So call me naive but I honestly thought that the swans in the Public Garden flew south for the winter. However, my little world is being shattered as I am informed that they are kept in the Franklin Park Zoo during the winter.
With that said, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Boston Parks Commissioner Antonia Pollak and Four Seasons Hotel Boston General Manager Bill Taylor will welcome Boston’s most famous waterfowl back for the season during the 22nd Annual Return of the Swans to the Public Garden on Tuesday, May 4.
The festivities will begin with entertainment at 11 a.m.
After wintering at the Franklin Park Zoo, Romeo and Juliet (also didn’t know they had names) will once again reside in the Public Garden Lagoon. The swans will be returned to the lagoon following a parade that begins at 11:30a.m. at the Beacon and Charles Street corner of the park near the Make Way for Ducklings statue. Led by a brass band, the parade will continue to the George Washington Statue at the Commonwealth Avenue/Arlington Street entrance, over the pedestrian bridge, and end on the Boylston Street side of the lagoon for the official Return of the Swans ceremony at 11:45 a.m. The accompanying entertainment program, sponsored in part by The Friends of The Public Garden and beginning at 11 a.m., will include a brass band, face painters, and readings of Make Way for Ducklings led by the Boston Park Rangers. The Four Seasons Hotel Boston will provide refreshments and in-kind sponsor H.P. Hood LLC will offer tasty product samples.
So there you go folks…see the the swans return to their rightful place.
Lastly, if anyone knows how they prevent the swans from running away/walking into traffic your insight would be greatly appreciated. I asked Devin but he didn’t know…shocker.
