This coming Saturday, the 18th, is the East Somerville Clean Up. Meet at 115 Broadway (East Branch Library) on Saturday, October 18 at 10:30 a.m. Come join in making East Somerville beautiful for the fall. Using the citywide cleanup as a starting point, East Somerville Main Streets and Alderman Matt McLaughlin are planning a neighborhood-wide cleanup to make it the cleanest neighborhood in Somerville. Refreshments to follow at location TBA.

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This Saturday is Masonic Open House here in Somerville as well as throughout the state. All 200 Masonic Lodge buildings will be open to the public to come in and meet and greet the officers and be given a tour of the property, and have their questions answered. Open House is 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 125 Highland Avenue (rear) right across from VFW Post. The last Masonic Lodge left is King Solomon’s Lodge which was chartered September 5, 1783 out of Charlestown, and moved to Somerville in 1899 into the building that was located at the corner of Pearl and Marshall, but burned down in 1969. The lodge is one of the oldest around. The charter was signed by Paul Revere. The officers regalia was also made by Paul Revere and still worn today at meetings. King Solomon’s Lodge members were the owners of the land at Bunker Hill and in 1794 dedicated and owned the original monument at Bunker Hill to honor those fallen in the battle. The deed and legal ownership was given to the lodge where the first monument was built. In 1845 the lodge turned the land and monument over to the local Charlestown Association at the dedication of the present monument. Every year the lodge has a special ceremony at the monument to remember those Brothers who fell at the battle and especially Most Worshipful Joseph Warren who died at the battle. Come and see all the historic and beautiful artifacts that the lodge still has, including actual letters from members serving the Civil War, WWI and WWII. King Solomon’s Lodge today has over 200 members from Somerville and the surrounding area. A very active lodge.

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Happy Birthday this week to some of our fans here and around the Ville! Happy Birthday to Steve Hardy. Everyone knows him, a nice guy. We hope he has a great day for himself. Also this week, the very popular, and one of the nicest ladies around, Ms. Maryann Heuston, the long time Alderman from Ward 2. We hope she has a great day for herself as well. Maybe her better half, Rick, will take her out to one of our finest Somerville restaurants. Ms. Kathleen Cunningham from upstate NY reads our paper all the time and our good friend Maureen Reilly over in Melrose also celebrate this week. We wish both of these ladies a great day for themselves.

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Honored last week by the city was lifelong resident, and not to mention one of the nicest guys to come out of Somerville, Edward Ciampa. Former owner of the Ball Square Hardware street, former school committee member here in the city, former City Treasurer and for many years an Assessor. He and his family have given so much over the years, he is a great guy and we couldn’t be happier that he was honored for his service to our community over the years.

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Some people might have noticed that Piro Print Shop is closed and the building is up for sale. Although we can state that Marc Piro is not out of the business, he has moved to Charlestown down off of Medford Street to a larger location and should you need printing done, call him at 617 776-2840. Marc is still on the job and carrying forward the Piro tradition. He is one of the best printers in the business.

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Happy Anniversary to Steve and Sheila MacEachern, who celebrated their wedding anniversary this past week. We wish them the best and many more to follow in happy bliss.

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The New York Times did an article on Somerville that was very interesting, pointing out that Somerville has come a long way, from Slummerville to Hip alternative to Boston and Cambridge. You can read the article yourself here at their web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/travel/out-of-the-shadow-of-boston-and-cambridge.html. It’s always nice to read about our city. For some of us as lifelong residents it’s a city always on the move – just moving faster these past 12 years, and that’s a good thing. At least we think so.

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On the Best of Somerville awards, we are going to add the following: Best Hamburger at a Reasonable Price and Best Hamburger at Any Price, Best Macaroni & Cheese, Best Bar Food – and we got two calls for Best Caterer. So we are adding these. Remember to vote.

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We heard a legislator ask us to vote “Yes” on Question One. You know, the one that the legislators voted to have automatically raise the tax on your gas when filling up your car. Of course, they would want you to vote yes, they voted it in as law so they will not get the blame in the future when it goes up automatically. We should vote NO so they have to be accountable for their actions. If they raise the taxes then they need to answer for it. It’s true, some of these elected officials think of their jobs as a career, not as working for us the citizens.

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Our condolences to family and friends of John T. “Jack” Colbert, who passed away recently. He was a long time resident of Somerville as well as Medford. His family is still here in the city. Mr. Colbert was a local 25 member and former Veteran, his son Jay is a distinguished member of the Somerville Fire Department.

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Our condolences to the family of Tina (Scimone) Pagliarulo, 86, of Somerville. She passed away peacefully at home with her family by her side on October 10. Tina was a nice lady and well known here in the community.

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Union United will hosting a community walking tour of Union Square from 3-5 p.m. on October 19. The purpose of the tour is to educate the community about the past, present, and future of organizing and community-building in Union Square. This is particularly timely as Union United is pushing for a community benefits agreement around the upcoming Union Square redevelopment process. The tour starts at the northern corner of Somerville Ave. and Bow Street, close to Market Basket, and finish in Union Square Plaza by SCATV. There will be a potluck at CrossFit Somerville afterwards. For more information, contact Karen Narefsky at 617-776-5931 x230. Event page: http://somervillecdc.org/event/union-united-community-tour.

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Tufts University Play4theCure will be taking place on Saturday, October 18. This event will work to raise awareness for Breast Cancer. Field Hockey will be played at 1:00 p.m. vs. Williams at Bello Field. Volleyball will take place at 1:00 p.m. vs. Amherst at Cousens Gym and 5:00 p.m. vs. Endicott at Cousens Gym. They will have tables by Bello Field from 1:00-3:00. They will be giving out blankets and hot cider. National Foundation for Cancer Research’s Play4theCure has been selected as an official charity of the National Field Hockey College Association.