Culture & Community | Downtown | Arts & Culture | New Haven Green
Before and after: Diamond Robinson and daughters Harmony and London Burress. Lucy Gellman Photos.
Diamond Robinson took a sharp, deep breath as she felt the cool, hard surface of the super slide and a woven burlap sack beneath her. Several feet down, the New Haven Green looked suddenly small and far away, as if the humans walking its paths had shrunk to doll-sized proportions. One lane over, her daughters London and Harmony Burress shrieked with delight.
It was time to start the New Year with a kind of bravery she'd never known before. She smiled at her daughters, closed her eyes, and lurched forward with a woosh that knocked her onto her back.
Tuesday evening, Robinson and her daughters joined hundreds of families at the inaugural "New Year, New Haven," an initiative of the Proprietors of the New Haven Green and the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. From crafting activities, face painting and carnival games to food trucks, live music and ice sculpting, the event marked the Proprietors' latest attempt to activate the Green, which sits at the center of downtown and doubles as the city's public transportation hub.
Angel Dahfay.
Over 800 people attended, making it a tradition akin to a smaller version of First Night Hartford. It was organized by Angel Dahfay, the Green's new manager of public programs and activation. The position, which is in its beta year, is funded by the Proprietors and lives within the International Festival of Arts & Ideas.
"New Haven doesn't have a New Year's Eve celebration, and I wanted to create something family-friendly," said Dahfay, who is also the founder and director of Sweets & Sounds Entertainment. "I get happy when I see people enjoying themselves. The goal for the Green is to make it the hub of New Haven."
While she started the position last July, "I wanted to take a couple months" to listen to community members and envision what kind of events would serve New Haveners, Dahfay added. She thought about how to build on other attempts to activate the space, like the Festival's years-long Rhythm Exchange and collaborations with local musicians, poets and performers that ran from 2018 to 2021. Ultimately, a kind of outdoor, kid-friendly party for the New Year felt like the right place to start.
To food trucks, games, face painting and a giant slide and carousel, she enlisted live entertainers from DJ Too Much (a.k.a. Westvillian Loren Jefferson) and DJ Sonia Sol to the Elite Drill Squad and Dwayne Keith Project. At the center of the action, she placed ice sculptor Matt Terzano beside the city's holiday tree, where a crowd of people watched him work for hours.
As the skies cleared Tuesday, that enthusiasm felt palpable. In line for a circus-esque giant slide that glowed red and white, Robinson and her daughters steadied their nerves, balancing a giddy sort of excitement with a shared fear of heights.
"I feel like this is very beautiful," Robinson said, taking a moment to look around as the line inched forward in front of her. After a year upturned by violence—particularly the shooting deaths of two Riverside Academy students in two weeks—she was moved to see something so positive in the heart of the city, nearby to where she works at City Hall.
DJ Sonia Sol leads a dance battle.
She was doubly excited to bring her girls, pint-sized New Haveners who are 10 and six years old, and always looking for something to do during their time off from school. "I'm nervous, but excited!" said 10-year-old London, a fifth grader at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School (BRAMS).
As they climbed the steps to the slide, they harnessed that excitement, slipping onto matching burlap sacks as they got into the slide’s lanes and prepared to fly back down to the Green’s rain-soaked grass. After exchanging glances—and grins—they took off. Leaning back and clutching her handbag, Robinson let the momentum take her.
“I had to show my bravery for my kids!” she said afterward with a smile. “And I’m scared of heights!”
Raquel Sanchez and JD.
Around them, the party was just getting started. On stage, DJ Too Much bobbed to a reggaeton beat, beaming out at a crowd that included her French Bulldog, Gizmo (or “Giz,” for short). As one track melted into another, she moved along to the sound and gestured toward the audience.
“Okay New Haven, let me hear you!” she exclaimed. “Let’s ring in the New Year! Let’s goooo!”
Across the grass at a crafting station, Raquel Sanchez and her two-year-old son JD, soaked in the spring-like afternoon. As a mom and a student at CT State Gateway, Sanchez was thrilled to find Tuesday’s family-friendly activities, which allowed JD to paint en plein air—and on his soft, tiny palms—for as long as he wanted to.
Antoinette Ferrer and her daughter, New Havener Zaniya Léon. This year, Ferrer traveled from New Jersey to ring in 2025 in New Haven with Léon. "Being able to host her" has unlocked a new level of adulting, Léon said.
Normally, she spends New Year’s Eve watching the Times Square Ball Drop on television, writing down her resolutions, and saying a few prayers for the New Year. Tuesday, she was happy to make New Year, New Haven a new part of that long-running tradition.
“It’s very nice!” she said of the event as she scooped up JD for a photo, wiping a coat of blue paint off his hands. “I love it.”
This year, she added, she’s looking forward to graduating from Gateway’s culinary arts program and pursuing her studies in early childhood education. “My goal is to keep advancing,” she said.
DJ Too Much: "They should do this every year."
As she came down from the stage to greet Gizmo, DJ Too Much echoed that excitement for 2025. For nearly two decades, she’s spent New Year’s Eve with friends and family, usually at a bar or restaurant downtown. Tuesday marked the first time that she’s ever played a set in the heart of the city that she calls home. She hoped aloud that it wouldn’t be the last.
“It was so fun!” she said. “They should do this every year—New Haven needs more things like this to bring people together.” As she spoke, she smiled watching DJ Sonia Sol run a kids’ dance battle to The Sugarhill Gang’s “Jump On It.”
Back at the carousel, Jeanette (she did not want to give her last name) and her niece, Dylan, carefully dismounted a smiling plastic horse and took in the Green, deciding where to go next. Dusk had just started to fall, and Dylan wanted to make the most of the remaining daylight. After considering the giant slide, the two headed for a warmed, covered arts and crafts tent.
“I would love to see more events like this,” Jeanette said.