Join us for international street food, dance, interactive activities—and fire!
It's time to fire things up with the fifth annual Ignite festival! To celebrate Union Square’s sizzling food landscape we bring you an evening of international eats, fire throwers, roving entertainment, and a raucous celebration of global culture, including a bhangra glow-stick dance party at the end to cap things off!
There will also be food demos, interactive activities and the Boston Circus Guild will dance with fire! Also on deck: craft vendors, a mime, a magician, nose Olympics, the Fine Arts Superheroes, fortune telling, coconut bowling and more! And don’t forget to bring a contribution to the festival’s first canned food drive, benefiting the Somerville Homeless Coalition! It’s easy-- just bring a can or two of food to the festival. See full schedule below.
Suggested donation: $2: You'll get a cool tiger sticker! Or buy a tiger tee or tote to support the fest!
Rain date: Sunday, August 20 from 6-10pm.
Join the event on our facebook page!
Road Closures
Walk, bike or take public transport if at all possible! Two travel lanes on Somerville Ave. between Prospect and Webster, closest to the plaza, will be closed to traffic. The outside two lanes will accommodate two-way traffic.
Schedule
Fire Square Performance Area (in Union Square Plaza parking lot)
6:15 Chinese Lioness Dance
8:00 Bajacol (Colombian Dance Troupe)
8:45 Boston Circus Guild Fire performance
9:30 Boston Bhangra dance performance and glow-stick dance party
Food Demos (in front of Independent outdoor seating area/Union Square Plaza)
6:35 Timur Momo Sauce, presented by Uttam of Himalayan Kitchen
6:50 Charred corn & ricotta toast w/ fermented chili oil, presented by Field and Vine's Andrew Brady
7:00 Bow Market's Ellie Tiglao/Pamangan demos Filipino "tamale"
7:10 Mexican salsa using a molcajete with Nibble entrepreneur Estela Calzada
7:20 Top 5 Japanese ingredients at Reliable Market
Tiger Head performance area (in Union Square Plaza)
6:30 Lioness storytelling
7:30 Fine Art Super Heroes
7:45 Ian the Mime
8:00 Cate Great Circus Arts
8:45 Tango performance
9:00 Kizomba dance performance
MUSCRAT bus food court (parking lot behind the Independent restaurant)
6:30-8:30 Só Sol (Brazilian band)
Plus: Coconut bowling, WildEye photo booth, tigerhead mask-making, and foodcourt seating
Ignite beats interactive fruit-themed audio-visual activity
Throughout the festival
Intercambio presents Global Grazing Games, magician Bob Filene's "Magic for Smart People," Henna hand-painting, caricatures, Magical Puppet Caravan with Faye Dupras, Nibble Nose Olympics, a few craft vendors, face-painting, Somerville Open Studios activities—and more!
