— Photos by Eileen Qiu and Union Square Main Streets.

By Eileen Qiu

Let’s take a trip back to 1917, when a man from Somerville who went by the name Archibald Query went door to door selling a sweet white fluffy confectionary cream.

Query lost interest in his business after facing hardships from WWI and sold his recipe to Harold Durkee and Fred Mower for $500. Durkee and Mower started making batches in a kitchen at night and selling them during the day, catalyzing the creation of Marshmallow Fluff in 1920.

Fast forward to 2021, and Somerville celebrated its 16th annual Fluff Festival at Union Square in homage of the creation of this sweet innovation. The weekend from September 22-26 was filled with unique treats like marshmallow fluff stuffed empanadas, sold at Machu Picchu, Fine Peruvian Cuisine.

The Shirts and Shoes

The restaurant staff tried a lot of different combinations and there was a lot of trial and error, including concoctions with plantains, that didn’t quite work out, cashier Elias Salazar said. However, the empanadas are a big hit, and sold out within hours on Saturday.

Guests entering Union Square were greeted by a blue stand with signs shaped like clouds. Volunteers of the festival, like Gina Ellis and Zihang Jian would then direct people to events and attractions.

This year’s pandemic conscious celebration featured new foods, live music and art walks where festival goers could pose with giant cardboard cutouts of jars of marshmallow fluff or use their phone to scan barcodes that presented a 3D image.

Local businesses opened their doors to feature limited marshmallow fluff related products, and there was an outdoor space with live music and socially distanced merchandise booths and games.

COVID ambassadors like Chris Clough perused the streets to offer anyone information regarding COVID safety. Clough, dressed in an official COVID ambassador orange polo, and his team also picked up trash if they saw large pieces sitting on the street. “We’re like a bridge that connects the city hall and businesses,” Clough said.

Chris Clough

Guests also walked a couple blocks away from Union Square to Windsor Place, for the festival’s “Parking Lot Prom,” an outdoor event featuring local bands such as Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band.

The band’s leader, Chuck, said their music could not be limited to any single genre. Dressed in a pinstripe vest featuring the band’s insignia of a saxophone silhouette with tendrils of trumpets and tentacles coming out the end, blue sunglasses and a bandana, he said the band’s music is “always loud and always fun.” There are about 16 total members, but not everyone was present to play at the Fluff Festival.

“It’s just awesome to be playing outside in Somerville. This is our first show in Somerville since the before times,” Chuck said, referencing the time before the pandemic. It is a big band with controlled chaos, as he described what the moments before a show start are like. “Everyone in the band is great and fun, so we just swarm into a place and sort of check in with each other and we rehearse a lot, so it’s fun. We always have fun.”

Somerville residents Amanda and Faye said they came out to enjoy the nice weather and to see what the Fluff Festival was like. Pausing their game of corn hole – it was their first time – they said they were most excited about the food. There’s no specific type of food they were looking forward to, but they were all grins beneath the masks, as they continued to enjoy the games and the music.

Amanda and Faye

ENSMB band members