This Saturday marks the 19th annual “What the Fluff? A Tribute to Union Square Innovation” festival. This year’s theme is “Somerville over the Rainbow… There’s no place like Fluff.” On the festival day, Somerville residents lean into their quirky side to celebrate the invention of Marshmallow Fluff which dates back to 1917 when Somerville resident Archibald Query was cooking the original recipe and selling it door-to-door.
After World War I sugar shortages forced his business efforts to halt, Query was no longer interested in continuing his endeavors. Query then sold the sugary formula to H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower for $500. From there, the product took off.
The long history of Fluff at the Durkee-Mower company includes the sponsoring of the Yankee radio network’s “Flufferettes” radio show, the creation of the “Yummy Book” which included a range of Fluff recipes and a collaboration with the Kellogg’s Company for their Rice Krispie “Marshmallow Treat” recipe.
Marshmallow Fluff continued to spread throughout New England, becoming popularized by Durkee-Mower’s advertising of the fluffernutter sandwich, a peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwich, in the 1960s. Marshmallow Fluff is now available globally in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland, Israel, South Africa, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates.
Regardless of the recipe’s multi-pronged origin story, the residents of Somerville are proud to claim Fluff as their own and use the Fluff festival as a way to celebrate the city’s culture.
Jessica Eshleman is the executive director of Union Square Main Streets who, in collaboration with the Somerville Arts Council, hosts the annual Fluff festival.
“We have leveraged the Somerville history as a means to tell the story of our neighborhood and celebrate the spirit of innovation that is alive and so strong in Union Square [and] really throughout the Somerville community as a whole,” Eshleman said.
The first festival dates back to 2005 and resembled more of a neighborhood celebration.
“[The Fluff festival] is a very intentional project stream … that brings joy, which is really critical to our mission of economic empowerment and neighborhood vibrancy and place-making and keeping,” Eshleman said. “But it’s also very strategic. … The benefit is to lift the neighborhood up as a whole, and to celebrate it for its uniqueness as we undergo such transformation.”
The current festival spans 0.3 miles of Somerville Avenue and draws crowds from the local community as well as all over the country. In recent years, the event has reached about 20,000 attendees over the four-hour period. However, this year will be the first year that the Union Square Green Line MBTA stop will be fully running during the festival. Crowds are expected to be even larger.
The festival includes a range of Fluff-inspired entertainment including Marshmallow Fluff musical chairs, Fluff jousting, Fluff limbo and Somerville’s very own Archibald Query impersonated by board member Mike Katz. The event is also widely attended by local vendors, with about 62 participating.
Eshleman is part of the 10-member planning team that includes Union Square business leaders, Somerville residents and Union Square board members.
“We’ve been working with businesses since April to develop these ideas. We host a monthly business meeting and to see everybody decide what they’re going to do and then share it out with the community — it’s just so unique and rewarding on so many different levels,” Eshleman said.
The event also relies on the help of over 100 volunteers as well as the City of Somerville. Eshleman highlighted the necessity of collaboration to make the festival what it is.
“We couldn’t do it without our city partners, so certainly the entire team at the Somerville Arts Council,” Eshleman said. “But I always take a moment to express real appreciation whenever possible, to Mayor Ballantyne and also all the city employees who make this possible. [Department of Public Works], Somerville Police Department, Somerville Fire — we couldn’t do it without them.”
Jen Gubicza is the local artist behind the festival’s logo this year.
“I run my own business where I make stuffed animal heads, like fake taxidermy. So that’s my made-up job as an artist,” Gubicza said.
Before her current business, Gubicza worked as a graphic designer and creative director for a design studio. While there, she worked with clients including Disney and Nickelodeon creating toy packaging, websites and logos.
Every year, Union Square Main Streets opens up artist submissions for the festival graphic.
“My husband and I just sat down for an hour and brainstormed ideas and came up with a couple things, and then we each submitted one,” Gubicza said. “They ended up choosing mine, but we both kind of had a part in each other’s work.”
After being selected, Gubicza worked with the committee over the summer to refine her graphic. “The boots that I drew … became combat boots to be a little bit more unique and distinctive,” Gubicza said. “It was just a delight to be able to create a little piece of something that’s gonna live as a record of this festival and be a part of the weird festival for a year.”
Gubiczo received a booth at the festival, part of the perk of having her design be featured as the festival’s logo, and will be selling her work there.
Sarah Dudek is the creator and visionary behind the new Marshmallow Fluff Micro-Museum pop-up in Bow Market. It will be open Sept. 19–30.
Dudek was approached earlier in the year to see if she would be interested in transforming a 163-square-foot space into a pop-up at the Fluff Festival. From there, she came up with the idea of a Fluff Museum.
“I love being a tourist. I love going places and going to whatever museum. And I love learning in that little short, truncated way. And then I love that there’s a gift shop and I can get a little momentum” Dudek said. “I love experiences like that. And the idea that we could create something like that to support an invention that is regional and innovative and exciting and makes everybody laugh, that seemed perfect to me.”
Dudek reached out to many contacts in the food and museum industry to start her undertaking in her project.
“One by one, getting all of this feedback from all of these different places, everything sort of started to coalesce a little bit more,” Dudek said. “And I understood the way that I wanted to present, the storytelling and all of the little fun activities that we could present as well.”
Dudek started a Kickstarter page for her micro museum with the initial goal of raising $5,000. She easily surpassed her goal, raising over $10,000 for her project.
“I’m surrounded by a community of folks who love food and love talking about food and love feeding their friends and love celebrating. And I knew that a lot of those folks wanted to see something free for the community come to life that had something to do with food history,” Dudek said. “So I was completely blown away by the amount of money we were able to raise, but I knew that there would be some community support just because this community is so good and so rich [in culture].”
As for the future of the Marshmallow Fluff Micro-Museum popup beyond the Fluff Festival, Dudek is open to traveling.
“I do have a friend in the North Shore that I’ve been in talks with to bring the museum there later in the autumn. And then I’ve heard a whisper from another area as well, and I can’t get into it yet because I don’t have enough particulars,” Dudek said.
The festival is truly a joint effort among the local Somerville community. It leans into the uniqueness of the individuals who reside here. In essence, the festival reflects the culture of Somerville, one built upon a community of creative individuals who are proud to be a little bit quirky.
The festival will take place in Union Square on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 2–6 p.m.
