Grab your instrument and your dancing shoes, and get ready to help the City celebrate the latest installment of its SomerStreets series with Strike Up the Bands @ SomerStreets on Sunday, September 7 on Holland Street! From noon to 4 p.m. between Davis Square and Teele Square, free, family-friendly activities and entertainment will include live music at Johnny D’s Uptown and Rudy’s Café as well as children’s activities, family-friendly programming, and student-friendly fun (welcome back, students!) throughout the afternoon.

SomerStreets is the City of Somerville’s take on the internationally renowned Open Streets concept, closing busy city streets to vehicles, and opening them up for cycling, walking, dancing, running, and other modes of activity. Through SomerStreets, the city and its community partners aim to promote and encourage easy access to physical activity, fresh foods, and reconnecting with neighborhoods and businesses and their unique cultural elements in a thriving urban environment.

Along Holland Street activities for children, students, and adults of all ages will include, but are not limited to:

•          Live music at Rudy’s Café and Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant & Music Club stages
•          The M.U.S.C.R.A.T  Bus and Drum Circle
•          Rock Climbing Wall
•          The Davis Flea @ Buena Vista Parking Lot (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
•          Miniature Golf
•          Craft fair & street performers
•          Children’s activities with Knucklebones at Hodgkin’s Park

Additionally, a “Beer garden” will be sponsored by local establishments, Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant & Music Club, and Rudy’s Café each of which will sell beer, wine and food outside on Holland Street to patrons with appropriate I.D.

For the September event, road closures and parking restrictions will apply as follows:

•          No Parking on Holland St. from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; street closed to all vehicles 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
•          All side streets leading onto Holland St. will temporarily be converted to two-way traffic to allow residents to get to and from their homes, including:

o   Newbury St., Moore St., Gorham St., Paulina St., Simpson Ave., Jay St., Irving St., Wallace St., and Winter St.

•          Bus routes 87 and 88 will be rerouted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For locations of rerouted bus stops, visit MBTA.com.

The final SomerStreets event for 2014, “Monster Mashed-Up” will be held on Sunday, October 19 along Somerville Avenue. For more information please visit www.somervillema.gov.

— City of Somerville