People in Massachusetts are a pretty tolerant bunch, but one thing that’s probably not welcome at this weekend’s Boston Calling Music Festival are Montreal Canadiens fans. That’s all well and good with Habs supporters, as they’re still busy in the NHL Playoffs’ Eastern Conference Final after beating the Bruins in the second round earlier this month.
Remarkably, however, the Canadiens still have a presence here at Boston Calling — and most of the 23,000 packing City Hall Plaza each day since Friday probably have no idea.
All they have to do is look up.
Alongside flags of the commonwealth and United States rests a tiny Montreal Canadiens banner. It’s much smaller than the other two, and seems to be tied down even tighter. But a few gusts of wind revealed the colors of Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge
The flag is the result of a bet between mayors: Boston’s Marty Walsh and Montreal’s Denis Coderre wagered that the losing city of the Bruins-Canadiens series had to flyer the winning teams colors at City Hall. Maybe it was overconfidence by Walsh, but few took in the fact that Boston Calling would draw tens of thousands of people over three days to see bands like Death Cab For Cutie, Brand New, and Bastille.
We couldn’t have just bet some cases of Sam Adams against a keg of Molson?
Billy from Allston, decked out in a “F#CK THE HABS” t-shirt at Boston Calling, didn’t know the flag was up there.
“How high is it up there,” Billy asked. “I’ll climb right up there and take it down.”
The flag went up on May 21. And while we wonder why he couldn’t have waited… a few days, at least, for Boston Calling to be over, Mayor Walsh was gracious in defeat (at least more than Milan Lucic). Meanwhile, the Canadiens play the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the ECF tonight at Madison Square Garden.
As promised, Maire @DenisCoderre, the Habs flag is up at #Boston City Hall #NHL. pic.twitter.com/Ax6QnpWOi7
— Mayor Marty Walsh (@marty_walsh) May 21, 2014
