City’s SomerStreets Program Returns for 2019 First Event of the Season along East Broadway on June 2

SomerStreets: Carnaval returns for the 10^th year of shaking up East Somerville! SomerStreets will kick off the 2019 season Sunday, June 2, from 2 to 6 p.m. (rain date: Sunday, June 9).

On June 2^nd, enjoy the best of the East Broadway Business District and community including food, music, and activities from around the world. Programming will extend along East Broadway from McGrath Highway to Pennsylvania Ave. The festival kicks off with an opening Parade at 2 p.m. beginning at the corner of Kensington Ave. and Broadway.

Keep your feet moving with a variety of interactive activities including stilting and parkour. Watch Esh Circus Arts fly through the air. Play soccer and preschool games with the Somerville Recreation Department. Hop aboard the Arts Council’s MUSCRAT bus for a series of shorts films in East Somerville. Be part of a talk show interview with Somerville Media Center. Check out the artisan market curated by Somerville Flea. Visit the dunk tank to dunk some of your neighbors and local elected officials!

Check out music throughout the day on three stages! Acts include Grupo Los Nitidos, Grooversity, Tarciso Alves & Forró Roots,Veronica Robles Female Mariachi, Torito Pinto Music Band and Camilla Latin Jazz. Listen to a concert from our very own string section from El Sistema and learn capoeira with Sinha Capoeira.

SomerStreets: Carnaval is organized by the City of Somerville, the Somerville Arts Council, and East Somerville Main Streets.

SomerStreets is the City of Somerville’s take on the internationally-renowned Open Streets concept, closing busy city streets to vehicles, and opening them up for cycling, walking, dancing, running, and other modes of activity. Through SomerStreets, the City and its community partners aim to promote and encourage easy access to physical activity, fresh foods, and reconnecting with neighborhoods and businesses and their unique cultural elements in a thriving urban environment.

In order to ensure public safety at the event, several road closures and parking bans will be in effect between McGrath Highway and Lombardi Way:

• Closed to all vehicular traffic;
• No parking on either side of the street from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
• Residents who live on the west side of Broadway will be detoured onto Broadway at Pennsylvania Ave.; Residents who live on the east side of Broadway will be detoured onto Pearl St.

MBTA buses will be rerouted from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. For full detour information, visit www.mbta.com.

The full 2019 SomerStreets lineup is as follows:

• Sunday, June 2: Carnaval: Lower Broadway (McGrath Hwy to Pennsylvania Ave) (Rain Date: June 9)
• Sunday, August 4: Seize the Summer: Holland St. (Davis to Cameron Ave.)
• Sunday, Sept 15: Strike Up the Band: Highland Ave. (School St. to Lowell St.)
• Sunday, Oct 20: Monster Mashed-Up: Somerville Ave. (Hawkins St. to Spring St.) (Rain Date: Oct 27)

All events are 2 – 6 p.m. The August and September festivals are rain or shine.

For more information about road closures contact 311 (617-666-3311). For information on how to participate in any of the SomerStreets events, go to: https://www.somervilleartscouncil.org/somerstreets or contact Nina Eichner, Special Events Manager, at (617) 625-6600 ext. 2998 or NEichner@somervillema.gov.

Individuals with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures, in order to access the programs and activities of the City of Somerville or to attend meetings, should contact the City’s ADA Coordinator, Nency Salamoun, at 617-625-6600 x2323 or NSalamoun@somervillema.gov.