Celina Colby

This has been a hugely impactful year for me. I stepped into the role of Time Out Boston editor midway through 2024, expanding my longtime beat of Boston dining to encompass all the awesome ways to enjoy life in this city. Of the innumerable experiences I took on this year—I’ll never forget you, Polly Pocket house—there are meals and events that have stayed on my mind. With insight from Time Out contributors and hours spent scoping out countless museum exhibits, music venues, restaurants, bars and more, here’s what should be on your radar as the year winds down.

Boston’s Wicked Haunt Fest is a sprawling two-acre immersive Halloween experience with everything from chilling haunted walk-through experiences to an Oktoberfest beer garden. The centerpieces of the festival are three haunted walk-through experiences, with "Hollywood-caliber" details like professionally trained scare actors, 16-foot animatronics and tons of unexpected frights. Creative director Carl Rugato has worked in entertainment for decades with big names like Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Parks, so you won't find any sheet-covered ghosts here. (Is it really that scary, though?) Tickets start at $25 per person and offer a variety of scary and non-spooky activities for all ages. Read more about it here.

The two-acre slice of Hook Park in Charlestown that was recently home to Boston's Wicked Haunt Fest has been transformed into a winter wonderland by the same creative team.  Boston’s Winter Fest, which debuts Friday, Dec. 6, at 3pm, has similar elements to other holiday festivals like Snowport and SoWa Winter Festival—seasonal food vendors, elaborate decor, local shopping—with an interactive bent. Families can ice skate on the pop-up rink, kids can meet Santa on weekends and see inside his workshop, and visitors can catch live music and performances on the central stage. A vendor village, meanwhile, is mostly populated by local Charlestown businesses. Photograph: Celina Colby Of course, there are plenty of photo opportunities, as well. The 32-foot Christmas tree onsite is affectionately dubbed “the tree you can see from 93,” and founder Carl Rugato even hopes to orchestrate snowfall most evenings.  “I’m going for that awe moment when you walk in the gate,” says Rugato, creative director and a Lynnfield native who conceptualizes these immersive experiences at Hood Park. “Kids’ reactions are, like, gold for the soul. When you see a kid light up,” all the effort that went into setup is worth it, he says. You’ll walk through a massive lit-up castle complete with a blue, Cinderella-style carriage. Nearby, a small, greenery-laden structure with built-in mistletoe encourages date-night smooches. There is a Veuve Clicquot-sponsored Après Ski Gondola Lounge and a heated Bent Water B

Famed New York barbecue spot Pig Beach BBQ is slated to open an outpost in Boston this fall inside South Boston pickleball-sports bar, PKL.  Popping with smoke-centric flavors, Pig Beach’s menu showcases standouts like brown sugar baby back ribs, Greek-inspired smoked lamb shoulder and vegan-friendly BBQ jackfruit. Devotees can even shop their sauces and seasonings, ranging from tangy and vinegar-forward to sweet and sizzling. Founded in Brooklyn, Pig Beach currently has locations in Palm Beach, Florida; and Queens, New York. Founders Matt Abdoo and Shane McBride left Michelin-starred NYC restaurants to pursue their passion for 'cue, the restaurant's story goes. The result is an award-winning spot fusing comfort food classics with global flavors. Last year, Pig Beach pitmasters secured the Grand Champion title for ribs at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Memphis is one of the national gold standards for pit-smoked barbecue.  Pig Beach popped up at PKL for five days in June, perhaps testing the waters for this larger expansion. Now pickleball players can finish off their games with a heaping platter of smoked chicken wings any day of the week. Of course, diners don’t need to play pickleball to indulge. PKL's bars and restaurant are open to all. The Boston location will join the local barbecue canon including the Smoke Shop, Sweet Cheeks and Blue Ribbon BBQ, which has a location at Time Out Market.  Pig Beach is currently slated to open mid-Octobe

Last Friday, I closed my laptop and prepared for my hot weekend-night plans: a candlelight crypt tour underneath King’s Chapel in downtown Boston. Romantic, creepy, or insightful? Time would tell.  King’s Chapel already has a sordid history, even before you take the whole crypt thing into account. Located on Tremont Street, the congregation dates to the 1680s and was the first Anglican Church in the city at a time when allegiances to Britain were especially unpopular. Given the whole tyranny thing, no one in Boston would sell the Anglicans any land—so, they usurped half of an existing graveyard, digging up bodies to build their church. Talk about some bad juju!  The adjacent cemetery, now known as King’s Chapel Burial Ground, is Boston’s oldest graveyard. Established in 1630, it served as the resting place for many of the Puritans who died in the initial colonization of Massachusetts, some of whose bodies were exhumed and relocated when the church was first built.  Photograph: Courtesy King's ChapelKing's Chapel The crypt tour began in the church’s main chapel area, which is completely dark except for candles lit at the pews and central dais. Our funny and informative tour guide gave us the lowdown on King’s Chapel’s disreputable past and we sat, with rapt attention, in the box pews.  “[In this program] visitors can experience King's Chapel in the most historically accurate way,” said Gianna Russi, the director of history programming at the site. “To be able to see it all l

A massive new Halloween festival opens in Charlestown this fall and it promises to be even more chilling than Storrow Drive during rush hour. Developed by Lynnfield native and entertainment producer Carl Rugato, Boston’s Wicked Haunt Fest is a sprawling, monthlong immersive Halloween experience with everything from chilling haunted walk-throughs to an Oktoberfest beer garden. What is Boston’s Wicked Haunt Fest? Wicked Haunt Fest is a packed fall festival celebrating everything spooky and seasonal. Whether you want a heart-racing immersive horror experience or a family-friendly stroll through a pumpkin patch, it’s all here.  The centerpieces of the festival are three haunted walk-through experiences, with "Hollywood-caliber" details like professionally trained scare actors, 16-foot animatronics and tons of unexpected frights. Rugato has worked in entertainment for decades with big names like Busch Gardens and SeaWorld Parks, so you won't find any sheet-covered ghosts here. So, it’s a haunted house? Not quite. It sounds like this goes way beyond your typical haunted house. Each of the three immersive experiences has an intricately designed storyline that carries through the whole excursion, like a fully-fledged theatrical experience you’re starring in. In "Rise of Annkh,” a team of well-intentioned archaeologists has unleashed a vengeful Pharaoh and his mummified staff. “Harvest Awakening” will take guests through a once-successful farm that’s been overcome with malevolent spir