Ignite Festival is Back — Global Food, Fire & Cultural Shows, and More! 🎶🔥

[Jessica Saavedra Eleno]

🔥🎶 Ignite Festival 2025 is BACK! 🎶🔥

Saturday, Sept 27 • 3:30–7:30pm • Union Square, Somerville

(Rain date: Sunday, Sept 28)

Dear Somerville Community,

Get ready to ignite your senses at Ignite: A Global Festival of Food and Fire! Hosted by the Somerville Arts Council and the City of Somerville, we’re turning up the heat with an afternoon of delicious international flavors, mesmerizing fire performances, and nonstop entertainment. This year we’re reimagining the Ignite Festival! Expect more opportunities for hands-on experiences.

About the Food

For starters we’ll have Micro-cooking Classes (4-5:30pm), free to the public; our instructors will represent the countries of Bangladesh, Puerto Rico, Laos, and Haiti. Explore our International Food Court, featuring flavors from all corners of the globe. The lineup consists of: MOLU Ghanaian Cuisine, Dos Manos Kitchen, Matki Artisanal Khulfi, Sinta Filipino, Masala Square, Siam Ginger, Gracies Ice Cream, and Arepa La Mazorca. So, we invite you to eat your way around the world, learn a new dish and/or cooking technique, “Test Your Nose” at the Nibble table, and share international food stories at our Global Food Map activity. And finally, don’t miss the perennial favorite, the incendiary Curry Eating Contest, run by Masala Square. Dare to be a contestant and prepare to have your head blown off. 🌍 🌮🌶️

About the Entertainment

We’ll be lighting up Union Square with fire throwers, roving performers, and cultural showcases that celebrate traditions from around the world. To kick things off at 3:30pm Brinca Piranga will delight with Bumba Meu Boi, a joyful, high-energy bull dance from Brazil, followed by Pumawari Tusuy (Peruvian folk dance), KS Dance Studio (Haitian dance), and Tierra del Sol (Mexican folk dance). And this year, we’re turning up the global vibes between sets with DJ Philip Tan. The Boston Circus Guild will round out the evening with their spectacular performance of fire throwing and twirling. Throughout the event there also will be roving dancers, circus artists, and 10-foot-tall bird puppets. Also expect a bevy of interactive activities such as “create your flag”, tarot card reading with Madame Anderson, Arabic calligraphy, face painting and more. 💃🏽🤹‍♀️🔥

About Nibble

At the heart of this event is Nibble, a Somerville Arts Council initiative that nurtures local, immigrant culinary entrepreneurs through our Nibble Kitchen and Nibble Culinary Entrepreneurship Program. Every bite you take helps support our diverse community of chefs and their dreams of launching independent businesses. 💛👩🏽‍🍳👨‍🍳

More info and full schedule HERE:

📍SAC Website - https://somervilleartscouncil.org/events/ignite-festival-2/

📍Facebook Event - https://www.facebook.com/share/1CcuTmWUUr/

Parking is limited, so we encourage you to take public transportation.

This event is free, but we highly encourage you to support our festival food vendors and local businesses! 🙌

Bring your friends, your family, and your appetite for adventure! 🔥 We can’t wait to see you there!

Warmly,
The Somerville Arts Council

 

 
City of Somerville Public Records Notice

Please be advised that the Massachusetts Attorney General has determined that email is a public record unless the content of the email falls within one of the stated exemptions under the Massachusetts Public Records Laws.