By Kim Geronimo

Tiki music, Polynesian dance, Hawaiian shirts, and leis filled Union Square during last Friday’s “Hawaiian Nights” festival. Plastic palm trees graced the stage, along with colored paper lamps and two surfboards. Scenes of surfers and crashing waves played across a projection screen behind the performers.

But despite the décor and sounds of Hawaii, there was no forgetting the true location of the show. Cars zoomed by endlessly along Somerville Avenue – the four-lane road that tightly hugs one side of the square – and the white strips of the parking lot were still visible beneath the fold out chairs arranged in front of the stage. Swaying gracefully to the music, one of the Polynesian dancers had tattoos fully covering her bare forearms and stomach; a strange sort of metaphor for Union Square’s blend of cultural initiatives in its gritty landscape.

Hawaiian Nights was produced through ArtsUnion, a three-year-old Somerville Arts Council (SAC) initiative designed to boost business in Union Square through the arts. It has organized a host of cultural events in or near Union Square, such as “Project MUM: Meet Under McGrath!” a seventies dance party under McGrath Highway and “Project YUM: A Union Square festival celebrating local crops and global shops,” a food festival planned for October.

Mimi Graney, Executive Director of Union Square Main Streets (USMS), one of SAC’s partners in the ArtsUnion initiative, explained the thinking behind the creation of ArtsUnion. Back in the beginning of the 20th century, “Union Square was the traditional downtown of Somerville,” she said. Unfortunately, one hundred years later, it has lost much of its former vibrancy. No longer pedestrian friendly, the square is surrounded by “lots of unused lots, buildings or undeveloped space,” and has an industrial component that is “way off the charts” compared to other more commercial squares like Harvard and Davis, she said.

As a result, USMS has begun to sponsor many initiatives, including ArtsUnion. Union Square is filled with artists and cultural resources, said Graney. “If they all focus attention on one space, it will boom even more.” Crammed into one word, the final goal is revitalization, she said.

And so far, Graney certainly thinks the effort has worked. Union Square is “seeing change in the business mix” she said. “New businesses are moving into previously underused properties,” like a new cafe and art gallery moving into the old buildings in the square. Woodman has also seen success: enthusiastic participation in events like Project MUM and more visitors in the ethnic markets have been encouraging signs for the ArtsUnion program.

Residents too, have noticed a change for the better. Theo and Lee Marston, life-long residents of Somerville, remember Union Square growing up. It was a “gritty” area, part of a “working class city,” and most certainly “not artsy.” Over the decades though, it has become evermore art friendly and even just in the last year, with the Project SUM: Sculpture Under McGrath, there is “art popping up everywhere” even under highways.

The overriding sentiment at the show floated between enthusiasm and calm approval as residents milled about in their token Hawaiian shirts and plastic leis. Sean Sullivan, a Somerville resident of three years was impressed with the production. “It’s nice seeing an area that’s usually a parking lot turned into an events stage open for creative work” he said. Considering Hawaiian Nights and other ArtsUnion events in general, Sullivan highly approved: “this is part of the vibrancy a community really should have”.

Adam Chamberlain, a recent Wesleyan graduate and new to the neighborhood, was also thrilled with the show. Pulling out his best hula dance moves in a corner, he was full of praise for his new neighborhood. “It’s really great to come into a community that feels like a community”. Events like Hawaiian Nights gave the area “a really great vibe”.