For the past 15 years, an October weekend has been the moment when thousands of participants from the Greater Boston area in the USA have enjoyed the HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands, a raucous celebration of music and community that took Somerville, by storm in 2006. Although the pandemic has made both intimate and spectacular gatherings impossible, they did not want to let a year go by without honoring and activating the HONK! spirit, especially in these times when it is urgent to fight for social justice and to renew our lives with the joy of music and art. HONK!United started on October 5 and will run through October 11. The best way to watch will be on YouTube at youtube.com/watch?v=l2K9XkWIPcc or on their website at honkunited.org/.

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Free Bluebikes rides for essential workers: Grocery store and pharmacy workers in Somerville can apply for free 90-day Bluebikes passes at bluebikes.com. The pass will allow for unlimited free Bluebikes rides for essential workers. The program is designed to give essential workers another option to get to and from their jobs.

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Happy birthday this week to several locals: Happy birthday to local activist and good guy Ben Echevarria. We wish him well. From a great family and a proud Somerville guy. Happy birthday to Mike Buckley, another proud Somerville guy. We wish him the very best. He’s a dedicated and good guy. Happy birthday to the matriarch of the Moccias and of the former Victor’s Deli, Rosa Moccia. We wish her a very happy birthday. We wish all of our Facebook friends, such as Kerri Shannon Schaefer, Sue Casazza Smith, Steven Connarton, Phyllis D’Anna, Mary Marshall, Pamela Bono Bromberg, George Bevans and Joe Schragea very happy birthday. We hope everyone has a great day. To all the others we may have missed, we sincerely wish them the very best of birthdays.

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The city and MBTA are working to quickly improve bus service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Route 86 bus, which travels on the western portion of Washington Street in Somerville, has sustained high ridership throughout the coronavirus emergency. To build safer facilities for all users and better meet current public health needs, city and MBTA staff have developed plans for a pilot project that includes: New bus-priority lanes that let buses bypass waiting traffic at busy intersections. Protected bike lanes along sections of the corridor. Narrowed travel lanes to deter speeding and improve safety for all road users. This project could repurpose up to 75 on-street parking spaces for the duration of the pilot, which is a little more than half the available inventory in that section of Washington Street. City staff will develop a final plan based on feedback from community stakeholders. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 7, at 6:30 p.m. on the GoToMeeting webinar platform. Learn more and register for the meeting at https://somervoice.somervillema.gov/quick-build-bus-lanes

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On Wednesday, October 14 at 6:00 p.m., Lesley University will host a virtual discussion with insect ecologist Dr. Amy Mertl, a Somerville resident, on urban pollinators, why they matter, why they are in trouble and what can be done to conserve them. Mertl, a Lesley professor, has studied insects from the Amazonian rainforests to Cambridge’s Mount Auburn Cemetery and most recently the wilds of Somerville. Besides habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change, which affect bugs worldwide, urban non-native plants and “tidy” lawns can diminish the local pollinator population. Mertl says urbanites, even those with tiny lawns, can do a number of easy things to protect a diverse group of pollinators, such as letting lawns grow, avoiding pesticides and planting native flowers in the ground or in pots. Mertl will share more information and answer questions during the lecture, which will take place on Zoom as part of Lesley’s Campus Sustainability Week. Event link: https://lesley.edu/events/virtual-campus-sustainability-week-conserving-urban-pollinators.

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As the weather gets colder, tents and outdoor heaters may be cropping up on Somerville streets as local restaurants dig in to continue outdoor dining during the cooler weather. The recent expansion of outdoor dining in Somerville in response to the pandemic had been scheduled to end November 1, but it will now be allowed to continue through December 31, 2021, weather and safety permitting.

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Like everything else, this year will look a little different. The 25th Annual Somerville 5K Road Race will be held over the long weekend of Friday, October 9 – Monday, October 12 with a virtual twist; you choose your exercise. Run, walk, bike or hike, you’ve got it covered. Choose your preferred method and go alone or gather your family or even your dog. Feel good and do good together. For the course, the world is your oyster and the choice is yours. Need to be inspired? Routes will be communicated soon! To register for the race, go to: https://runsignup.com/Race/MA/Somerville/Somerville5KDetourRace.

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If you are not registered to vote, or need to update your address or party affiliation, you have until Saturday, October 24, to do so. Visit the city website at www.somervillema.gov/elections or the state website at www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleifv/howreg.htm to learn more about your options for registering. October 28 is the last day for your vote by mail application to be received by the Elections Office.

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#WearAMask to protect your friends and family. Wear one for the people in your community you don’t know you’re connected to: the friend of a friend, the elderly neighbor, the person with an underlying condition who shops at your grocery store.

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Reminder: city buildings are still closed to the public. Although city buildings remain closed to the public, a number of city services are still available online or by calling 311. Check the “City Service Status” tab on the city’s COVID-19 page for more information.

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Don’t forget, if you would like to subscribe to receive a digital edition of our paper, go directly online to our website over to the right side and fill out your email address to receive a free, full PDF copy of the paper.

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Support your neighbors through the Somerville Cares Fund (or apply for assistance): Now that the additional $600 per week federal unemployment benefit has ended, more people in our community are facing financial hardship and making tough choices when it comes to paying for essentials. If you’re fortunate enough to be able to, please consider making a donation to the Somerville Cares Fund. If you are in need of assistance, you can apply to the fund via the same link. This donation-based fund gives direct assistance to Somerville residents, workers, and families to help cover basic needs like groceries, diapers, personal hygiene products, medical copays, and prescriptions. The community has been immensely generous, donating more than $650,000 so far, but the fund has run dry. Even a small donation will help.

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CHA Somerville Hospital offers free COVID-19 testing at Assembly Row by appointment. To make an appointment, call 617-665-2928 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.). The mobile testing unit also offers testing in our neighborhoods to make access easier for residents. Mobile testing schedules and more information on both can be found under the “Symptoms, Testing, & Medical Info” tab on somervillema.gov/covid19.