By Douglas Yu

If there is a festival that makes Somerville sticky and fluffy, it’s going to be “What the Fluff?” The ninth annual festival ran from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Union Square on Saturday.

More than 10,000 people from all over flooded into the streets of Union Square to celebrate Somerville’s history and culture by integrating Marshmallow Fluff into every aspect of the festivity.

Mimi Graney, the Executive Director of Union Square Main Streets, came up with the idea to enrich the culture of the neighborhood in 2006. She mentioned that the festival was intended to celebrate the Union Square invention – Marshmallow Fluff.

“The festival is honoring Archibald Query, who invented Fluff right here in Union Square back in 1917,” Graney said. “The event was produced by Main Streets under the umbrella of the Somerville Arts Council’s project, called ‘Arts Union.’”

Durkee-Mower Inc., the current Marshmallow Fluff manufacturer based in East Lynn, purchased the brand from Query almost 100 years ago for $500 to help bolster their hard candy business in Swampscott, according to Boston Magazine.

The initiative of the festival is to do economic development for Union Square by using the culture assets in the neighborhood, according to Graney. “Nine years ago when we were thinking about ideas of festivals … just remembering every time when I mentioned that Fluff was invented here, the whole room would light up, and people would be really interested it.” She said.

More than 40 local businesses presented the theme of Fluff through their unique features, along with various live performances. Those businesses include Artisan’s Asylum and Teddie Peanut Butter.

One of the tables was called “fear factor,” where people could create their own combination of ingredients on crackers that are pasted with Fluff, had participated in the Fluff festival for five years now. The funny part is people might be either blown away or grossed out by all the ingredients they put on the crackers.

Besides the common materials you would imagine, such as Nutella and Fluff, there were also cherries, pickled vegetables, chicken wing sauce and anchovies.

Becky Hoffman is the co-captain of the fear factor table, and she said the table was also called “Fluff and What?”

“Because we can put whatever it is on the cracker,” Hoffman said. “We’ve been doing this for years, and it gets more fun every year … I think fear factor is going to be evolving. There are so many people who came here to help out, and they just embraced it. Some people are creative, and they make little faces on their crackers.”

The materials on the fear factor table are divided into “good” and “evil,” depending on each individual’s tastes.

“There is someone who came up and said, ‘Ugh, I don’t like Nutella,’ then Nutella is evil for them. So it really depends.” Hoffman said. “For me, it’s the combinations that make it evil. To put an anchovy and a pepper and a cherry and sprinkles on top of Fluff, that’s evil for me.”

In fact, people don’t have to pick one good and one evil for their crackers, Hoffman said. “You can pick all good, all evil or a combination. It’s amazing to watch their faces after they taste what they create.”

Fluff festival not only attracted people from local area, but also people from other parts of the country. Jennifer Weigel, a St. Louis, MO native, moved to Somerville recently. She stunned at the event with her pink Victoria-style costume. She explained that her pink dress looked fluffy enough to fit the theme.

“I heard about the event through local newspapers, and I love anything involving marshmallows, anything sweet,” Weigle said. “I just wanted to come fluffy today, so I found as many fluffy things as I could.”

Every year, the Fluff festival selects a grand marshal of the event and dubs them “Pharaoh of Fluff.” Dave Manganello is one of the former Pharaohs of Fluff, and he thinks that being the Fluff Pharaoh is a fun and amusing thing to do.

“To me, the Fluff festival is the platinum standard of a festival and event year round, meaning nothing can hold a candle to the Fluff festival,” Manganello said.

When Manganello showed up at the event, he was holding a Fluff jar scepter. He had a huge plush crown decorated with fake jewels. He was also clad in a general’s costume. A few minutes later, he changed to a pirate’s tri-cornered hat. His smiles never failed to make people at the event stop and take pictures with him.

Manganello said that he learned about the festival when it first started. “Nine years ago, I saw the event on Food Network. And my youngest son of my three sons would love to eat a fluffernutter sandwich every day if he could. He decided that we should come here the next year. We come every year since.” Manganello said. “This year, I was asked to be the emcee of the event.”

Manganello mentioned that there was a petition going on in the community to make fluffernutter the official state sandwich. “I think Fluff is just a sticky, sweet confection that can bring all walks of life together. And the fact that the Fluff was invented here means a lot to Somerville as a community,” he said.

The theme of the Fluff festival this year is Steampunk, a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery. A Choo-Choo train that resembles the character from Thomas and Friends and can carry more than 20 passengers is one of the features that represent the theme of this year. It looped around Union Square about every 10 minutes to entertain kids and their parents.

Everyone loved the delicate handcrafts made by Jennifer Syas. Being her first time to participate in the Fluff festival, Syas thinks the event has a lot of fun.

“Steampunk is a great collaboration of taking vintage craftsmanship that used to be an art work, but we feel it lost over the years, and then you can mix that with futuristic elements. That’s why I love it,” Syas said.

Dressed up in a Steampunk costume, she passionately showed her handmade leather masks and the meaning behind them. “I like to make something a piece of art. So, instead of your face being crow-faced, there is a crow flying across your face. It comes more alive.” Syas said, showing a mask that features a flying peacock.

The space in front of the Somerville Access TV was arranged with a set of tables for a cooking contest. The champions of the cooking contest are consisted of four judge categories, including the best traditional recipe, the best original recipe, the most creative in presentation and the best youth.

“This year, we have also 50 entries. There are a lot of really creative ideas.” Former three-time cooking contest winner and one of the current judges, Monica Ng said.

The other judge at the cooking contest is Sunita Williams. She is a former American astronaut and a U.S. Navy officer. She is known for carrying a fluffernutter while she was once in the space.

“I liked fluffernutter when I was a kid, and I wanted a fluffrnutter when I was up in space, so my parents put together a care package. It sort of reminds me of home, my family and friends.” Williams said.

Somerville’s Mayor Joseph Curtatone surprised the audience with awarding the winners of the cooking contest at Fluff festival this year. He said to the crowed, “We all know that Fluff can be used for many things, especially some pretty unique recipes. And every year we put out the challenge for people to come up with something original, something flavorful and something really Somerville.”

The winner for the best original recipe this year was Sue Olsen. She created “baklafluff.” “So baklava is sticky, right? Sticky is fluff. So I decided to put some fluff in that baklava,” Olsen said.

Olsen also won at Fluff festival in 2011 for her S’more Fluff brownie. “I think it’s the best festival in the country. It’s silly, but it’s about community pride,” Olsen said.

The Fluff festival preserves the best part of the Union Square’s history. “It’s really about celebrating food and culture, and bringing a lot of people together,” Graney said. “I’m really surprised that how Marshmallow Fluff is now associated with Somerville. Also, Fluff is very sticky, it sticks all parts of Somerville together.”

Besides all the local businesses, master developer for the Union Square revitalization, US2, also attended the event to create a forum for people to come up with redevelopment ideas.

For more information about the Fluff festival, please visit: https://unionsquaremain.org/fluff-festival/.