Beaver Hills | Culture & Community | Arts & Culture
Danielle Campbell Photos.
On Glen Road, the celebration was in full swing. Hot dogs and hamburgers sizzled, flipping with a satisfying hiss in the late summer heat. Laughter rang through the air, as parents, kids and grandkids caught up before new school year. A group of young boys sized up the street for a moment, then glided among members of the crowd on their bikes, smiles spreading across their faces.
Sunday afternoon marked the third annual Beaver Hills Block Party, a people-powered effort to bring together neighbors in one of the city’s most racially, religiously and economically diverse neighborhoods. Launched in 2021 as the neighborhood’s signature summer event, the party has since grown into a small business and resource fair, reunion, and cookout. This year, dozens attended.
“No one really knew each other [before the block party],” said Ainissa Ramirez, an engineer and author who has organized the event with Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate and neighbors James Dormon and Byron McFadden since 2021. “Everybody's so used to going to work and here we are looking at each other and we don't really know each other all that well. So, this is an opportunity for the neighborhood to kind of come together and get to know each other.”
Those words echoed down the block Sunday, as neighbors came out with their kids to mix, mingle, and dig into an assortment of fragrant, still-steaming treats fresh off the grill. As in years past, many pint-sized attendees gravitated instantly towards a bouncy castle, where their giggles filled the air for the entirety of the afternoon. Others made a beeline for crafting and information tables from the Peabody Museum and NXTHVN, which had set up along the closed road.
As she buzzed from point to point, checking in on stations and attendees, Ramirez pointed to her own love for the neighborhood as something that keeps her coming back as an organizer. Three years ago, it was casual conversations with Wingate and Dormon that led to the block party. The pandemic had just entered its second year, and neighbors were voicing public safety woes that often pitted Black residents against a growing Jewish population. It just seemed like a party could bring the neighborhood together.
After a successful first year, the event returned with a fire truck, classic cars, activity stations and dancing in the street last year. More neighbors came out. So bringing it back again was a no-brainer.
Sunday, tents lined the block, offering information on everything from the nearby arts incubator NXTHVN to the anti-blight Liveable City Initiative. At one station, recent High School in the Community (HSC) graduate Gian Rodriguez guided attendees through a table from Evolutions, an after-school program at the Peabody Museum of Natural History that seeks to connect students directly with nature.
As kids approached the table, Rodriguez offered them the chance to touch preserved arachnids, insects, shells and fossils. Every so often, a little shriek of delight went up from the tent. Rodriguez, who shone earlier this summer as HSC’s salutatorian, said he was excited to share the afternoon teaching attendees a little more about the natural world around them.
He also praised Evolutions for its focus on college readiness, which helped him when he was going into his senior year. By the time students get to junior year of high school, “they’re kind of stressed,” he said. They don’t always know what steps to take before applying to college. Evolutions is there as part of the answer.
Nearby, Sandra Enimil and her mother showed off jewelry and textiles from Pretty Afrika Designs, a brand that Enimil runs through pop-ups and an Etsy store when she’s not working for Yale University Library. Now based in the city’s Westville neighborhood, the business is both African and African-inspired, with a mix of designs by women in Ghana and Kenya, and those that she and her mother create.
Sunday, she was one of multiple small business owners vibing with neighbors. Candice Dormon, who lives in Beaver Hills with her husband James and sons Lincoln and Emory Ekow, came with a tent for her Ekow Body, a natural skincare company that she launched in New Haven a few years ago. Sunday, she explained to passers-by that the brand, named after her son, is part of her approach to full-person self care.
As she walked through the party, organizer Rebecca Cramer took in the breadth of activities, from a space to try out electric cars—organizer James Dormon and neighbor Kim Roydan are both fans—to a face painting station from Adorn My Face that seemed to always have a line.
She said that she and her family love the neighborhood for its diversity, which Sunday was on full display. Down the block, kosher and non-kosher grills gave off fragrant clouds of smoke, a steady stream of hot dogs and burgers not far behind. Kids played in the open street, taking the place of traffic. Laughter was abundant.
“I love the neighborhood coming together,” Cramer said. “I love, like, getting to see and meet diverse neighbors and people that you've seen all the time, [and] people that you only see only once a year,” said Cramer.
That was also true for community member Gail Curran, a storyteller and historian whose parents moved to Beaver Hills decades ago, in the 1960s. It’s been a special place for her since. For her, the neighborhood block party represents the history of a community.
“Well, for one thing, it's really important to know your neighbors and the socializing is just fabulous,” she said. “I like the neighborhood and the gathering of different kinds of people.”
That sentiment echoed across and down the block for the remainder of the afternoon. At one point, Ramirez looked around, and issued a challenge: get to know your neighbors a little better. They might become your friends for years. Or at the least, they're a familiar face.
“Can you tell the person on the right, ‘Hi, neighbor?’” she said. “Now this is what I want you to do going forward. You may not remember that person’s name, but you certainly remember their face because they had a hot dog or ketchup on it. This is your neighborhood. This is your community. And if you can’t remember their name, at least you can say ‘Hi, neighbor,’ and they will say ‘Hi, neighbor!’ back.”
“Okay,” she continued. “And that’s the reason why we created this. So that we can all be able to be more connected.”