SOMERSTREETS: “SEIZE THE SUMMER” SET FOR SUNDAY, JULY 24TH ON HIGHLAND AVE.

SOMERSTREETS: “SEIZE THE SUMMER” SET FOR SUNDAY, JULY 24TH ON HIGHLAND AVE.

2nd SomerStreets Event to Include Outdoor Yoga, Kidical Mass Bike Ride, Sand Castles, Live Music and More!

SOMERVILLE- The City's 2^nd SomerStreets celebration of 2011, "Seize the Summer!" will take place on Sunday, July 24^th along Highland Avenue, from Walnut Street to Cedar Street.

For this unique event where "roads are closed to cars and open to you!" programming will extend along Highland Ave. from noon - 4 p.m., and will include activities such as a "Kidical Mass" bike ride to Davis Square, various kid activities health workshops, arts and crafts, live music and more. SomerStreets is the City's Open Streets Initiative, which closes sections of roadways one Sunday per month to promote and support active living - walking, biking, running, dancing, etc.

"Carnaval @ SomerStreets drew record crowds of over 5,000 last month along East Broadway, thanks to a partnership with East Somerville Main Streets and FossFest, and we're excited to bring our Open Streets Initiative to a new area of Somerville this month with Seize the Summer," said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. "These events encourage community members of all ages to get outside and be active, but also to experience new areas of the community and learn about the businesses and organizations that call our City home. We have a lot of wonderful things to offer, and I'm excited at how popular the SomerStreets trend has become in just one short year."

Along Highland Ave., local businesses and organizations including Cambridge Health Alliance, the Somerville Fire Department, Kidical Mass Arts at the Armory and the Somerville YMCA, among others, will partner with the City to provide activities for children and adults of all ages. Activities will include, but are not limited to:

• Farmers Market

• Outdoor Yoga

• Live music

• Family swim at the YMCA

• Bike decorating & "Kidical Mass" bike ride

• Face painting

• Sand castle building

• Arts and crafts

• Health fair

• Dance demonstrations

Additionally, at 4:00 p.m., attendees are invited to continue the fun with a walk down Vinal Ave. to a family friendly concert at the Community Growing Center.

The remaining 2011 SomerStreets schedule is:

• Seize the Summer - Sunday, July 24 on Highland Ave. from Walnut St. to Cedar St.

• Going Green on Rte. 16 - Sunday, August 21 on Alewife Brook Parkway from Dilboy Field to Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge

• Rolling on the Mystic - Saturday, September 10 on Shore Drive

• Fall Festival - Sunday, October 23 on Somerville Ave. from Union Square to Porter Square

SomerStreets builds on the Shape Up Somerville healthy living initiative. Similar open streets events take place all around the world, providing space normally taken up by automobile traffic for people to be more active. Special attention this year is being paid to providing fresh food at SomerStreets.

All SomerStreets events will run from 12-4 p.m., rain or shine.

Arts at the Armory Pilots February School Vacation Week Classes!

Arts at the Armory Pilots February School Vacation Week Classes!

Click  here for an exciting schedule of arts activities planned for elementary, middle and high school students during February School Vacation Week, February 16-20.  If you want to register your child or teen, click here.

Somerville Armory, old school style, borrowed from:

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Mission of Burma announce benefit show for Somerville Armory

We're veering out of Winter Hill for this one, but the information is too important :)

From The Phoenix:

Mission of Burma announce benefit show for Somerville Armory

Posted at 05:08 by Carly Carioli

We'll spare you the long history of the effort, by the awesome folks who own the Middle East, to turn the old Somerville Armory into an even awesomer community arts center called the Center for the Arts at the Armory: if you want to follow along at home, read some of these articles. Suffice it to say that the process is ramping up, with a full-blown benefit for the center being staged just down Highland Avenue from the Armory at the Somerville Theater. Mission of Burma -- who're managed by longtime Armory supporter Mark Kates -- will headline the January 24 show, with the Neighborhoods and Faces on Film. You can get tickets before everyone else by going here, or you can wait until Saturday and get them through the usual channels. And just in case you doubt that Burma throws a good benefit, here's some video evidence from the last benefit they threw -- Burma for Burma -- and a bonus track from Faces on Film, recorded earlier this year at the Middle East.

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Arts at the Armory

Yes, I am trying to focus on Winter Hill with this thing (and a little East Somerville too), but I am very happy to see the progress with Arts at the Armory:

visual arts, dance, theater and musical performancesstudio spaces for artistsgalleriestwo performance stagesoffices for arts related organizationscafe adult art classesarts afterschool for children and teens live/work artists units

Virgies? No. Madison's on The Ave? No. Highland Kitchen? Yes.

When I first moved to Somerville there was a dive bar up Highland Ave called Vergies. At least I think it was called that. This wasn't a dive bar like the Model or the Silhouette. This was a real dive. After I lived there a little while, Virgies was closed for renovations, and Madison's on the Ave sprung up in its place. I went there once. Not too much later, Madison's was closed for renovations, and now, the Highland Kitchen has popped up. Rumor is, it's pretty good, and it might actually be there for a while.


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Highland Kitchen satiates Somerville neighborhood's cravings

By Katie Johnston Chase Globe Staff / January 19, 2008

SOMERVILLE - I've always dreamed of living within walking distance of a restaurant with delicious, affordable food, a decent bar, and a comfortable vibe. A place I could go to a few times a month to have dinner or a drink. A place I could call my hangout.

So when Highland Kitchen opened around the corner from my house last month, my hopes were high. I knew it was owned by the former chef at Green Street Grill in Central Square, where I had feasted on mahi mahi with mango-avocado salsa and sampled lip-scorching curried goat stew. And when I heard Tom Waits playing on the jukebox the first time I walked in, and saw the silver menus gleaming with promises of brandy flips and chili cheese fries, I was instantly smitten. Halfway through our first drinks, my husband and I were on a first-name basis with the bartender.

Read more:
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2008/01/19/highland_kitchen_satiates_somerville_neighborhoods_cravings/