Despite February’s signature high-speed winds and snow, the Longwood Collective’s seasonal Winter Wednesdays offered a preview of spring. The fourth and final installment of Winter Wednesdays took place Feb. 26 at Shapiro Plaza, featuring free coffee, live music and ice sculpting demos. This month-long series of community gatherings was organized by the Longwood Collective, a local nonprofit that runs programs and services for Boston’s Longwood Medical and Academic Area.
Winter Wednesdays is just one program planned by Outside//, an initiative promoting “placemaking,” or creating community spaces in the private plazas of the Longwood Medical Area. Created in 2019, the Longwood Collective partners with local medical centers and teaching hospitals to host outdoor, year-round events.
According to the organization’s website, the Longwood Collective hosts a large range of public events, from a “Wag Wednesday dog program” to weekly fitness classes.
Claudia LaFontaine, an urban planner and designer at the Longwood Collective, organized the series after the success of last year’s Ice Stroll, a similar one-day winter placemaking event. With Shapiro Plaza’s proximity to hospitals like the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Children’s Hospital, events like Winter Wednesdays offer a well-deserved midday break for local doctors, nurses, researchers and students.
“A lot of these folks have really stressful jobs and lessons that they’re working on,” LaFontaine said. “Everybody’s inside of buildings all day and we don’t have that much green space in the Longwood Medical Area, so it feels really important to do what we can with the spaces that we have.”
Shanika De Silva, a biostatistician at Boston Children’s Hospital, enjoyed the pause in her day.
“This is the first time I’ve been able to come to an event in the area like this, and I’m always down for a free coffee,” De Silva said.
Coffee Trike, a mobile coffee shop, offered a variety of hot coffee options for attendees while they watched an ice carver use a chainsaw to shape a pair of figure skates from two ice blocks. As people waited in line for coffee, live music filled the air alongside the hum of conversation.
The ambiance was set by local musician Gustavo Agatiello, who played the vibraphone, a percussion instrument with metal bars and a resonator, as people sipped their hot coffee. Agatiello moved from Argentina to the United States in 1999 to study at the Berklee College of Music, where he now teaches.
As a percussionist who played in music halls in the past, performing in Shapiro Plaza was a welcomed change of environment for Agatiello.
“I remember walking down the street as a kid and seeing musicians playing, being in their own world,” he said. “It just fascinated me that in the middle of noise and chaos, just for a moment, you are in their musical world.”
With more anticipated programming in the spring as part of Outside//, LaFontaine is excited for more community-building events as the weather warms up.
“Winter Wednesdays means bringing our community together and bringing our culture of care to the outdoors,” LaFontaine said. “I love making sure our community is feeling supported and having these opportunities to experience joy during the day.”
