A rainy day won't keep The Stoop away. With everyone coming back from vacation & the semester underway, this week feels like the first real week of fall. That means it's time to start prepping for shorter days and post-work sidequests.
Run clubs will always be around, but picking up a new hobby or activity doesn't come as easy as it does this week. Stitch clubs move outdoors, cooking classes heat up, and group activities like puzzle competitions & food crawls creep their way into the calendar.
Everything lines up steady for this weekend's Fluff Fest, so make sure you plan accordingly.
Marine veteran T.J. Swenson Jr. received the state’s Madeline “Amy” Sweeney Award for Civilian Bravery on Friday, honored for pulling drivers out of their cars and helping stop the Memorial Drive shooter in May · NBC Boston
A six-story, 71-unit building near Porter Square is stalled while its developer sues Cambridge over the 20% affordable requirement, arguing the project already meets zoning and could be going up now · The Harvard Crimson
Daniel Lander conceded to Will Brownsberger after a districtwide hand recount left the 34-vote margin intact, though Lander carried Cambridge’s four precincts 1,862 to 1,614 · Cambridge Day
A Somerville man was arrested after a three-month Cambridge drug investigation, with police building the case for months before moving in · Patch
Civilian oversight of Somerville police restarted with a presentation to the City Council Thursday, six years after councilors first demanded it, with a staff update September 24 and a public hearing in October · Cambridge Somerville Independent
JT Scott and Ben Ewen-Campen are both leaving the Somerville City Council at the end of the year, Ewen-Campen for a State Rep seat, with a special election to fill the vacancies · The Somerville Times
Somerville Stitch Club @ Community Growing Center, Somerville - Stitch Club moves outside for its last two sessions of the year to take advantage of what's left of the nice weather. Bring a picnic blanket, whatever fiber project you've got going and a snack | FREE • 5:30-7:30PM
Boston Leather Guild @ West Branch Library, Somerville - Need a new sidequest? Boston Leather Guild is a creative community where artisans and makers share their love of leathercraft and their next monthly meeting is tomorrow night | FREE • 5:30-8PM
Somerville Museum Tavern Talk: The Powder Alarm of 1774 @ Aeronaut Brewing, Somerville - Come for beer, stay for history. The Somerville Museum's monthly tavern talk takes on the 1774 Powder Alarm, the raid that almost kicked off the war in your backyard | 7-8PM
Coffee & Connections @ Tatte, Cambridge Crossing - Need to expand your network? You might as well do it over a morning coffee. Most networking happens at night when you're already spent. Boston Business Hub pulls together founders, young professionals, collaborators and more to build your local professional network | $9-$15 • 10-11:30AM
Fall Fest @ Eastern Edge Food Hall, Cambridge - Join Eastern Edge in Kendall Square and help celebrate the start of fall. Cider tastings, a live saxophonist and a haystack photo op if you're looking for post-work plans | FREE • 4-7PM
Cooking Classes at Dante Alighieri @ Dante Alighieri Society, Cambridge - Six classes, six Italian regions. Italy Meets America covers Italian-American cooking, with special emphasis on crafting dishes from each region as well as plate design and a glass of wine while you learn. Classes run once a month until October | $120 • 5:30-8:30PM
Make Your Favorite Food Mini Fridge Magnets @ Craft Loft, Cambridge - Your fridge should reflect your takeout order. Drop into a polymer clay workshop in CambridgeSide where you shrink your favorite meals down to magnet size and help decorate your favorite kitchen appliance | $61 • 6-7PM
Foodie Crawl 2026 @ Broadway, East Somerville - Fifteen years, fifteen restaurants, one walk down Broadway. East Somerville's tasting tour runs with tastings, live entertainment and interactive games while you crawl | $46 • 6-8:30PM
Speed Jigsaw Puzzling @ Winter Hill Brewing, Somerville - Puzzle Buzz turns a jigsaw into a race and puts the winner into an official national ranking database, with the brewery an official spot on the list. Teams of four recommended | FREE • 7PM
Why Is Making Friends So Hard? @ New Acropolis, Cambridge - Nobody warns you that friendship gets harder after college. Acropolis Boston hosts a two-hour talk geared toward Gen Z on why that happens, plus some tips and tricks on getting over that hump | FREE • 7-9PM
Loma x State Park Rum Tasting + Dance Party @ State Park, Cambridge - Boston Rum Week and State Park team up to throw another legendary Latin dance party, plus tastings from Providence's Loma bar | 9PM-LATE
Matcha Meetup with Nomu @ Urban Park Roof Garden, Cambridge - Love matcha? Good. Nomu pours from the Urban Park kitchen on the rooftop garden. Rotating flavors each week, some made only for this pop up, and the first 150 guests drink free | FREE • 2-6PM
Fluff Fest Night Market @ Bow Market, Somerville - Fluff season opens at Bow Market with exclusive merch drops, new art from local artists and more to prep for the Fluff Fest weekend | FREE • 4-9PM
Connect at the List @ MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge - Think speed networking but for artists. The List opens the galleries to Boston-area grad students, recent grads and young artists to help expand their professional networks | FREE • 6-8PM
Thursday Singles Bash @ Upstairs at Bow Market, Somerville - Another epic Bow Market singles bash but this time for the millenials. Thursday fills the private upstairs venue at Bow Market with 100 singles over 30, fun games and a drink to go with your ticket too
Portico Point to Pint Runners @ Portico Brewing, Somerville - Three miles out of Portico Brewing every Thursday, then a beer back at the taproom. Everyone's welcome, whether you're training for marathons or just want to meet new people | FREE • 6:30-9PM
Thursday Singles Bash @ Upstairs at Bow, Somerville - Another epic Bow Market singles bash for the millennials. Thursday fills the private upstairs venue with 100 singles over 30 and a cocktail included with your ticket | $25 • 7-9PM
Central Square Night Market @ 65 Sidney Street, Cambridge - Incredible food, local vendors and an immaculate evening hits Central Square for their annual outdoor night market on Sidney Street. Games, live music and idney Street shuts down for one night of street food, local makers, games and live music performances starting at 5
What the Fluff? Fest @ Union Square, Somerville - It’s finally here again: Union Square's marshmallow festival turns 21 this year, honoring the neighborhood's most famous invention. Fluff bowling, ring toss, touch-a-truck, parkour demos and more for the big fest
The Autumn Circuit 5K @ Somerville Junction Park, Somerville - Not your typical 5K. La Corsa Club designs its fall race around sponsor experiences, so adidas puts Adizero demos on your feet for the 9:15 start and runs a raffle when you're back. Full proceeds to Alex's Lemonade Stand
Cambridge
136 INCIDENTS 14 ARRESTS Per day · Aug 31-Sep 6, the most recent logs CPD has posted
| Mon 8/31 | 21 | |
| Tue 9/1 | 16 | |
| Wed 9/2 | 21 | |
| Thu 9/3 | 29 | |
| Fri 9/4 | 24 | |
| Sat 9/5 | 13 | |
| Sun 9/6 | 12 |
The week of August 31 through September 6 ran 136 incidents and 14 arrests in Cambridge, with September 3 the busiest day of the stretch at 29.
NOTABLE: Phone scams took more than $220,000 out of Cambridge in one week. On August 31 a resident reported losing over $200,000 to callers posing as their bank. On September 4, two residents paid $12,000 and $8,000 to callers posing as police, each told they had a court case to settle, and a third got the same script on September 2 for $3,000. No police department or court will ever call and demand payment by phone. That call is the tell.
The rest of the week ran hot in Central and Harvard Squares. A driver on Somerville Ave. pepper-sprayed a cyclist who complained about their driving on September 1, and on the night of September 5 someone sprayed a crowded Mass. Ave. bar. A robber passed a note demanding cash at a Brattle St. business on September 3, the same day a person was trespassed from a Mass. Ave. store after yelling racial slurs and throwing a drink at an employee. Two arrests ended with officers spit on. Odder entries: someone broke into a Huron Ave. home and left food behind, a driver rammed a Green St. parking gate to dodge the fee, and a Rindge Ave. worker lost $8,000 cash from a broken-into locker. Nine bikes and scooters went missing, topped by a $1,200 e-bike.
Somerville
5 ARRESTS Per day · Aug 31-Sep 6, the most recent log posted
| Mon 8/31 | 0 | |
| Tue 9/1 | 1 | |
| Wed 9/2 | 0 | |
| Thu 9/3 | 2 | |
| Fri 9/4 | 0 | |
| Sat 9/5 | 1 | |
| Sun 9/6 | 1 |
Somerville's newest log covers August 31 through September 6 and shows five arrests, the most in a week since we started tracking, with September 3 the only day that saw two.
NOTABLE: A 65-year-old Somerville resident was arrested on September 3 at the close of a three-month Cambridge Police investigation into drug distribution in North Cambridge and Central Square, worked with Somerville Police and State Police and helped along by community tips. He faces multiple distribution and possession charges. The arrest sits in Cambridge's count above, not Somerville's log.
The September 1 arrest started at a McGrath Highway gas station, where a repeat troublemaker threw a gallon of milk at a clerk; picked up nearby on a warrant and tied to a porch package theft on Grant St. Both September 3 arrests came after 7PM: a drug possession charge behind the West Branch Library on College Ave., where police now run a plainclothes unit after repeated drug-use calls, and a trespass charge for a valet at the MGH outpatient building on Revolution Dr. who refused every ride home for close to an hour. On September 5 at Assembly Row, a man called in a break-in at his own apartment, relatives told 911 they had heard gunshots, and firefighters forced the door to an empty apartment; charges followed for a false report, resisting and assault on an officer. The OUI came just before midnight on September 5 at Beacon and Park, after a driver overshot a left turn, jumped the curb and hit another car.
State law keeps juveniles, domestic violence and sexual assault out of both cities' public logs, so neither set of numbers is a full count.
Sources: Cambridge Police daily logs, Patch and the Somerville Police weekly arrest log.
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