The 4th Annual Union Square Holiday Stroll takes place on December 8 in Union Sq.  An afternoon of Union Square discovery filled with festive happenings and holiday delight: rad retail, unique eats, music from around the world, visits with Santa, creative crafts, sparkly lights and more. Bundle up and come on down to unwrap Union Square in all its wintry wonderment! Union Square’s local businesses will have festive offerings all day long.

Community-Driven Process to update and extend current 2030 plan;  SomerVision 2040 Kick-Off Meeting Jan. 15  

Mayor Joseph A Curtatone is pleased to announce the launch of a new community process to update SomerVision: Somerville’s Comprehensive Plan 2010-2030 and create SomerVision 2040.

Nearly ten years ago in 2009, the Somerville community came together over the course of more than 50 meetings, visioning sessions, and workshops to hammer out a guiding document for the city. The resulting SomerVision plan includes more than 584 values-driven goals, policies, and actions ranging from housing, job, and open space creation to neighborhood preservation, transformational development, and transportation advances, and more.

Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

The holiday season means family, festivities, and lots of food. It seems like a good time to look at some of my Somerville friends’ (strange to us, but delicious to others) food favorites. I did a survey of kooky eats that current and former Somerville residents enjoyed as kids. Some of us still enjoy our odd sounding but delectable treats today.

Join Mayor Curtatone and City staff for Somerville’s annual holiday celebrations, kicking off on Thursday, December 6, with the Christmas Tree Lighting and visit from Santa Claus, on the City Hall Concourse. Also part of the 2018 events are a ceremonial lighting of a Menorah on the City Hall Concourse on Sunday, December 9, and the Somerville Arts Council’s Illuminations Tour on December 15.

~Photos by Claudia Ferro

Plenty of volunteers showed up last week to help with the unloading of Christmas trees delivered by Wilson Farms to be sold at the Next Wave/Full Circle Tree Lot which opened on Friday and will operate through December 19.

It is possible that pedestrians in Somerville may be waving colorful flags while traversing crosswalks in hopes of making it to the other side without mishap.

By Jim Clark

While many crosswalks in the city of Somerville may be regulated by traffic signals, a good many others are not. And even when obeying the respective reds, yellows and greens, there can be instances when pedestrians fall victim to oncoming vehicular traffic due to poor visibility or inattentive drivers.

Several cities and townships across the U.S. have adopted the use of “pedestrian crossing flags” to help increase the visibility of those who cross streets properly and legally.

Chris Trapper plays The Burren in Somerville this coming Friday and Saturday. — Photos by Topher Cox

By Blake Maddux

Singer-songwriter Chris Trapper’s non-musician jobs have included “selling chocolate chip cookies to tourists in Boston’s Quincy Market” and “food and beverage guy” for Copley Plaza Hotel.

That was before the Buffalo native found success as the leader of The Push Stars, which formed in Cambridge, MA and released four albums and an EP between 1996 and 2004.

By Giovanna DaSilva, Sam Buckley, Julian Delmonico, and Veid Patel

Imagine you are an eighth-grade student. You and your friend are on the cross country team, and you need to take a bus to get to a meet. You get dismissed early and are ready to run. You head on over towards the bus stop. You grab a seat on the bench and wait for the bus. And wait. And wait. And wait some more. About 30 minutes have passed when the bus finally pulls up at the stop, and you’re too late for the meet.