JoyWalk: Fenway Walking Tour with Ed Ballo

Join the Fenway News' "Urban Detective", Ed Ballo on a walk through the Fenway. Learn about the public art, architecture, urban development and ecology of what is arguably Boston's most culturally rich neighborhood.

These walks will focus on public art, architecture, landscape architecture and topographical development of the Fens. This is presented in the context of the physical expansion of Boston in the late 19th Century, where the Fens takes center stage for the expression of civic pride as well as new ideas in the areas of urban design and landscape architecture.

The total ground covered in these walks will be approximately 1 to 1 ½ miles. Duration approximately 75 minutes for tour 1 and 90 minutes for tour 2.

Each tour will have a 15 person capacity, and tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

About Ed Ballo:

Ed is a retired staff member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Over the course of his 26 years at MIT, Ed did administrative work in three different areas and for the last 14 years, he assisted in the admissions process at the Technology and Policy Program, TPP, which is a research-based master’s degree program.

In parallel with his career at MIT: Ed has always had a keen interest in history ever since he was a school kid growing up in the Boston area. He worked weekends for a tour company that provided step-on tour guides to charter tour bus groups coming into the city and did this work for 42 years! In 2023, he joined a world-wide and web-based company called ToursbyLocals, which provides small group walking tours in Boston. Ed has been producing the Urban Detective series for the Fenway News since the Fall of 2021. He lives in the West Fens.

Ed received his Bachelor’s degree in Art History and French from the University of Massachusetts/Boston and his Master’s in Education from Simmons University. He is an avid rower, cycler and practices yoga.