Business After Hours on Somerville Waterfront Winter Hill Yacht Club, 85 Foley Street, Assembly Square, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., Thursday, June 6, 2013.  The After Hours will happen rain or shine. Weather permitting, you will be able to stroll along the pier and check out Somerville’s sea-going vessels (recommend sensible shoes). Sponsored by ABG Commercial Advisors. Live jazz trio sponsored by ABG Commercial Advisors and Boston News Group/The Somerville News. Free appetizers, excellent networking. Bring your business cards for drawing. Members and their guests welcome. Treat your colleagues and clients. Directions: from Assembly Square’s Middlesex Avenue take Foley Street (starts next to Kmart) all the way to the waterfront. RSVP with name(s) and affiliation(s) of you and your guest(s) to smackey@somervillechamber.org.

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This Thursday night at the Dante Club on Craigie Street, Caroline Shea-Rosas who is a candidate for Ward Five School Committee is having her campaign kickoff/fundraiser from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., come meet Caroline and her family, all are welcome. Caroline has been working hard and has a campaign manager you have as well, Diane Mathews, together they are very involved in the Kennedy School PTA. To learn more about Caroline go to her web site at carolineshearosas.blogspot.com 

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Happy Birthdays this week to both Villens here in the Ville as well as outside the border! First of all, to one of the city’s great families, we salute Michael Albano, who grew up here. His father was our senator and Mike is a very successful real estate broker with Weichert, REALTORS® – Metropolitan Boston Real Estate over in Back Bay. Former Villen Brian Peddle, who grew up here in East Somerville. Friends of The News, and sort of a newbie here to the Ville, Brendan Mansfield out of Davis Square. Associated with Harvard University Property Management, he’s a new guy and one that loves living here in the Ville. Our good friend City Councilor of Medford Paul Camuso, who is a great guy and big fan of The News. Happy Birthday to Nancy Wollenburg-Kreimeyer, just back not to long ago from sunny FLA to sunny MA.

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Congratulations to our good friend Jerry (JR) Roach over in Cambridge. He just received the distinguished Joseph Warren Medal for his service and dedication to Masonry both here in Somerville as well as Cambridge and, of course, in Massachusetts. He’s a great guy.

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Congrats to our good friend Rob Dubois, who got married to Barbara Hinkle. We wish them both a long and happy union. If you see Rob over at MGH say “Hi” and congratulations to him.

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Glad to hear that Sophia Carafotes’ mother is home now after a long stay in the hospital.

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Big time congratulations to Ida Azzolino who will be big 101 this coming September. She fell and broke her hip this past February and is now home and walking. We wish her continued good health. Ida is a lifelong resident here in the Ville and we are trying to find out what her secret is. Do you think it might be the good old Somerville water?

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This Saturday, June 8, The Somerville Democratic City Committee is pleased to announce that former Governor Mike Dukakis will be joining our City Meeting and canvassing in Ward 4 for Ed Markey for Senator. Starting time 10 a.m. and runs to 2:30 p.m. At the VNA headquarters on Lowell Street. All are welcome to come and help out with the canvassing afterwards.

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Candidate for Ward Three Alderman, Robert “Rob” McWaters, is having his first fundraiser/campaign kickoff on Monday, June 24, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Precinct in Union Square. We hear a lot of his family will be present too. He is a great guy and has done more for the city than most. He’s one of 4 candidates in Ward 3 that knows what’s going on here in the city. We sure hope the place is jumping.

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Not that we want to give any credence to the wanabee political pundit of Somerville Joe Lynch, but we can’t resist responding in part to his “Open letter” to the Farm Team (notice we didn’t get it). Then we hear he read the letter on his local cable access show, which is we hear seen by 10’s of people here in the city. In kicking the crap out of The News, he failed to mention that The Somerville News endorsed him for Alderman in Ward Five in the year he mentioned we were so bad in posting comments. Neither did he further mention that the person who posted those comments was banned from posting from that day on. Poor Joe, he forgets too easily the entire picture that year. The News stuck by him even when he lost by over 500 votes. The only time he chose to run for public office. Guess that means in his mind he’s a political pundit.

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Commissioner of Public Works, Stan Koty, is back to work after a short illness. He was supposed to stay home and rest a few more days, but Stan would go nuts doing that and besides, his phone battery would have to be constantly charging.

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We hear Julie Brady is back and going to be working very hard for Rob McWaters. She’s going to be Rob’s campaign manager. Julie is a fantastic political ground person. Two years ago she ran Bob Trane’s campaign.

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“Backyard Havens of the Somerville Garden Club: A Self-Guided Tour” showcases the unique gardens of Somerville Garden club members, and celebrates the many kinds of gardeners who create backyard (and front yard!) havens for their own pleasure and the enjoyment of friends and neighbors. The gardeners themselves will be welcoming visitors to their yards on tour day, so this is an opportunity to learn about plants, design, and horticulture from this array of passionate SGC members. The tour is Sunday, June 9, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. $15 for a map and guide to 20 gardens to visit at your own pace. (Tour is on rain or shine-gardeners are intrepid!) Proceeds support the educational programs and public plantings of the Somerville Garden Club. Visit www.somervillegardenclub.org for advance ticket sale locations. Day of event ticket sales, Sunday, June 9, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Davis Square Statue Park, opposite the MBTA. Come for fun, leave with inspiration!

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Performance dates are still available for the 2013 Somerville Sunsetters. Led by Somerville Youth Arts Coordinator, Jimmy Del Ponte, the Sunsetters are a traveling youth music troupe, performing popular show tunes and contemporary pop music hits on city streets throughout July and August at sunset. Residents may request performances in their neighborhoods by calling the Mayor’s Office, 617-625-6600 ext 2100. Call today and reserve your date. Openings available July and August Monday though Thursday. Shows start at 7 p.m.