The virtual event includes special guests; former Somerville Mayor and Congressman Mike Capuano, Somerville Business Owner Binoj Pradhan, Affordable Housing Activist Maggie Joseph, and Youth & Family Advocate Leiran Biton. Resident, local business owner and activist, Richard Wood conducted the event.

A walk-in family COVID-19 vaccine clinic will be held Saturday, April 30, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at CHA Somerville Pediatrics, 236 Highland Ave. There will be free ice cream, $25 gift cards for every vaccination, and you can meet Mirabel from Encanto. The Pfizer vaccine will be available for all people 5 years and up, and boosters will be available for all people 12 years and up. Walk-ins are accepted, or you can preregister here. The clinic is free, regardless of immigration status or health insurance. Identification is not required.

— Photos courtesy of Somerville Community Growing Center

The Somerville Community Growing Center kicked off its spring season with Earth Day/Arbor Day: Celebrating the Earth and Our Community on Sunday, April 24. Ninety-three guests, children and adults alike, attended this activity-filled session on a cool, cloudy spring afternoon. In addition, two dozen volunteers and presenters came together to help make the event memorable.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Now that Somerville has a new high school, I asked our friends to share their funniest stories about the old high school.

“Class of ’71, The wooden floor on the basement level was warped from a flood. One day Ted Kennedy was touring the school and as I walked by I overheard him tell some Somerville official ‘Get these GD floors fixed!’”

By Ryan DiLello

Somerville’s Human Rights Commission is recruiting. On Saturday, April 23, at 11:00 a.m., members of Somerville’s Human Rights Commission held a meet-and-greet at the Somerville Public Library’s East Branch.

The organization, headed by and comprised of two city residents, Christopher Spicer Hankle and Lara Versari, focuses on promoting the wellbeing of the city. Spicer Hankle is a stay-at-home father and trained theologian. Versari is a community youth and family resources navigator.

Volunteers tidy up in the pollinator garden at Groundwork Somerville’s South Street Farm. —Photos by Molly Rains

By Molly Rains

Last Saturday at Groundwork Somerville’s South Street Farm, over 40 volunteers gathered to get their hands dirty in celebration of Earth Day. Volunteers weeded, raked, clipped invasive species, and picked up trash, helping to prepare the property for what the Groundwork team expects to be a busy and productive growing season.

By Mayor Emeritus Eugene C. Brune

I was always pleased that as the Ward 6 Alderman I helped in the fight to have the Red Line in Davis Square. I was equally as pleased in 1984 as your mayor to join Governor Dukakis, Alderman Jack Connolly, and others in cutting the ribbon for the new Red Line.