Somerville Hosting Strike Up The Bands Street Festival

SOMERVILLE, MA — Somerville has announced details of this weekend's Strike Up the Bands event, which will feature live music, family activities and local artisan vendors, and give attendees a chance to celebrate free and open streets.

The street festival is scheduled, rain or shine, for 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday at Highland Avenue between Central Street and Lowell Street. The event is presented by Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne and the Somerville Arts Council (SAC).

Strike Up the Bands is part of the SomerStreets Program, which is the City of Somerville's take on the Open Streets concept. The idea is to close busy streets to vehicles and open them for cycling, walking, dancing, running and other modes of activity.

This weekend's event will feature entertainment on two stages.

The Central Street Stage, located at 154 Highland Ave., will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with performances by Maura Mendoza and guitarist Guillermo Ortiz (2:15 p.m.) and the rock band Calypso (3 p.m.). Attendees also will have a chance to dance the cumbia with Los Nitidos (4:30 p.m.).

The Armory Stage, at 191 Highland Ave, will feature the Alejandro Brittes Quartet, which will perform from 2:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., and again from 5 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. From 3:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., the quartet will conduct a trilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese) community outreach activity where it will demonstrate the core elements of chamamé music and dance.

The festival also will have more than 30 artisan and craft vendors, in addition to booths set up by local businesses.

Plus, there will be a visit from Boston League of Wicked Wrestlers (BLOWW), an inclusive, social justice-oriented wrestling league and performance art group that exists to provide art for, empower, and bring together the marginalized gender and queer communities.

The event also will include family arts and crafts, a bounce house and yard games.

According to city officials, the next SomerStreets event — after Strike Up the Bands — is the Monster Mash, which is scheduled for Oct. 22 at Somerville Avenue from School Street to Warren Avenue in Union Square.