‘Out of the Park’ Is Bringing the Fenway Experience to the Boston Common
Update, June 27, 11 a.m.: This event has been postponed to September 13 due to rain.
Photo via Highland Street Foundation
Watching a Red Sox game at Fenway Park is a quintessential Boston experience, on par with swan-boat rides and checking to see if someone moved your spacesaver. But not everyone can make it to America’s oldest ballpark. To remedy this, the Highland Street Foundation—masterminds behind Free Fun Fridays—are bringing the Fenway Park experience to the Boston Common for all to enjoy, free of charge.
On June 28, “Out of the Park” will erect a giant television screen at the corner of Charles and Beacon Streets, just in time for the Boston’s 1:10 p.m. away game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Highland Street Foundation is partnering with the Red Sox to bring all the Fenway fixtures to the Common, including Wally the Green Monster, hot dog vendors, the Hot Tamales Brass Band, balloon artists, face-painters, and caricaturists.
“We try to bring the joy of Fenway Park and the Red Sox to the community,” says Noreen McMahon, senior director of programs. NESN will broadcast live from the Common, while the Sox will provide a pitching machine, batting cage, and a “Steal Home Challenge.”
When asked what her favorite part of Fenway is, McMahon said it’s “the community feel, how everyone’s friendly. That’s what we’re trying to create: the feeling of community.”
Photo via Highland Street Foundation
Last year, the inaugural Out of the Park brought the Fenway Park experience to three local parks. This time around, the foundation’s trustees decided to focus solely on the Common, and use the rest of their resources to help renovate 10 ballfields in the Boston area: Smith Field in Allston, Hardiman Playground in Brighton, Ryan Playground in Charlestown, Dorchester Park in Dorchester, Noyes Park in East Boston, Daisy Field in Jamaica Plain, Langone Park in the North End, Edna V. Bynoe Park in Roxbury, Moakley Park in South Boston, and Peters Park in the South End. Two parks received Green Monster replicas, courtesy of the Red Sox.
“We’re using baseball as a way to bring the community together,” McMahon says.
