Cambridge and Somerville Local First - 2011 Coupon Book - Shift Your Shopping to Local First

SomerFUN: A Rundown of Awesome-ness

Jun 07 12:53 pm

SomerFun is just a few days away (and the forecast looks great this year…YAY!), and we have lined up quite the day of fun for the community.  Here’s a lengthy rundown of all the fun (and mostly free) things to do at the event.  Needless to say, there’s something here for just about everyone!

And SLF would like to extend a VERY warm thank you to our event sponsors The Somerville Arts Council and ArtsUnion…you can thank them too at their table at the event!

See you THIS Saturday in Union Square Plaza from 3-7 pm

See you THIS Saturday in Union Square Plaza from 3-7 pm

Games, Activities & Demonstrations

A Tiki Hut with samples from Sponsor Polar Beverages

DUNK TANK - with our Executive Director, Joe Grafton, a special guest in a Gorilla Suit, Independent Bartenders and some surprises.

SomerMutt -  A Mixed Breed Dog Show with a guess the breed contest, sponsored by Riverdog, Canis Major Herbals and SomDog

Groundwork Somerville - butter churning, the food miles relay race, and the giant somerville puzzle map.

Mystic River Watershed Association - fish-based artwork - drawing

Mass Metta Massage - Free Chair Massage

Open Space Community Acupuncture - Community acupuncture demos

The Growing Center - An urban homesteading workshop

Shobu Akido - 20′ x 20′ demonstration area and a table with information about classes

OPENAIR Circus - Stilters rambling about the event

Music

Abbie Barrett & the Last Date
www.abbiebarrett.com

Reverend Busker & Friends

Tall Enough
www.tallenough.webs.com

Riki Rocksteady
www.spitshine.org/riki.html

Vendors

Balliro Vocal Studio - I will be promoting private vocal instruction with a video of various performances and instruction examples.

Beantown Franks ‘n Spuds - Gourmet Hot Dogs & Baked Potatoes

Canis major Herbals - Information on holistic dog health; herbal products for dogs will be available for sale, such as natural tick spray, herbal Lyme preventive, remedies for separation anxiety, etc.

Esoterica/ Smileybaby Hats - Handmade jewelry and baby hats.

ideaka - I am selling t-shirts, wallets, soap & maybe some lights. I have a pop up tent with a minimal display.

JoJo - Handmade design and one of a kind pieces that are seasonally appropriate. For the summer I have sundresses, skirts/pants, halter tops and one piece jumpsuits, lightweight cape-like tops plus some housewares like table runners and napkins, totes.
Mike’s Automotive - Information and swag from your local mechanic right across the street.

Monkey Chow - Irreverent illustrations rendered in bright popping colors and injected with heartfelt emotion.

Mystic River Watershed Association - Booth Set-up includes a map (on an easel if possible), reports, newsletters.

Picture Renewal - Sample books to view and 3-4 pairs of larger, framed samples and Swag:

Proxy Apparel - radical,  ethical fashion and accessories. With a raffle and fashion giveaways.

Swellr - The table will have a variety of individual activities designed to interest the public in Swellr. We will be handing out flyers and talking with the Somerville community and asking them about their favorite businesses and causes.

Rebecca J. D’Antonio - Handmade high quality one of a kind and limited edition jewelry. From now to the end of September, $1 from every sale will be donated to the Greater Boston Food Bank. I also offer “Creation Station” where people can pick beads to have custom pieces made

RESPOND, Inc - Brochures, trifolds presentations, people to answer questions.

RiverDog LLC - pet supplies for dogs and cats information on sevices and samples

Taza Chocolate - We have a sign to hang up behind us, as well as a 4″ table with chocolate samples and some pictures of our chocolate.

Thalia Tringo & Assoicates Real Estate, Inc. - We will display some marketing materials and Q&A on taking care of a home, buy v. rent, etc. We’ll give away some swag.

Two Little Monkeys - 1-2 rolling racks of childrens clothing, as well as a small selection of toys and books.

Truly Good - Info about my design business, as well as a few promo items from a few of our clients.

The Welcome Project - YUM restaurant cards and talking with people about our programs and volunteer opportunities.

 

Why come to SomerFun on June 11th? Why WOULDN’T you?

May 26 11:00 am

By SLF Community Board Member E. John Feig

Come join Somerville Local First, the ArtsUnion and us at the second annual street fair and festival, SomerFun: A Romp for Independents, in Union Squre, Somerville on June 11th 3-7pm for some open-air activities.

Something fun for Everyone!

Something fun for Everyone!

The theme of the event is local independents and we are pleased to welcome a new sponsor this year, Polar Beverages. Polar is locally owned and operated in Worcester, MA and has been for over 125 years.  That’s our kind of sponsor!

This year we are welcoming the participation of Somerville Dog owners and pet enthusiasts, with SomDog, Riverdog and Canis Major Herbals all confirmed participants. SomerFun will feature live music, the SomerMutt Showcase (Sign up YOUR dog here) and a Guess-the-Breed contest. This event is a showcase of local mutts who will strut their stuff across the main stage, prizes will be awarded to the cutest dogs, the weirdest breed combination, and the dog/owner couple that looks the most alike. Attendees will be able to enter a competition as a spectator to “guess the breed”. The most right answers will win a prize from SLF.

SLF has also lined up an eclectic mix of local musicians to entertain us at the event. Expected to perform are Abby Barrett a folk band, Riki Rocksteady a local reggae singer/songwriter, Tall Enough a rock band and a jazz band or two.

Along with the main activities, there will be lots of family activities at SomerFun this year. There will be face painting, a dunk tank and other activities that kids will enjoy. For the dunk tank, we are working hard to put some people in it that you will want to dunk. There will be a canning workshop by Green City Growers, food justice games with Groundwork Somerville and a martial arts session with Shobu Aikido.

We hope to see you and your family at SomerFun in Union Square on June 11th at 3pm.

The Somerville Arts Council and SLF present an ArtsUnion Event: SomerFun

May 20 1:34 pm

The Somerville Arts Council and Somerville Local First are excited to present an ArtsUnion Event, SomerFun:A Romp for Independents. Join us for our 2nd annual FREE street festival and market and sample local cuisine, take part in a square-wide scavenger hunt or send one of your favorite local celebs in the dunk tank. Whatever you choose, with a variety of participating businesses, artisans, musicians and activities, SomerFun has something for everyone!

Event Description:

Something fun for everyone!

Something fun for everyone!

SomerFun: A Romp for Independents is a celebration of local and independent businesses in Somerville and across New England with activities and games, local arts and musical performances and the culturally diverse performances that define the Somerville Community.

At SomerFun, you can:

  • Enjoy a wide variety of games and activities including a Mixed Breed Dog Show, Square-wide scavenger hunt, farm and food demonstrations, a selection of carnival games (i.e. dunk tank with local celebrities) and on-stage entertainment from local youth, dance and musical guests.
  • Peruse tables from great local retailers, food producers, artisans and nonprofits.
  • Enjoy an art installation curated by local arts nonprofit Artisans Asylum.

This event will engage all segments and demographics of our community: From entrepreneurs to teens. From seniors to families. SomerFun is for everyone and we look forward to seeing you there!!

 

Local Somerville Businesses Support SLF - Amazing SomerFun Video by Paper Fortress

Jul 23 12:30 am

Somerville Somerfun 2010 Event from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.  The speech ends and music begins at about :45.  Music by Josh Lederman & The CSARs

by Joe Grafton

SomerFun did not quite work out how we had hoped and planned (note to organization:  outdoor events are affected greatly by rain), and set SLF back financially for a bit.  But we pulled together and persevered that day.  We learned a lot and we still managed to create a great experience for those who braved the showers.

As I wrote about in a post about the Street Attack video series earlier this week, one way in which we are blessed is the support of the creative community.  As I watched this video, I saw images of so many supporters.  I saw business owners, artists, nonprofits and community members all enjoying being together and doing so out in the community.  I saw people supporting SLF and each other.  Which brings us to Paper Fortress and Stebbs Schinnerer.

Stebbs is a pretty big deal, I think.  He went on tour with Johnny Cupcakes, renowned T-shirt artist.  He’s created stunning videos about Union Foundry, a Recover Green Roof & Green City Growers collaboration building a garden on top of a restaurant and documented the Floods in Union Square.  It’s painfully obvious from watching any of his videos that the boy’s got talent.

And so as we were planning SomerFun, Stebbs and I started a conversation about documenting our event through his firm, Paper Fortress.  As the financial outlook started to worsen, I told him we probably couldn’t afford his work.  He told me:  ”Don’t worry about it, we’ll figure it out“.  And when the final numbers came in, our video budget went from little to nothing (or negative?).  But Stebbs didn’t seem to care.

He believes in what SLF is doing and, more importantly, cares about Union Square and his community.

Yesterday, when he sent me the link to the video via Gchat, I let loose with the gratitude and appreciation.  His response?

no worries man, seriously. i appreciate it but i want to help build the community around here, and if it means helping out with a little video here and there its no biggie at all

And that’s how independent business owners roll.  And it keeps us (and me) going through any of the tough times, and  makes it all worth it.

Thanks Stebbs!!!

PS~

Thanks also to local recording studio professional (and SLF Artist) Damon Leibert and Josh Lederman & The CSARs both from in and around the ‘ville, for providing the incredibly appropriate track “Pretty Betty”.  They play a monthly at SLF Member Precinct in, you guessed it, Union Square.

The Relaunch of the Somerville Local First Website - A resource to find Locally Owned and Independent Businesses in Somerville

Jul 19 5:31 am

Welcome to the new SLF website!  We’re excited to completely relaunch our web presence in an effort to better promote the local movement and our members. At the same time, we hope to engage in meaningful dialogue with you, our fellow community members.

This site is intended to serve as a community resource: a place for learning and discussion.  To help you continue to Shift your Shopping to local and independent businesses, we are incorporating a number of new features:

  • The SLF Blog – Our new blog based site will feature wide ranging contributions every week from many different sources, including:
    • SLF Staff, Interns and Board of Directors
    • SLF Members – entrepreneurs, artists and nonprofit directors
    • Community Bloggers – community members who are passionate about ‘local’ and want to share their Somerville stories
    • National Experts – people around the country who are working to build strong local living economies
    • Multimedia galore!  - We’ll be posting photos, reviews, videos and more to the site in the coming months.  We hope these tools will continue to build the awareness and behavior change we need to take our movement to the next level.
    • Campaign and Event pages – We’ll have living pages dedicated to the link“>Shift your Shopping, link“>Harvest Fest and link“>JOIN SLF – We now have membership categories for businesses, artists, nonprofits and community members.  Each community can easily join our growing network and become part of the movement to build and sustain our local economy in Somerville.

This is just the first step to developing a community resource for local economies like no other.  We want to know what you think…in fact, one of the main reasons why we chose this format was to create and foster dialogue.  So if there’s something you’d like to see, something you like (or don’t like), please let us know.

Stay tuned this week for daily blog posts, including the beginning of a video series on SLF developed by Street Attack. We will also be hearing from our first Community Bloggers and providing more details on our Shift & Save coupons and mobile applications!

Shift Happens

~jG

Photos from SomerFun 2010

Jul 18 1:39 am

Here are a few great photos from our talented friends at Supertonic.

Mayor Joe Talks at SomerFun

Groundwork Somerville's great map game for the kids

People were loving the dunk tank

Everyone's favorite local chocolate company, Taza Chocolate

Shiny Things for your nest with Magpie

Local Ice Cream from JP Licks

A BIG thank you to event sponsor The Independent

SomerFun water bottles, made in the USA, bought in Somerville and BPA free

Local delights for the canning demonstration by Green City Growers

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