September is Revival Month in Harvard Square
A Time of Renewal, Reunion, Repurpose and Reflection
In 2011, Harvard Square’s dear friend, Scott Alarik, released the novel Revival, a love letter to the Cambridge Folk music scene. Alarik was a familiar face (and voice) to many this in this community and beyond as a musician, songwriter and journalist until his untimely passing in 2021. He was a fixture at coffeehouses throughout the country and at the beloved Passim in Harvard Square. In addition, he was a frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion.
To honor Scott and his love of Harvard Square, the month of September has officially been designated as Revival Month. We welcome you to join us at one of our many events in Harvard Square in September where we honor Scott’s vision and embrace this season of renewal, reunion, repurpose and reflection.
“September is like our New Year,” says HSBA director Denise Jillson. “It’s such a time of renewal, with the students coming back and all these events celebrating tradition and innovation in ways that have always defined Harvard Square. We’d been looking for a way to connect it all, and then we found out about this wonderful novel, Revival. It was perfect.”
September 2nd
Live Blues & Roots Music Returns to Harvard Square: Wednesday Nights @ The Sea Hag Restaurant & Bar
The Sea Hag Restaurant & Bar and The Barrett Anderson Band are excited to announce a new weekly series, Blues & Roots Wednesdays, bringing live music back home to historic Harvard Square.
Anderson won a Boston Music Award (2013 Blues Artist of the Year), was on the Billboard charts (2020’s live album Hynoboogie spent 3 weeks on the Billboard Blues Album chart, peaking at #6), and was nominated for a Blues Music Award (2023 Band of the Year with Anthony Geraci & The Boston Blues All-Stars), all the while playing nationally, internationally, and locally in Cambridge and the greater Boston area.
Music starts every Wednesday at 6:30 and there’s no cover.
The Sea Hag Restaurant & Bar, 49 Mt Auburn Street, (617) 945-7477
September 4th – 7th
campfire. festival at Passim
Imagine getting to see dozens of your favorite acts all in one weekend. Not in a festival field hundreds of yards away, but in an intimate, seated space. Catch a glimpse of what it is like backstage at a big festival – artists hanging out and trading songs – on stage one minute and hanging out in the audience watching the next set right after.
This is the scene at the Campfire Festival at Club Passim. Twenty five years in, it is the best way to catch your current favorites as well as your future favorites. It is a festival of experiments and discoveries. This is where new artists get on stage and shine. Swapping between songwriter rounds and band sets, you’ll get a glimpse of a music scene that is much bigger than one room. There are artists from around the corner and around the world. Some might be familiar, but many you’ll discover for the first time. Settle in for a few sets…or a few days. Genre is not part of the mix. Be open to the voices…the instruments…the sounds. Be ready to be amazed.
Campfire has long been the best way to see new artists at Club Passim. So many of today’s favorites got their start at the Campfire Festival. Many folks you may have already been fans of stopped in to perform a special guest set!
Passim, 47 Palmer Street, (617) 492-5300
September 5th
2nd Annual Asian Night Market
Following the massive success of last year’s inaugural celebration at Brattle Plaza, the Harvard Square Asian Night Market returns for its second year on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026 (4 PM–10 PM)! Hosted by the HSPAA and HSBA, this free, family-friendly event is expanding to a much bigger space at Brattle and Church Street to deliver double the food, culture, and energy. What’s in store:
Feast: Authentic Asian street food and a vibrant Asian Beer Garden.
Fun: Live music shows, pop-up stores, carnival games, and an Anime & K-Pop Random Play Dance meetup.
Action: The 3×3 Basketball Tournament awards ceremony, a 3-point shootout, and a karaoke contest.
Brattle & Church Street – Rain Date September 12
Harvard Square Philippine American Alliance, (617) 259-8678
September 6th
Bread & Puppet Circus At Cambridge Common
Bread & Puppet Theater performs its “The Upside Down World Circus” on Cambridge Common on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, at 5 p.m. Free. Presented in partnership with Cambridge Arts.
Vermont’s legendary Bread & Puppet Circus performs puppets big and small, acts serious and silly, and performances slapstick and sublime. Stilt dancers, paper maché beasts, and a riotous brass band make a raucous, colorfulspectacle of protest and celebration.
City of Cambridge
September 8th
First Parish Church, 7pm
Cambridge Forum & Harvard Book Store Present
Above the Fray? Rethinking the Supreme Court Independence
Was the Supreme Court ever what we thought it was? Public trust in the Supreme Court is near a three-decade low, according to Pew Research Center: only 45% of Americans currently view the Court favorably, down 20 points from 2021, with Republicans and Democrats now divided by 44 percentage points in how they see it.
Rachel A. Shelden, author of The Political Supreme Court: A Forgotten History, has spent her career studying how the Court actually operated in its first century, long before the modern ideal of judicial neutrality took hold. Peter S. Canellos, author of Revenge for the Sixties: Sam Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement, has spent his time tracing how one justice’s life story became constitutional doctrine.
Together, they’ll tackle the questions at the center of this moment: Has the Supreme Court always been political? If so, why does it feel different today? And if Americans are losing faith in the Court, what does that mean for the future of checks and balances in a democracy?
Cambridge Forum, 3 Church Street
Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass Avenue, (617) 661-1515
September 10th
8pm
Pete Yorn (solo acoustic) at The Sinclair
I’m excited to announce more shows for 2026! This will be a special year, celebrating the 25th anniversary of my debut album musicforthemorningafter (time flew away!!). These shows will lean heavily into songs from that record, along with the stories and memories behind them. I’ll also play favorites from across my catalog—and maybe even take a few requests along the way. Every show will be a unique experience. I can’t wait to see you out there.
The Sinclair, 52 Church Street, (617) 547-5200
September 11th
8 pm
Revels and Passim present
Revels FRINGE: Red, White, Black, & Blues
The Rants, Chants, & Coos of 3 Literary-Musicians
The world is an especially tough place right now, and we all need a space where we can slow down, reflect, and connect. Come join Inaugural Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Regie Gibson, award-winning singer-songwriter-storyteller Kemp Harris, and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Alastair Moock for a passionate and poignant evening of stories, spoken word poetry, music and song. This will be a thoughtful, bluesy, funky, jazzy, folky, touching exploration into what it means to live, laugh, and love as an American and as a human being.
Revels, 2 Brattle Square, (617) 972-8300
Passim, 47 Palmer Street, (617) 492-5300
September 13th
3pm
Juventas New Music Ensemble at the Longfellow House
The Longfellow Summer Arts Festival brings music, poetry, and community to the East Lawn of the Longfellow House on Sunday afternoons through the summer. All events are free and open to the public.
Juventas New Music Ensemble is a dynamic contemporary chamber group with a special focus on emerging voices. They reimagine classical music as a vibrant living art form, uplifting rising voices and bringing audiences music from a diverse array of composers that live in today’s world and respond to our time.
Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site, 105 Brattle Street, (617) 876-4491
September 16th
Earfull at the Regattabar
EARFULL is a performance series featuring writers and musicians doing their respective things in an intimate setting. WRITERS read from their new books, or about-to-be books, or right from their crumpled up notes. MUSICIANS range from harpists to horn blowers, from singer-songwriters to full-on rock bands. EARFULL EVENINGS offer food & drink at the venue, and time between acts to socialize. On Wednesday, September 16th we welcome authors Jennifer Belle and Peter Wolf, and musical acts Eric and Hazel Royer and Kenny White to the Regattabar in the Charles Hotel. More information here.
Regattabar, 1 Bennett Street, (617) 395-7757
September 16th
8pm
Agora Cultural Architects Present: Richard Pena Trio at Passim
Guitarist, composer, and educator Richard Peña is a rising force in Latin jazz, blending Afro-Caribbean traditions with modern jazz innovation. Named Youth Jazz Ambassador by the Humacao Friends of Jazz Association, Peña has performed internationally as a bandleader and alongside Grammy-winning artists such as Horacio “El Negro” Hernández, Dafnis Prieto, Henry Cole, Richie Flores, Charlie Sepúlveda, Carlos Vives, and Victor Manuelle.
Passim, 47 Palmer Street, (617) 492-5300
September 18th
7pm
Passim Presents an Evening with Bettye LaVette at Arrow Street Arts
Passim is honored to welcome the incomparable Bettye LaVette—“one of the great soul interpreters of her generation”—for an intimate evening of songs and stories from her extraordinary 64‑year career. Joined by Etienne Stadwijk on keyboards, LaVette strips each song to its emotional core, reshaping familiar material with the raw honesty and fearless artistry that have defined her since her first Atlantic Records single in 1962.
Passim, 47 Palmer Street, (617) 492-5300
September 26th
Revels RiverSing
Revels RiverSing 2026 will be a celebration of the Fall Equinox – when Day and Night are in perfect balance. Families are invited to bring a picnic to the riverbank on the Cambridge side of the Weeks Footbridge, or gather at Winthrop Park in Harvard Square. One of Revels’ flagship seasonal events, RiverSing is a family-friendly program held on the banks of the Charles River. Come sing with us!
RAIN DATE: In case of rain, Revels RiverSing will take place on Sunday, September 27th.
Revels, 2 Brattle Square, (617) 972-8300
September 26th
Thai Cultural Festival
Experience the sights, sounds and tastes of Thailand from 11am – 7pm on Brattle Street (in front of the Brattle Theatre at 40 Brattle Street). More information coming soon!
Rain Date, October 3rd
For information on Revival Month festivities and other events in Harvard Square, please visit www.harvardsquare.com