By Sara Hopson (Community Engagement Associate)

On Sunday we hung out at Carnaval in East Somerville, a family-friendly afternoon street party celebrating all things local: people, businesses, and culture. This was the first event in a monthly series called SomerStreets sponsored by the City of Somerville which will run through October.

From Temple Street to Sullivan Square, vendors lined Broadway and the roads were “closed to cars, open to you!” Volunteers manned the East Somerville Main Streets booth selling t-shirts, colorful Carnaval beads, and the Savoring East Somerville cookbook (on sale here). Carnaval-goers enjoyed sixty-five degree sunshine from noon to 4 p.m., with the last musical act, Son del Sol, taking the stage in front of the East Branch Library.

ESMS’s executive director Carrie Dancy and event coordinator Jenn Bliss let us help out for a couple hours in the afternoon and we met some great East Somervillians - residents and business owners alike. Here are some of them enjoying the day.

These are the owners of Neusa’s Decorations & Graceful Baskets, open now at 133B Broadway, posing in front of one of their party-decor creations.

Free face-painting transformed the East Somerville youth population into the (totally adorable) creatures of their choice during Carnaval.

Teen hip-hop enthusiasts participated in an open-mic competition near Sullivan Square hosted by Teen Empowerment.

A community drum circle in action - these guys sounded great and were so friendly to all the festival goers.

Some cool guys and their mama enjoyed some equally cool refreshments in the shade as they waited for the next band to start playing.

On Sunday, July 24th, SomerStreets will come to Highland Avenue in Somerville from noon to 4 p.m. again with Seize the Summer. Swellr will see you there!