Vendors at the Somerville/Davis Square Farmers Market arrive around 10 a.m. every Wednesday. Photo by Maja Orsic.

On the evening of June 21, to honor the summer solstice (and because I missed the 87 bus), I walked 1.7 miles from Davis Square to the intersection of Beacon and Washington Streets. Along the way, I noticed other Somerville residents celebrating the first day of summer in style.

Outdoor seating was plentiful at Mike’s Food & Spirits (9 Davis Sq), The Burren (247 Elm St) and Posto (187 Elm St), where I saw groups, couples, and solo diners enjoying food and taking in the fresh air. Even patrons of The Pulse Café (195 Elm St), which does not offer sidewalk seating but whose indoor lights flooded the sidewalk, seemed to be soaking up the 70-degree weather.

Before reaching Union Square, I stopped at Conway Playground (560 Somerville Ave) to take in a few minutes of recreational softball. The air was still and, as bikers zipped by on the street behind me, I witnessed an effortless double play by the team in the field.

Most Somerville realtors call the area bordering Beacon and Washington Streets Dalì, referencing Dalì Restaurant & Tapas Bar (415 Washington St), which has anchored the intersection since 1989. Like Dalì, most corners of Somerville are defined by food and those who seek it out. To celebrate local flavors this summer, try the Somerville/Davis Square Farmers Market (Day & Herbert St), which takes place every Wednesday from 12 p.m to 6 p.m. through November 23.

Cover thumbnail of Somerville/Davis Square Farmers Market courtesy of yelp.com

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Miss Black Massachusetts, Claire Elise Johnson, admires the strawberries at Mystic Market

Somerville resident Claire Elise Johnson, Miss Black Massachusetts, was on hand to open the new Mystic Market in the Mystic River Development/Mystic View Apartment complex Saturday, June 18. The market is an initiative of Shape Up Somerville to bring fresh food to the North side of Winter Hill. When I arrived, Claire was playing games with some of the neighborhood kids. When she took a break, I asked her why she was here. She told me that her platform, “Generation ACTIVE: Accompanying Children Towards Increased Vitality via Exercise,” is about healthy movement and healthy eating. She is excited about the new market and the food access opportunities it brings to the Mystic View Apartments. Claire hopes to attend more of the markets this season as her schedule permits.

The market is open from 11 a.m. to3 p.m. every Saturday, from June through October. Stop by and pick up some fresh food!

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Do Somerville residents have enough access to fresh, healthy foods?

The cover story in the Spring, 2011 Scout asked the question: Do Somerville residents have enough access to fresh, healthy foods? Scout found that there are several serious barriers to people – especially low-income residents – getting the food they need.

Earlier this month, a group of local organizations gave us a comprehensive look at the problem. The Somerville Community Health Agenda, Somerville Homeless Coalition, and Tufts Community Health Program released the “Rapid Assessment Response and Evaluation of Food Insecurity in Somerville (RARE-FIS) Report to the Community.”

The report found (unsurprisingly) that vulnerable populations face barriers to obtaining enough fresh, healthy food. The RARE-FIS field team conducted 146 surveys (available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Creole), 42 in-depth interviews and two focus groups of low-income residents including elderly people, food pantry patrons, WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) voucher recipients and recent immigrants. The data was combined with results from 152 similar surveys conducted in 2010 by three Tufts Community Health Program students, resulting in a sample of 298 Somerville residents.

The surveys asked people how often they ran out of food and could not afford to buy more; how often they could not afford a balanced, nutritious meal; and whether they or members of their household had reduced or skipped meals because they did not have enough money.

Results revealed that food insecurity was evenly distributed across gender and age groups. Non-white respondents, those who were unmarried, and those who had dependents were more likely to experience high levels of food insecurity.

The report notes that the sample is not necessarily representative of the Somerville population, but that it does indicate “areas of need and opportunities for improvement.” A more detailed report and analysis of the surveys will be available at a later date.

So what is to be done? As Scout reported, some efforts are already underway to address food insecurity. Local food pantries are working to get more fresh produce and increase their capacity for storing it; farmers markets are accepting EBT/SNAP (food stamps) and WIC vouchers; Shape Up Somerville has improved school nutrition programs; and an upcoming farmers market at the Mystic Housing Development will offer fresh produce at wholesale prices.

The Community Action Board (CAB), a group of local stakeholders including social service agencies, farms, and city departments, is not content to stop there. At a meeting last week where the team that conducted RARE-FIS released evaluation results, the CAB discussed ways to better address the issue of food insecurity.

Most of the conversation centered on challenges in communication. Many vulnerable people are not aware of the resources available to them – farmers markets, food pantries, food subsidies – and the agencies that serve them don’t always have the information they need to give helpful referrals.

The CAB also discussed the need to communicate with residents on their own turf. They noted that web sites are of limited use – many low-income residents do not have a computers or internet access – and cited the need to get information to churches and other sites of “cultural comfort” where residents who do not utilize social service agencies can obtain information.

Though no concrete outreach efforts were planned at the meeting, the discussion is ongoing.

photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

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Photo used under Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user CptObvious

Even if you took the time to freeze, can, or otherwise preserve those precious summer vegetables, chances are you’re low on fresh, local produce by now. Just in time comes the Somerville Winter Farmers Market. The market will be held at The Center for Arts at the Armory (191 Highland Ave) every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through March 26.

The idea for the market came out of Shape Up Somerville‘s sustainability planning process in 2009. One issue that arose was community access to fresh produce in the winter. SOS Director Jaime Corliss said in an email that “the market fulfilled goals of  increased access to local foods and creating opportunities for Shape Up Somerville to work  more closely with the arts community.”

The market will feature greenhouse grown crops, winter storage produce, and vegetables from Enterprise Farm’s (Deerfield, MA) East Coast Foodshed. Local meat, chocolate, baked goods, and other foods, as well as wines from local wineries, will also be available. Each week will also feature a guest vendor and live entertainment (though there will not be entertainment this week — organizers want to work out the kinks of the market itself in the first week).

If you’re planning to attend the market, public transportation is advised. There is limited parking around the Armory.

Visit the Somerville Winter Farmers Market’s Facebook page for more information.

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Tips for Rodent Prevention:

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Large-scale manufacturing may be leaving town, but specialists like Flagraphics (30 Alston St), a maker of flags and banners, still remain. (Photo by Kelly MacDonald.)

In September, Second Wind (366 Summer St) moved its manufacturing headquarters from Somerville to Newton.

In February, Ames Safety Envelope (12 Tyler St) left town.

These departures raise a larger question: Is scale manufacturing in Somerville gone for good? That’s a question we address in the brand new Scout print edition, due out this week.

Leaving aside the state of scale manufacturing, Somerville is still home to numerous specialty manufacturers. One of them, Flagraphics (30 Alston St, see photo above), has been making and installing flags and banners since 1984.

Perhaps the most vibrant niche of specialty manufacturing in Somerville is the world of bicycles. As it happens, two Somerville bike-makers have had their moments on national television.

In 2005, Independent Fabrication (IF, 86 Joy St) appeared on a CNN reality TV show called “The Turnaround,” which paired struggling companies with successful ones in an attempt to spur reversals of commercial fortune.

IF was paired with Timberland. At the time, Gary Smith was President of Timberland’s Outdoor Group. Today, Smith is IF’s majority owner. Lloyd Graves, who cofounded the company in 1994, says Smith has “brought expertise” to the 12-employee company, which has always had bike-making savvy but has struggled with the fiscal aspects of the business.

IF cofounder Lloyd Graves "living the dream" at company headquarters. (Photo by Kelly MacDonald.)

For Smith, who also owns a minority stake in BaileyWorks, a messenger-bag-making company based in Portsmouth, NH, there is plenty to be optimistic about when it comes to American manufacturing. Neither IF nor BaileyWorks were impulse buys for him, even though he is a passionate cyclist. Both companies had staying power in the form of quality products and strong consumer brands. “People tattoo [the IF logo] on their arms,” he says. “It’s like Harley-Davidson. The world is full of choices, but very few brands elicit an emotional response.”

Dan Sorger, owner of the Dutch Bicycle Company (161 Broadway), calls IF’s bike-makers “artists who do great and amazing work.” Whereas IF’s bikes are high-end sporting equipment, Sorger’s leading bicycle, the Swift, is geared toward both urban commuters and casual cyclists. And it already has a celebrity endorsement. The Swift appears on the ABC program “My Generation,” which debuted this fall. Sorger is friends with Mike McGuiness, a longtime Swift devotee and cofounder of the Los Angeles-based PR firm Feinstein/McGuiness Public Relations. It was through McGuiness that actress Jaime King, a star on “My Generation,” also became a Swift fan.

The Swift is just one part of Sorger’s vision. In the works: Somervelo, a line of parts designed and manufactured by his business and sold online or through other shops. In addition, Sorger plans to launch a line of cargo tricycles and to design commuter bikes that will be specific to the region in which they are sold: “In the southwest or the southeast, where it’s flat as a board, you can have a more relaxed seat tube angle because climbing hills is not an issue,” he explains. “In Key West there are no hills but there’s saltwater rusting everything so you need a different material kit than in, say, Columbus, Ohio.”

Sorger intends to change his company’s name, which still reflects the initial bike-importing business he began in 2001. He says he’ll launch the new name – which he’s already chosen – in the spring. For now, he’s using DBC instead of Dutch Bicycle Company whenever he can.

The optimism pervading IF and DBC is not the only news regarding Somerville bike-makers. Joshua Kampa, founder of Open Bicycle (21A Union Sq) and himself the small-scale manufacturer of a bike tool, announced on his blog that “OPEN closed last week in preparation of a new custom-only bike studio moving into our space in Union Square. We’re re-organizing the space to become Boston’s first all-local bike shop, with framesets from 6 local builders and a full fit studio.” Kampa did not return repeated Scout calls seeking further details.

Reporting from Lorie Reilly contributed to this post.

Photos by Kelly MacDonald.

Thumbnail photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

This is the second in an ongoing series of blogs exploring the State of Small Business in Somerville.

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