Cambridge and the Inman Square Business Association will celebrate the completion of Vellucci Community Plaza Saturday, Oct. 2, with a day of entertainment, refreshments, music and activities for all ages. "Fall for Inman Square," as the festival is called, will start at noon with family-oriented activities in Vellucci Plaza, followed by a formal dedication by Mayor Michael Sullivan at 3:30 p.m., and then continue with more entertainment throughout Inman Square until 10 pm.

The Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci Community Plaza is located at the heart of Inman Square, where Cambridge Street intersects with Hampshire Street in mid-Cambridge. The reconstruction of the plaza is a part of large-scale streetscape improvements of the 1.5-mile section of Cambridge Street between Inman Square and Lechmere Station. In an unusual public art project, artists Jock Reynolds and Suzanne Hellmuth served as the lead designers for the plaza. Working in cooperation with landscape architects Carol R. Johnson Associates, they have reinvigorated the space and created serene vistas in the urban environment of Inman Square.

The design includes three granite planters placed in asymmetrical formation with wood platforms on top for seating; a trellis wall with climbing ivy along the back of the plaza; textured paving with exposed river rock; and festoon lights suspended from cables over the plaza. The artists have also added a variety of ornamental grasses, ivy, ground cover and trees to reflect the tradition of gardening in the neighborhood and to provide visual and auditory barriers from traffic. In a soft contrast to a dark river stone paving, seven new white birches have been planted to create a shade in the center of the park.

For a schedule of sidewalk fair events, please visit: www.inmansquare.com