Somerville’s Starting Over Festival raised environmental and social awareness on April 22 as part of SustainaVille Week. — Photo by Greg Cook

By Shira Laucharoen

With inspiration from the idea of spring as a time for renewal, event planner Greg Cook envisioned Somerville’s Starting Over Festival as a celebration of rebirth and a metaphor for new beginnings. Set in the urban wild of the Quincy Street Open Space, a garden filled with a plethora of flower varieties and plant life, the Festival gave visitors a chance to revel in the environment and consider a new page, both socially and politically, on April 22.

“We timed the Festival so it’s at this beautiful spring moment, when daffodils are blooming in the park,” said Cook. “It has a delightful, interesting theme that makes it both beauty and entertainment, as well as something that has meaning and social engagement.”

The event, planned in honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, hosted a range of activities for visitors to engage in. Children and adults alike constructed animal masks with artist Kari Percival and colorfully painted wildlife creatures constructed from scrap material with artist Liz LaManche.

Poet Eddy Toussaint Tontongi performed a response to Trump’s remarks about Haiti and other African countries. — Photo by Shira Laucharoen

The nonprofit Groundwork Somerville gave guests the opportunity to explore compost samples inhabited by worms. Jef C. Taylor of Boston’s Urban Nature Walks group offered a tour of the park, pointing out stumps, pellets, and life processes found in nature. Participants were encouraged to trade in garments at a clothing swap and experience a tree planting.

While the Festival aimed to generate environmental awareness, the event also served as an occasion to reflect on the country’s dark political times, said Cook. Special Events Manager for the Somerville Arts Council Nina Eichner affirmed that the program would call attention to social questions.

“This Festival doesn’t have one political view, but we’re thinking about when we don’t agree with everything that’s going on politically and how we can do right by our neighbor,” said Eichner. “Starting over is not just getting comfortable with what’s happening and having it be normal. We keep trying to make changes.”

The gathering presented two dynamic live poetry performances by writers Eddy Toussaint Tontongi and Marshall Gillson. Tontongi, a Haitian immigrant, delivered a recitation of his work, “Haiti Is Not What You Say, Mr. Tet-Mato,” a response to President Donald Trump’s derogatory remarks about his homeland. In reply, Tontongi called his country “the foundation of our modernity” and described its riches. Poet Gillson, a National Poetry Slam finalist, raised the issue of mental health and illness, through his performance of three pieces that addressed depression and recovery.

The Festival was created by the Somerville Arts Council and the City of Somerville, in partnership with Cook, as a part of the second annual SustainaVille Week. The weeklong schedule of events is intended to raise consciousness about climate change and the environment.

Observers watched as City of Somerville Urban Forestry and Landscape Planner Vanessa Boukili planted a tree.
— Photo by Greg Cook

Groundwork Somerville held a table teaching spectators about worm-bin composting.
— Photo by Greg Cook