• "Boston is where it all began for us," Bobby Brown said in a statement earlier this month.
• "This honor means the world to me."

The latest: The members started arriving late this week for the celebration, which includes a community block party, said John Borders IV, the city's tourism chief.

• Borders called New Edition "the greatest R&B group of all time — really the greatest group of all time."

Zoom in: For Borders, the celebration is personal.

• He recalls growing up seeing Bobby Brown visit his father, John Borders III.
• Before the elder Borders became a pastor, he was in a music group called the Energetics.

Fast-forward four decades, and the younger Borders is a city official, welcoming the six members home.

• "This is really, really a full-circle moment for us," he said.

If you go: The street naming ceremony is at 10am at the corner of Ambrose and Albony streets.

• The community block party starts at 11am at the Orchard Gardens Boys & Girls Club in Roxbury.