Somerville: Share Your #SquareFlair, Help Your Neighborhood Get Celebratory Banners!

SOMERVILLE – Can you just not hide your Somerville pride? Somerville residents, show us what’s awesome about your neighborhood and your local business district by sharing your #SquareFlair! During the week of Nov. 1 – Nov. 6, use the hashtag #squareflair to show us what you love about your square, an example of how you support your neighbors and your favorite local business, and any way you get involved in your City to help your square win 2015 commemorative All-America City banners! Winners will be announced on Saturday, Nov. 7, at a SQUARE Party, complete with Square Dancing and square-themed food!

To mark our 2015 All-America City win, we're going to be hanging celebratory banners around Somerville. Unfortunately, we don't have enough to blanket the whole city, so to decide where they'll be hung we're launching a friendly Square Flair competition.

Here's how Square Flair works:

From Nov. 1 through Nov. 6 you can earn points for your neighborhood by taking photos of the activities listed below and tagging them with #squareflair and your neighborhood. You can post the photos to Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, but your post will need to be public for us to be able to count it.

What can you earn points for?

• Taking a photo with one of the new solar cell phone charging stations.
• Buying an All-America City t-shirt
• Posting a photo of you wearing your All-America City t-shirt
• Shopping at a local business and posting a photo of what you bought or the receipt (after you've covered any sensitive info)
• Voting (those "I Voted" stickers are great for photo ops)
• Posting a photo of a historic site or marker in your neighborhood
• Posting a photo of something that gives your square its flair
• Posting a photo of a civic good deed

Poles that we can hang the banners from are located in East Broadway, Assembly Sq., Magoun Sq., Union Sq., Davis Sq., and Teele Sq.

The SQUARE Party!

On Saturday, Nov. 7, join us on the City Hall concourse (in case of rain, we’ll move inside the Somerville High School atrium) from 2 to 4 p.m. for some square-themed fun before we announce the winning square(s)! We’ll kick off with some refreshments (all square-shaped, of course), music, and games (chess, checkers, four square), and cap off the celebration with some good old fashioned Square Dancing (with professional caller!). The square(s) having received the most points during the week-long Square Flair Competition will be announced after the ceremonial unveiling of the 2015 All-America City banners along the concourse.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jackie Rossetti at JRossetti@somervillema.gov, or Meghann Ackerman at MAckerman@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, Betsy Allen, at extension 2323 or ballen@somervillema.gov.