Top: Edmund “B*Wak” Comfort works on a live graffiti demonstration. Bottom: Arts and Ideas high school fellow Lhord-Haaziq Howard, Arts & Ideas Community Impact Manager Shannon Miller, and high school fellow Andrew McCarty. Abiba Biao Photos.
Beneath the bright afternoon sun, Edmund “B*Wak” Comfort was in the zone. He lifted a can of yellow spray paint to a long, wrapped canvas, and came alive. The bright letters stood out against the black backdrop, a reference to how the Hill shines in New Haven. This was the HILL—Home, Inclusion, Legacy, and Limitless—reimagined and beloved as it has always been.
That was the scene at the 13th annual Hill Neighborhood Festival, a project of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas and a dedicated Hill neighborhood committee that is several years running. Held in Trowbridge Square Park, the celebration fêted longtime Hill champion Tomas Reyes, Jr., female veterans and the wives of veterans, and the Hill itself. Last year, the community award went to Ann Boyd, who was able to receive it before she passed away.
The event welcomed hundreds of attendees over the course of several hours, according to Arts & Ideas Managing Director Melissa Huber. It had a total of 27 resource-oriented and vendor booths, from a tent for the Livable City Initiative to small businesses like D.L.T.G. Groom Collection.
Delores Byrd, owner of Breathless Boutique. Abiba Biao Photos.
One of those vendors included Delores Byrd, owner of Breathless Boutique, a handmade jewelry business offering bracelets, necklaces, and ties. As a self proclaimed “people’s person,” Byrd said that a sense of community has brought her out to the Hill Festival for three years and counting.
“I like being around people. They can see what design[s] that I do, you know. And it’s a community thing,” she said.
The goals for her business are simple. With an e-commerce site and online presence, Byrd wants to expand her operations and have customers worldwide. She also highlighted the flexibility of being able to work for herself as a direct support counselor.
The business is a family affair, she added. Occasionally, her daughter, Johneisha Dubose, helps out with stand management and even her grandkids help out. Another passion for her business was her mom Margaret McCrea. She hopes to make a bracelet design and name it after her mother.
Working up a sweat from a lesson from the 40+ Double Dutch Club, Hill Alder Angel Hubbard said she was excited to see the festival spring to life again. As a Hill resident and elected official, Hubbard has been a fierce advocate for the fest for years, making sure to turn up for the past five years. Her favorite part is the neighborhood pride that she described as “unity in the community.”
Top: Hill Alder Angel Hubbard. Bottom: Members of the 40+ Double Dutch Club. Abiba Biao Photos.
As members of the 40+ Double Dutch Club prepared the rope, Hubbard savored a blast from the past. For a moment, she was reminded of her childhood, a time when playing without a care in the world and responsibilities from adulthood seemed far away.
“So that was the favorite highlight of the day, because your girl’s still got it,” she said about double dutch before bursting into laughter.
Her kids were also enjoying the festivities, from partaking in face paint to trying to register to vote (Hill stalwart Leslie Radcliffe encouraged Hubbard’s son, who is only 13, to come back when he’s ready).
“It seems like each year, it gets better and better. I'm never not surprised on what's next. So I'm already excited about next year for what's going to happen here,” she said.
Sisters Dr. Pamela Monk Kelly and Olivia Monk-Henderson.
Nearby, sisters Dr. Pamela Monk Kelly and Olivia Monk-Henderson sat in the shade. For both of them, the festival is an important part of evolving Monk family history, because each of them have ties to the neighborhood.
Monk Kelley is a member of the festival planning committee and co-chair of the Hill North Community Management Team. Monk-Henderson is a veteran and member of the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress (NVCLR). Founded by her brother Conley F. Monk Jr., NVCLR is a nonprofit which provides legal resources to veterans.
“I grew up here in this community. My community. I feel like I'm back at home,” Monk-Henderson said. She fondly remembered ice skating and playing basketball alongside her brothers when they were younger. Unable to attend last year’s festival due to health issues, she stated her appreciation for being able to be outside.
Indeed, that Hill pride appeared throughout the festival. By the end of the event, a colorful banner printed with the word HILLSIDE stood strong beneath the main performance stage.
Comfort, who went through a double amputation in 2023, said that the banner was a part of the recovery process. While canvas is not normally his medium of choice—he prefers to work on the walls of buildings, bridges and underpasses, as he has many times over—he spent the day soaking in both the sunshine and the chance to create.
“I actually didn't have an idea until I got here and I actually put a [can of] spray paint in my hand,” he said. “I mean, at that point, you know, being a real graffiti artist, I knew I could do anything I wanted to. It was just a matter of, ‘What did I want to do?’ And I wanted to do something that I could make a statement with.”
Even as he played with ideas, he said, he knew that he wanted to pay homage to hip-hop culture and the Hill’s musical roots, which include members of the Monk family and a rich history of both Black music making (including in houses of worship) and more recently, bomba, plena, and salsa, with a growing Puerto Rican community (FLECHAS, the (Fiestas de Loíza en Connecticut en Honor al Apostol Santiago, got its start off Kimberly Avenue).
“I'm always going to say, get a talent, exercise your talent early because it’ll pay off in the end,” he said. As he worked, he said that the five elements of hip hop are a major influence behind his artistic practice and creativity. The five elements include graffiti, rap, dance, DJs and MCs. “I’m always encouraging people.”
He added that he plans to launch a podcast about hip hop culture called “P.E.A.C.E” later this year. The title is an acronym for “Positive Education Always Creates Elevation.” He’s already recorded two episodes, and plans to make them live on YouTube once he’s finished five.
Closing out the fest were performers from the Majorette & Dance Factory, a nonprofit dance and performance program based in Woodbridge. While director Johnny Johnson had only learned about the Hill fest earlier that week, dancers clad in sparkly fuchsia suits wowed the crowd with a jazz number set to Teedra Moses’ “Be Your Girl (KAYTRANADA Remix).”
He added that the event was a great way to show off the students’ versatility, saying that some people believe they're only trained in majorette because of the name of the group. Despite the organization's name, students train in a variety of sections such as ballet, tap acro, majorette, modern, and lyrical dance.
“I wanted to give the girls the opportunity to perform within the communities,” he said. “So because we are majorette based, I feel like we get the stereotype that we only do majorette. So I thought this was a good opportunity to showcase that the girls are training in different elements.”
As the group heads into its sixth year, it shows no signs of slowing down. To the contrary, dancers will be having their first showcase of the year on June 14 at The Lab at ConCORP. For Johnson, who learned firsthand that dance could be transformative but struggled with the cost of lessons, it’s about making it accessible to all students who want to learn.
He hopes to pass on his love for the performing arts to the next generation, he added. It’s why he was so excited to see Teriah Brookshire, an alumna of the program who went on to earn her BFA in dance from Alabama State University,come back to the program as an assistant director.
“[We should] continue to support the arts as much as we can. Arts are very important,” he said. “It's a outlet. It was a outlet for me.”