Freddy Fixer Parties On

Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee Photos. 

As music floated over the second floor of Stetson Library, members of an audience turned toward a screen at the front of the room, delighting in the familiar sight of Dixwell Avenue. In a wash of gold and purple, Petisia Adger danced down the street’s wide berth, her arms extended to their full wingspan. The scene shifted, and members of Iota Phi Theta rocked it, their bodies in constant motion. Another beat, and members of a community cleanup team were tracing their own New Haven roots to a single day in June 2023. 

The video—and its ebullient spirit—came to Stetson late last month, as the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee, Inc. (ECFFPC) honored several award recipients from its triumphant June 4 return to Dixwell Avenue. Three years after an unwelcome pandemic hiatus, the parade roared back to life earlier this summer, bringing out hundreds of marchers and thousands of attendees.  

For the first time this year, it included several cash prizes for awardees, from best marching unit and drill team to a grand marshal award. The parade also created a number of new categories, for a total of 14 first- and second-place awards.  

Attendees at the ceremony. Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee Photos. 

“It's a fabric in our community that we need to hold on to,” said Adger, who sits on the parade’s board of directors and for years ran the Freddy with fellow board member and Stetson Branch Manager Diane Brown. “Like Diane Brown said, it's the only thing that we know in New Haven that belongs to us.”

It marks over a year of transition for the ECFFPC, which has faced and overcome significant challenges since the Covid-19 pandemic hit New Haven in March 2020. Following a celebratory 2019 parade, the event went on an unwelcome pandemic hiatus in 2020 and 2021, then announced it would take a rebuild year in 2022. For the past year, ECFFPC leadership has held monthly board meetings, recruited new members, and worked to get back to the Freddy’s roots in neighborhood beautification.  

One of those new members is Tracey Joseph, and the great niece of parade founder Dr. Frederick F. Smith. She’s now the vice president of the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee, and has worked for months to make the parade more visible in the community, from board recruitment to tabling at neighborhood events.   

“Not everyone gets to walk the same street as their ancestor to see something that he was so passionate about and then in return,” she said at the awards ceremony. “I'm so passionate about the community. We have a lot of similarities.”

Smith & Johnson. Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee Photos. 

As attendees gathered, the evening both focused on that history and took time to celebrate awardees, who range from band teachers rebuilding their ensembles to marching units for whom the parade is an annual ritual. The room burst into applause when committee members announced winners Joshua Smith, director of the James Hillhouse High School Marching Band, and Johnny Johnson, director of Majorette & Dance Factory. 

Together, they received the award for “Best Marching Band” under the collaborative name "The James Hillhouse High School Band & Dance Ensemble." When he spoke, Smith said he was just excited to see his and Johnson’s hard work pay off and have the kids honored. For many of the students, this was their first Freddy parade experience. 

“It was amazing,” Johnson said. “We went into it not knowing it was even a competition … We just went in trying to represent New Haven to our best ability by pushing these kids. Having them be the best they can be.”

Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade Committee Photos. 

New Haven Assistant Police Chief Bertram Etienne, recipient of the Elm City Freddy Fixer Spirit Award, also beamed with pride as he approached the podium. Like Smith and Johnson, he said he hadn’t known that the parade was also a competition. 

As he basked in the moment, Etienne listened to others praise him as embodying the fun and freedom of the parade. Many described him as the life of the party, remembering his excitement and broad smile as he marched down Dixwell Avenue.

“I did not know I was a part of a competition. So, it's extra special because I won,” Etienne said, drawing a few laughs. 

Rhonda Bolden, or “Boss” as she is known for her role of vice president of the Connecticut Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs, came to the podium surrounded by her sisters. Celebrating the awards that go to motorcycle clubs, she described years of volunteering at the parade as part of a magical summer. Having grown up attending the Freddy Fixer, she said, she now sees it as a staple for New Haven’s Black community.

That spirit flowed through an award for the founding chapter of the Flaming Knights, which won the award for “Best Motorcycle Unit.” Upon receiving the award and check, members gave the check back and said it should be donated back into the community. It was a community-focused gesture from a group that has been in the Freddy Fixer parade for years.  

Before the end of the night, Adger also received a surprise honor from Joseph and Secretary Hayley Vincent-Simpson and board members for her dedication to the parade. Adger stated that she didn’t do it for any recognition, but for the love of her community. 

“It's about us and for us … I was happy in getting recognized for the work for the community,” she said.