The What the Fluff Festival returns to Union Square on September 25.

By Mengqi Sun

99 years ago, Archibald Query created Marshmallow Fluff right in Union Square. This September, in its 11th year, What the Fluff Festival returns with more food, music, and activities, commemorating that invention.

Themed Fluff U: A Sweet Education, the Fluff Festival presents local vendors with food and crafts, local music bands, as well as original fluff-themed games, attracting over 12,000 people last year, according to the festival’s website.

Esther Hanig, the Executive Director of the Union Square Main Streets, a community development organization that organizes the festival each year, said the idea of creating a “Fluff University” comes from the core spirit of the festival.

“The festival is a tribute to local convention. It’s about how invention and innovation kind of comes from trying new things and learning new things,” she said.

To get people excited for and aware of the festival this year, Hanig and the other eight volunteers, who together made up the organizing committee, designed a “Fluff-enger Hunt” that includes 18 local businesses and an Extreme Fluff Pack – the ultimate grand prize for the winner.

Featuring restaurants like Brass Union and local services like the Tango Society of Boston, the scavenger hunt requires participants to find the official Fluff Crest logo at each local business and get the employee to check their business off the list.

“We did something similar last year, called Find Fluff Boy,” Hanig said. “Just building the awareness and some excitement about the Fluff Festival coming up. But at the same time, it’s really a way to make sure people are going into our great local businesses in the Union Square. I think even people nearby don’t realize everything that’s here.”

Hanig noted that despite the fact that the hunt is targeted at families with young and old kids, it is also a great activity that works together with another new initiative they are offering this year. The Second Saturday, is a program where every second Saturday of the month local businesses offer something different and special, while people go into the Square for the Farmers’ Market.

Although it is only Hanig’s second year organizing the festival as the director, she reflected on the evolvement of the festival and its significance to the community.

“The first year there wasn’t many things. There were more contests,” she said. “As years went on, certain things became stabilized, like there’s always three different bands playing, and we added a train last year. We just really developed a following – people just loved it, and they tell other people to come. It was the first festival that’s here that’s of its size, and it’s very much in the spirit of the Union Square.”

What the Fluff? A Tribute to Union Square Invention takes place on Saturday, September 24, 2016 (rain date: Sunday, September 25). The events start at 3:00 p.m. Please check their website (http://www.flufffestival.com) and their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/flufffestival) for further information on their vendors and sponsors. The organizers also asked participants to sign up for the cooking test beforehand this year.