This past weekend, thousands of revelers turned Davis and Harvard Squares into a riot of glitter, fluorescent spandex, and brass bands. The occasion, of course, was the annual HONK! Festival.
Street bands from all over the U.S. swept the streets and played their trumpets, trombones, tubas, saxophones, drums, and every instrument imaginable.
“Metaphorically speaking, [the bands] honk their horns for the same reasons motorists honk theirs: To arouse fellow travelers, to warn of danger, to celebrate milestones, and to just plain have fun,” says the event’s website.
In addition to blocks upon blocks of free performances, the festival that was once a single-hall gathering marked its sixth year with an evening concert cruise, a Harvard symposium, and a parade that put Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone alongside groups like Veterans for Peace and sign-bearing protesters from the nascent “Occupy Boston” encampment.
