The Somerville News Blog

Sunsetters fill dusk with song and dance

By Elizabeth Bernardi

Their stage is the street - Putnam Road in Ten Hills tonight - where two dozen lawn chairs are spread out at dusk on a cloudy Monday, as speakers, microphones and cable are unloaded from a blue van. A small army of kids and teenagers scurries around, hooking up cables, talking amongst themselves. They’re the Somerville Sunsetters, dressed uniformly in khaki cargo shorts and black shirts adorned with the Sunsetters’ logo, a superhero-style “S” with a sun setting behind the top of the letter. It is nearly 7 p.m., and the show is about to go on.

A few members are missing, though, so the crowd waits just a few more minutes, listening to Oldies piped in over the speakers. Finally someone shouts out, “Everyone’s here! We can start!” A few stragglers in Sunsetters garb come running up the street’s steep hill, and when everyone has taken their places, spread across the street, the familiar peppy introduction to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” begins to play.

To appreciate historic Somerville, take a bike ride

By Elizabeth Bernardi

Driving through Somerville, you might have noticed the engraved plaques marking historical sites and scattered throughout the city. But if you are behind the wheel, you probably haven’t stopped to read them. Turns out, the best way to sample historic Somerville is on the two wheels of a bicycle, and at Saturday’s Historic Bicycle Tour of Somerville and Medford, nearly 100 people discovered just that.

The tour, in its sixth year, took riders through Somerville with stops at some of the historic houses, parks and businesses along the way. Historic properties and landmarks are given that designation based a combination of factors. The Preservation Commission works with architectural historians to identify homes and parcels that are
significant to the community and its history. This might mean that a property was involved in an important historical event, or simply that its architecture is historically notable. Historic properties are also determined based on how well-maintained they are with respect to the property's original state. Raising awareness and appreciation of  these properties is one of the goals of the bicycle tour.