Top: Members of Agua Pa’ Chocolate, including Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School senior Keyla Gordillo, and teacher Matt Chasen. Bottom: Organizers Ana Paola Juarez, Kiana Cintron, and Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller. Lucy Gellman Photos.
On stage, Agua Pa’ Chocolate was counting members in, as drums and cowbell formed a salsa heartbeat. As the horns drifted out towards Grand Avenue, Elizabeth Maria Lopez couldn’t keep still any longer. Her shoulders rolled and bounced through the cool May air. Her arms extended out to her sides, nail designs glittering in the sunlight. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, radiant by the time the band had gotten to the hook.
Saturday, Lopez was one of hundreds of New Haveners to sing, dance, paint, stroll and nibble their way through Fair Haven Day, a celebration of one of the city’s most diverse and polyphonic neighborhoods that has become the unofficial start of fair and festival season. Held on Grand Avenue, in the heart of Fair Haven’s bustling main corridor, it became a stunning celebration of community, from young artists and performers to musicians who have been doing their thing for decades, and dancers who had waited all winter to hear the beat return to the neighborhood.
“It brings the community back to Fair Haven and really brings out the beauty that is sometimes hidden here,” said organizing team member Kiana Cintron, who grew up helping her mom, Cheila Serrano, at JUNTA for Progressive Action across the street, and is now a founding member of the New Haven Immigrants Coalition. Especially in this political moment, “it was definitely important to us to bring more local businesses in,” from vendors like Salsa’s Authentic Mexican Restaurant to artists and entrepreneurs who live in the neighborhood.
Cintron also pointed to the power of collaborators without whom the day, which has continued to grow since its revival in 2023, would not be possible. This year, they included the Mary Wade Home, Fair Haven School, the Grand Avenue Special Services District, Pequeñas Ligas Hispana de New Haven, the New Haven Board of Alders, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Puerto Ricans United, Inc., ARTE Inc., and Fair Haven Community Health Care.
The day, which ended in the to the second annual “Fair Haven Fallout” wrestling showcase, marks the first of six neighborhood festivals on which Arts & Ideas is a collaborator. Five others unfold in the Hill, Whalley/Edgewood/Beaver Hills, West Rock and West Hills, Newhallville and Dixwell between now and early June.
Top: Maria Olmo, who is the director of residential care at Mary Wade. Bottom: Musician and vocalist Tere Luna, who performs flamenco alongside her husband, the musician Val Ramos, and is also a teaching artist across Connecticut.
Despite a chill in the air and low-hanging gray sky, Saturday’s mood seemed celebratory, from a mellifluous parade down James Street and Grand Avenue to the second annual “Fair Haven Fallout” inside Fair Haven School later in the afternoon. On a closed-off stretch of Grand Avenue, families lined up for face painting, stopped to chat with local vendors, and perused children’s books from New Haven Reads and Read To Grow that came in at least half a dozen languages.
As she pedaled down the street, a beaming Maria Olmo waved at passers-by and Fair Haven neighbors, hoping she was still recognizable beneath thick coats of clown makeup, a bulb-like red nose and a rainbow-patterned wig parted into pigtails . As both a daughter of Fair Haven and the director of residential care at the Mary Wade Home, Olmo can still remember the Fair Haven Day celebrations of yore, when she marched in the parade as a gymnast at Fair Haven School.
Decades later, she’s thrilled to see it back and thriving, with a generous spirit that she still associates with the neighborhood. She praised David Hunter, president and chief executive officer of Mary Wade, for bringing that enthusiasm and heart to everything he does—including supporting the parade, and making sure that staff are a visible presence in it.
“We all grew up here,” she said with a smile, remembering time spent in the neighborhood with classmates, friends and extended family. “To see youth and the community come back together to celebrate, it’s amazing.”
“You know, Fair Haven does get a bad rep, but they don’t see the sense of community, love, and strength,” she added. “Fair Haveners, we rise to the occasion. We take care of each other.”
Top: Shayla Streeter and her daughter, Amayah Smith. Bottom: Students from Music Haven perform. The organization's offices are nearby, in Erector Square.
Nearby, young Fair Haven artist Amayah Smith and her mom, fellow artist Shayla Streeter, introduced attendees to Mya’s Joy, a small sticker and print company that Smith started out of her home a little over a year ago, but has been dreaming up since she was just a kid. In an artwork on the table in front of her, a fiery bird spread its wings, bright and prismatic against a white background. Below, stickers in the shapes of faces asked a viewer to come closer.
As a cheerleader at John S. Martinez Sea & Sky STEM Magnet School, where she is in the eighth grade, Smith knew that she'd already be marching in the Fair Haven Day parade. So when organizers put out a call for vendors—with a focus on makers who lived in the neighborhood—it just made sense to stay.
“All my children are artists, but this one has taken it the farthest,” Streeter said as Smith wrapped a denim jacket tightly around her, braving the afternoon chill. Alex Novak, an artist who runs Pearl Studio out of her East Rock home, stepped in to study Smith’s designs as she chatted. “We probably have 15 sketchbooks at home … she just loves drawing. She’ll sit for hours in her room,” working on designs.
While Streeter initially came out to support her daughter, she was thrilled by the vibrancy of the neighborhood, which she’s still getting to know. Her favorite spot for fresh fruit, for instance, is just down the block—she pointed down Grand Avenue, to where a rerouted 212 bus trundled by—and conjured a bowl filled with fruit that can transport a person hundreds of miles with a single bite.
“This is a strong community,” she said, looking around at families that filled the street as she spoke. Just a few tents away, the smell of empanadas drifted over the block, announcing lunchtime to anyone who had forgotten.
Top: Members of Agua Pa Chocolate. Bottom: Eliana Lopez, Eva Lopez, Ednita Lopez, Israel Lopez, and Elizabeth Lopez.
The party, it seemed, was just getting started. In the parking lot beside the Fair Haven Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library, the Bridgeport-based salsa band Agua Pa’ Chocolate filled the stage, members spread out from one end all the way to the other. As they began to play, the sound of brass soaring over the crowd, Elizabeth Lopez—newly crowned Miss Inspiración by Miss Puerto Rico of Greater New Haven—started to dance from where she was seated. Before long, her younger sister Eva had joined in, squeezing a new dumpling-shaped squishy toy as she grooved along.
Last week, Eva was crowned Miss Junior Puerto Rico of Greater New Haven in the same pageant. “It feels good [to be out here]! I love representing my culture,” she said, her voice straining over the music. In her hand, the pink squish toy kept the beat, luminescent and glittering as she squeezed it.
“It’s fun! I get to meet so many new people,” added Elizabeth Lopez, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School who has attended Fair Haven Day before, but never with such a title or the huge, shimmering crown that comes with it. Because she walks with a mobility aid, Lopez said she is hoping her title will inspire other young people to reach for their dreams, despite any disability that may pose a challenge along the way.
“I love it because I can inspire other girls that have disabilities,” she said, adding that she’s proud to be a member of the cheerleading squad at Cross, proof positive that her own physical challenges haven’t gotten in the way of her aspirations. “For me, I don’t let it stop me from doing anything.” As she and Eva chatted, pint-sized attendees ambled up to them in wonder, their eyes saucer-sized as they introduced themselves and posed for photos.
Top: Mirka Dominguez of the New Haven Immigrants Coalition hands out helpful lit, including the group's emergency number (854.666.4472). Bottom: Suarez runs her art making station.
Tucked behind the library, dozens of Fair Haven-based resources and social service tents beckoned. As Agua Pa’ Chocolate gave way to student performers from All Nations Christian Academy, groups like the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, Vivan Las Autónomas and ARTE—all of which have deep Fair Haven roots—offered crafting activities for young kids, and free, helpful literature and information for their parents.
“At the core of what Vivan does, we’re trying to create a better future for women and children,” said Vivan Las Autónomas founder Vanesa Suarez, who runs the anti-femicide organization with fellow artist-activist Nika Zarazvand. So when Fair Haven Day rolled around, an artmaking activity—complete with hula hooping and other fun supplies—felt completely mission-aligned.
Around her, dozens of brightly-colored paint tubes had been joyfully squeezed dry, in a sign that the day had been successful.
For Suarez, a core part of Vivan’s work has always been freedom of self-expression: even when she’s teaching people about the ongoing harm of femicide, or pushing for legislative and municipal change, Suarez has centered artmaking as part of both healing and advocacy. This year, she and Zarazvand are expanding that work with Connecticut’s first-ever website dedicated to femicide, with a trauma-informed focus on visual art, storytelling, and poetry meant to make it feel more expansive than a database alone might be.
“We want families to feel connected, and to know we’re creating this archive,” she said. Her hope is to launch it on November 25—a day the United Nations has declared the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Fair Haven Day also feels personal, she added: Suarez called Fair Haven home for years. Even though she’s since moved to Westville, the neighborhood has been central to her own growth as an artist and an activist. She loves seeing the neighborhood come to ligr.
“This is a beautiful way to invest in our community! We need more of this throughout the year,” she said. As she spoke, 8-year-old Jaynushka Falcon painted a thick, rose-colored heart across a still-slick turquoise background, and it felt right on time.
Top: Nadia Okwuosa and Myriam Ayala. Bottom: Jennifer Simpson, director of Creative Arts Workshop, and Azaria Samuels of the Shubert Theatre share a table.
Back on stage, students in Music Haven’s still-nascent choir had lined up in front of the microphones, ready to sing an arrangement of Roland Carter’s “In Bright Mansions Above.” At a craft table for ARTE, Inc., students Nadia Okwuosa and Myriam Ayala soaked in the sun as they listened to the sound. Both are seniors at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School and instructors in ARTE’s weekly Saturday Academy, where they teach musical theater.
“I think it’s amazing!” said Ayala, who lives in Fair Haven, and was excited to see the neighborhood activated for hours, with kids and families passing through. “So many people are out here.”