Union Square

The van in Union Square. Photo by Melina Schuler.

Update: The Globe reports the victim, 12, died.

A pedestrian was hit by a van shortly after 7 a.m. on Cambridge Street near the intersection with Brighton Avenue, right by the fire station. Scott Eisen reports the person was in "traumatic arrest," which is not a good sign.

Traffic quickly gridlocked as police closed streets to allow EMTs to care for the victim and so that they could investigate what happened.

Rachel Blumenthal checks out Somerville's newest round-treat emporium: Union Square Donuts, where most donuts go for $3, but the maple-bacon specials will set you back $3.50 each:

I found them to be worth the splurge, but I wouldn't make a frequent habit out of it.

She also reports that Backbar is now making ramen, but that it only makes ten portions of the stuff a day.

Brad Kelly photographed the living wall at Casa B in Somerville a few days ago. We haven't heard from him since, but are hoping for the best.

Copyright Brad Kelly. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Amy Casey wonders what the deal is with the women in Union Square in Somerville she keeps seeing with plastic bags covering their legs and purses.

Stephanie Clarkson reports Starlab, the practice space and recording studio in Union Square, was broken into over the weekend:

Both of Stephen Konrads's guitars were stolen (a fireglo Rickenbacker 360 and a brown Fender Telecaster '69 Thinline with a pearl pickguard) along with both of Wayne's basses (a sunburst Fender Jazz Bass with pick-up covers and a natural finish Rickenbacker 4003). Also Chris Duggan's black Gibson Les Paul and a Mac Pro with a cinema display were stolen.

Susan Olsen, better known as the youngest one in curls, will headline the annual Fluff festival in Somerville's Union Square this September. Volunteers are needed to help out. Do you have what it takes?

Post Somerville reports on some anti-yuppie sentiment in Union Square.

Today was Union Square's annual Fluff Festival, this year celebrating Fluffy whoopie pies (but don't worry: Roving bands of entrepreneurs sold Fluffernutters).

No Fluff Festival would be complete without either the Flufferettes or a Pharaoh of Fluff:

The Somerville News reports on one artist's project to place 20 to 25 outdoor chairs in Union Square. And before you even think about it, she's talking to local businesses about locking them up at night.

Thursday, Oct. 2: John Ford Coley and Terry Sylvester, lead singer of the Hollies, in concert at Kowloon. Yes, the giant Chinese restaurant in Saugus. $25. 781-233-0077 for tickets and the time the concert starts.

Saturday, Oct. 3: Harvest Fest, which will "bring together some of the finest artistic, culinary and musical talents from in and around the city of Somerville. Samples and demonstrations from local microbreweries will be presented throughout the day." Plus music/multimedia by, among others, Zebbler (better known as one of the Lite-Brite guys). 1-8 p.m., wristbands are $12. More info.

Sunday, Oct. 4: This must be snack-food month in Union Square in Somerville. The weekend after the annual What the Fluff festival comes Going Nutty, in which several local bakeries and restaurants show off their skills in making foods with, well, nuts. $5 donation goes to a high-school music scholarship fund. 2-4 p.m. More info.

Sunday, Oct. 4: Rozzie rats and political junkies will line Belgrade Avenue in Roslindale for the Roslindale Day parade, which kicks off at 1 p.m. at Adams Park in the Square, wends its way through Roslindale, takes a detour through West Roxbury by Holy Name and then ends up at Fallon Field. More info.

Union Square in Somerville hosted its annual What the Fluff festival today in honor of Archibald Query's invention of peanut butter's BFF.

Kathy Weller, one of the sellers at yesterday's Boston Handmade Somerville Marketplace in Union Square, chronicles how she got ready for the market.

Rob Bellinger reports an actual townie sighting in Union Square.

Rob V posts a photo of a sign mounted on a light pole pointing you to the Dunkin' Donuts all of ten feet away in Union Square.

Allison Stevens watches a fire inspector at the Fluff festival.

Sushiesque posts photos from yesterday's Fluff festival in Somerville.

Image used under Creative Commons.

The annual What the Fluff is now scheduled for tomorrow, 4-7 p.m. in Somerville's Union Square.

Why were three helicopters buzzing Davis and Union squares around 6 this morning?

DrinkBoston hoists a brew in honor of the Independent:

... The Independent in Somerville's Union Square is kind of like that middle sister who, after an awkward adolescence in which she was often overshadowed by her older and younger siblings, grew up to be the attractive, smart girl who's really easy to hang out with. ...

Jeff Egnaczyk took some photos (like the one above) at today's Fluff Festival in Somerville.

Stephanie Rogers has a write-up and photos. Ezra Ball was there, too. Sassy Sundry has more. Can't get enough? Tony Yang has even more

Flufferettes.

Jesse Kanson-Benanav watches in amazement as a mother helps her young son urinate on an electrical box in front of the Citizens Bank today:

... What in the hell kinda role-modeling is this for your child? You're in the middle of the densest city in New England - there are a hundred businesses in a four block radius. I'm sure ONE of them will let him use the pisser.

Aaron Schutzengel posts photos from the What the Fluff festival, including vital shots of kids getting dunked in a kiddie pool of Fluff during a tug of war.

Karrie posts Fluff photos as well, including one of Fluff Boy.

Jeremy Selwyn, chief snacks officer at Taquitos.net, posts still more Fluff photos, including a candid shot of the dancing Flufferettes. He also makes and devours a tuna, Fluff and hot sauce mix on a cracker.

Wait, this just in! More Fluff and Flufferette photos. And here's a photo of Coney Island Men's Rooms - drinks made with Fluff.

What? You just can't get enough of this stuff? Here are even more Fluff photos, by the immortal Hargo (he of the Somerville Gates).

Java programming geeks, meanwhile, were busy at the No Fluff Just Stuff conference in Framingham.

Hmm, did anybody see Jarrett Barrios?

Just in case you've somehow forgotten, tomorrow is the first What the Fluff? day in Somerville's Union Square. From 3 to 7 p.m., celebrate the gooey glop that made Union Square famous - and state Sen. Jarrett Barrios infamous.

... The Independent has the Fluffernutter Martini, a chocolate martini with Fluff and Reese's Pieces on the rim. Most exotic of all Fluff concoctions is surely the Independent's "Coney Island Men's Room." It's a hot-selling blue martini with a dollop of strawberry Fluff floating on top. ...

Ezra Ball posts photos of the Union Square comic minigolf course.

Jesse Kanson-Benanav, though, wonders if there's too much fun going on in Davis and Union squares, because they're basically bourgeois activities that ultimately help to drive out the city's remaining working-class residents:

... I'm afraid that the concerted effort to develop this arts reputation for the city is a quite effort to spread the gentrification evefurtherer and expand its encroachment into the neighborhoods in the east of the city which it has just recently discovered. Once the vibrant white working class and recent immigrant populations are forced from the city, Somerville will simply be Cambridge without Harvard and MIT. At that point, it might as well be annexed because not being Cambridge is what has always made Somerville special. ...

Union Square hosts the Somerville Open mini-golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 19, 3-6 p.m.

Come play a mini-golf course designed by local cartoonists and artists!!!

On August 19th we invite you to play a round of golf and celebrate the art of comics. Each hole in the temporary mini-golf course will be designed by a different local cartoonist or artist and will have a different theme. In addition to golf, there will be music, a "customize your golf ball" crafts station, and, at the end of the day (6:30-8:00 PM), a "Draw Your Own Comics" Workshop taught by the artists at the Washington Street Arts Center, 321 Washingston St, Somerville. ...