much more- click to view more than 150 lunch & dinner menus!) . And this year- Restaurant Week Summer hotel packages- at great hotels & inns such as the Seaport Hotel, the Eliot Hotel , the Westin Copley Place,  the Colonial Inn in Concord, Hilton Boston Back Bay, the  Doubletree Guest Suites Boston. -and many more in Boston, Rockport & Concord! More are constantly being added - click to view: http://www.bostonusa.com/images/admin/logos/SummerRWHotelPackages08.htm

BostonUSA Summer  2008 news: More than 50 events in August! The Freedom Trail 50^th Celebration will host  a free  three-day British Encampment on the Boston Common August 2008. Included in the re-enactor regiments: His Majesty’s:  10th Regiment of Foot;  1st Regiment of Foot Guards; 5th Regiment of Foot; 9th Regiment of Foot; 4th or King’s Own Regiment; 21st Foot RNBF;  and the 24th Regiment.  Demonstrations will be conducted throughout the three-day weekend and many will sleep overnight; the program includes drills and black powder firing demonstrations, mock tents and bed making, shoemaking, a medical tent, cooking, clothing and uniforms; a cricket game, court marshal, stocks, music, and confrontation with colonial militia men. Children can dress in typical colonial dress and experience camp life and have their photo taken…The Boston Harbor Islands Alliance has announced two new programs: Summer Shack, one of Boston’s most popular seafood restaurants now offers a clambake on Spectacle Island every Thursday night! Just 12 minutes by fast ferry out in Boston’s Harbor the package ($75 per person) includes roundtrip fare from Waterfront Park, Sunset Cruise, Clambake with lobster, beer or wine. Eat on the Spectacle Island Pier with gorgeous view of Boston Skyline click to view: http://islandalliance.org/special_events.asp.  Rent an Entire Boston Harbor Island: Georges Island? Spectacle? Click here: http://islandalliance.org/events_tours_private_events.asp

The Boston Common & the Boston Harbor Islands are easily reached by Boston’s “T”. See “Green Visitor news” for explanation of new  GBCVB online guide:  More Than 100 Car-free, Gas-free Day Trips in BostonUSA ( Click to view: 2008 Events at a Glance (updated schedule of  Summer  2008 events)

BostonUSA Fall 2008 news: Great fall lineup! Boston Fashion Week Sept. 12-19, 2008; Boston Arts Festival on Waterfront Park Sept. Boston Ballet opens 45^th season with “Cinderella; 8^th Beantown Jazz Festival 3-day music fest spread over six blocks in the South End; and the Symphony …..The Celebration of Rose Kennedy Greenway completion is set for Oct. 4, 2008 will also include “Illuminale-Boston 08”   a ten (10) building and landmark lighting that will begin at dusk on Oct. 1, 2008:  Click to view: 2008 Events at a Glance (updated schedule of  Fall 2008 events) …….Media for contacts/details click here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

BostonUSA Holiday Season 2008 news: Great Holiday lineup! A ‘Historic Holiday Stroll’ offered by the Fredom Trail Foundation has been added; the Sarah Brightman concert at TD BankNorth Garden set for November 24, 2008. Click to view: 2008 Events at a Glance (updated schedule of Holiday Season 2008 events)  …….Media for contacts/details click here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

BostonUSA Family Visit 12-page Press Kit is now online: Click to view: What’s New For Families in BostonUSA

Special note: “30 free things for visiting families” is posted clixck to view:  30 Free Things For Visiting Families in BostonUSA ). Media can tell their readers that the 30 tips are posted on GBCVB www.BostonUSA.com web site. Visitors can simply type “free” into the www.BostonUSA.com home page Google search box! ……. Media for contacts/details click here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

BostonUSA 2009 Events news: Boston will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Kyoto-Boston Sister City relationship in 2009 ; the 100^th anniversary of the Ballet Russes will be celebrated in Boston May 16-23, 2009(the  festival will mark one hundred years since Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes premiered in Paris in May 1909); ; the 10^th birthday of the Museum of Fine Arts Nagoya Japan Museum will be celebrated in 2009; the 6^th Biennial Boston Cyberarts Festival ( BCF is the first and largest collaboration of artists working in new technologies in all media in North America) . The GBCVB 2009 Calendar is actually seven (7) calendars:  Festivals 2009 Calendar, 2009 Performing Arts & Museum Exhibitions Calendar, Food & Wine Events 2009 Calendar, Sports Events & Professional  Sports Seasons 2009 Calendar , 2009 Shopping Events & Links, 2009 Conventions  & Expositions  Calendar  & What’s New in BostonUSA in 2009 ? This contains new hotels, tours, Tall Ships info, attractions & is  constantly updated Click to view: 2009 Events at A Glance . Media for contacts/details click here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

BostonUSA  Food & Wine news: Three signature restaurants will open this fall: Adjacent to the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel (hotel opens Oct. 1, 2008) L’Espalier (formerly of Gloucester & Newbury Street) and Sel de la Terre open on Sept. 15, 2008 on Boylston Street. Frank McClelland, executive chef/owner. At the Battery Wharf Hotel, opening in October, Sensing will offer cuisine by three-star Michelin chef, Guy Martin of Le Grand Véfour, Paris. With 80-seats plus a 40-seat terrace overlooking Boston Harbor, the Boston location will be his first restaurant in the US grown, ingredients available. Also see Tours & Trails below to view Boston’s newest culinary tour is ” From Russia with Love!" A Walking Tour of Russian Cuisine . For more events & tours- Click to view: Culinary Events & Tours

BostonUSA Green Visitor  news: More Than 100 Car-free, Gas-free Day Trips in BostonUSA has been created by the GBCVB to provide visitors with a quick & useful ‘how-to-get-there-without-driving’ online guide….Boston is gearing up for the projected 22,000 attendance Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in November. More than 45 half-day & full-day Green Building tours will be offered to showcase some of the most forward design in the world as well as an nextensive walking & bicycle tour program. Archbishop Tutu, a Nobel Peace Laureate is the keynote speaker … Click to view: BostonUSA Green Visitors Program  This is an important new document for tour planners: BostonUSA ‘green’ visitor/tour ideas: public transit, green convention cenrters, hotels, restaurants, tours are found here ..Media for contacts/details click here: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

BostonUSA Tours & Trails news: Boston’s newest tours are focused on culinary, architectural & cultural heritage:  "From Russia with Love!" A Walking Tour of Russian Cuisine Where you can find the best Russian borsch, pirozhki, and caviar? What is the Russian way to drink tea and vodka? Discover the answers at our 3-hour culinary adventure while tasting delicious authentic Russian specialties: light fluffy blintzes, delicate Siberian dumplings, imported caviar, mouth-watering desserts, and half-dozen more. Visit treasured best spots in Washington Square and enjoy in­te­res­ting personal stories about their owners. Walking Tour of Jewish Cuisine: What the Jewish cuisine is? Find it out under the expert guidance while tasting authentic Jewish food - matzo ball soup, latkes, falafel, kosher wines, and dozen more. Visit many of the town's treasured Jewish food stores and restaurants and hear unique anecdotes about their owners. Discover traditions that lie behind the food and savor the rich history of Jewish Brookline. Click to view: Ahla Food Tour….Boston By Foot’s two new Rose Kennedy Greenway Walking Tours will be offered in August & September: The August 21, 2008 walking tour includes the Bulfinch Triangle and the North End Parks designed to reunite the historic neighborhood with the city after the removal of the Central Artery overhead. The Sept. 18, 2008  tour continues through the Dewey Square Parks that offers an interesting interpretation of Boston's transportation hub and Financial District, and through to the culturally inspired landscaping of the Chinatown Park. Come and experience the present day urban planning that is knitting the city back together Click to view: Boston By Foot…Boston Heritage Tours has introduced the North End Cultural Heritage Tour, which focuses on  Boston’s oldest neighborhood, the North End. The local guide narrates a myriad of remarkable stories, anecdotes and curiosities of customs, traditions and taboos from the most historic and romantic village in America, Boston’s “Little Italy.” Click to view: Boston Heritage Tours Inc.

BostonUSA Museum Exhibitions  news: Museum of Fine Arts extends Venice painters exhibition through Augt 2009; : Opening this fall: “Karsh 100: A Biography in Images” at Boston Museum of Fine Arts; Renzo Piano renovation of Fogg building initiated , Sackler to display  key artworks   
Next year’s “Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice” Sunday, March 15, 2009 - originally through  July 19, 2009- will continue through August 16, 2009 … Harvard Art Museum (formerly the Harvard University Art Museums) comprised of the Fogg Museum, Busch Reisinger Museum, Sackler Museum, & 4 research centers  has begun their 5-year renovation program. Key  Fogg artworks will go on display at the Sackler building at 485 Broadway- a formal opening & new website in September 2008….In celebration of the 100th birthday of renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), the Boston Museum of Fine arts  will host its September 23, 2008 - January 18, 2009 exhibition of the great portraitist's work; among his most famous iconic images in the exhibition: are ones he made of Winston Churchill (1941), Albert Einstein (1948), Pablo Picasso (1954), Georgia O'Keeffe (1956), Ernest Hemingway (1957), Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy (1960), Sophia Loren (1981), and Jessye Norman (1990). .. Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear opening Oct. 12, 2008 at Museum of Science Boston is a 6,000 sq ft  traveling exhibition featuring experiential and holistic view of fear science, examining the physiological, neurobiological and sociological aspects of fear. The exhibits will rate their response of visitors to fear-and explain the science behind the emotion and reflect upon its personal meaning…. The ICA is organizing the first major museum survey of the American sculptor-Tara Donovan October 10, 2008 - January 4, 2009- who transforms large quantities of mass-produced items— drinking straws, toothpicks, buttons —into stunning works of phenomenal impact.. .. …details & more exhibitions click to view: Museum Exhibitions  2008-2009

BostonUSA Hotel  news: Next new hotels to open? InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) will open the 72-room The Holiday Inn Express & Suites Downtown Boston at 280 Friend Street, directly across from the TD Banknorth Garden on October 15, 2008.  The 150-room Battery Wharf on Boston’s  waterfront & the 148-room Mandarin Oriental on Boylston Street in the Back Bay  &  the 143-room Copley Square Hotel will open in  October 2008. In 2009  the 234-room W Hotel Boston Theatre District, including 24 suites will open in August 2009.The 120-room  Ames Hotel by Morgans Hotel Group the historic 1889 landmark downtown building will open The most recently re-opened hotel is  the former Radisson Cambridge;  now the 203-room Courtyard by Marriott Boston-Cambridge at 777 Memorial Drive Cambridge.. Click to view: What's New In BostonUSA: New & Renovated Hotels

Hollywood in BostonUSA news:  This month Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese wrapped up the four month shooting of  Ashcliffe, a crime drama based on the Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island. In addition to DiCaprio, the movie also stars Mark Ruffalo.The movie has filmed throughout Massachusetts including Whittenton Mills in Taunton, the Crane Estate, Nahant, East Boston, Hyde Park and the Boston Harbor Islands. The last scenes were shot in the North End at the Waterfront Cafe on Commercial Street. There were also some childhood stickball scene shots up the street. The Ashcliffe movie  release in 2009. Who’s next? Late this summer/fall "The Fighter,” (starring Mark Wahlberg & Brad Pitt).f