… at Fair Haven Day! Neighborhood stalwarts Lee Cruz and Ana Paola Juarez, two of many organizers of Saturday’s event. Bring on the beat, outside Fair Haven School. Miguel Gonzalez drew a butterfly and a sunflower on the side of a “chalk art” bus parked on Grand Avenue — while hi s mom, Jeanette Gonzalez, balanced in her arms Miguel’s clarinet alongside a paper container filled with chips and guacamole. “I love art,” said Miguel, a 13-year-old student at Fair Haven’s Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration (FAME) who had just finished marching in Fair Haven Day’s opening parade. He said that drawing makes him feel happy and calm. Jeanette, meanwhile, spoke of how appreciative she was for all of the work that went into making Saturday’s neighborhood festival a reality. “It’s about community,” she said. Miguel and Jeanette Gonzalez were two of hundreds of New Haveners to turn out to a stretch of Grand Avenue near Fair Haven School Saturday afternoon for the latest annual Fair Haven Day. The festival — organized by JUNTA for Progressive Action, Mary Wade Home, the International Festival of Arts Ideas, and neighborhood leaders like Kiana Cintron and Ward 14 Alder Sarah Miller, among many others — celebrated its fourth year since being revived by a group of dedicated Fair Haveners in 2023. Saturday’s festivities kicked off with a parade that left John S. Martinez School at around 11 a.m.; included a festival with live music, food, vendors, and a host of job and social-service resources at 164 Grand Ave.; and was scheduled to conclude Saturday evening with a wrestling show, organized by Ward 15 Alder Frankie Redente, at Fair Haven School’s gymnasium. At around 1 p.m., festival goers walked up and down a portion of Grand closed to car traffic, stopping by taco trucks and ice cream carts and tables brimming with jewelry and voter-registration information and locally made bread. Ana Paola Juarez, one of the event’s co-organizers and a Democratic co-chair for Ward 14, said she measures Fair Haven Day’s success by a relatively straightforward standard: Are people smiling, laughing, and dancing? She looked around, and saw people doing all of the above. So far, so good. Segundo Maldonado, who runs CoCo Rico ice cream, pushed a cart topped by a container of churros and filled with a variety of flavors of ice cream (including “rainbow”) through the parking lot adjacent to Fair Haven School and the Fair Haven public library branch. “Everybody’s my friend” after having worked as an ice cream vendor for so many years, Maldonado said. Saturday felt good reconnecting with so many people he’s gotten to know over the years. Sajan Ninan, a pharmacy tech at Fair Haven Pharmacy, helped staff a table for the 72 Grand Ave. business, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. He spoke with pride about working for a business so dedicated to its surrounding community. He also said that Fair Haven Day “reminds me of my childhood” growing up in southern India and attending neighborhood festivals filled with music, food, and friends. Luis Soto and Nolo Rodriguez rep their jeep club. Mother-son duo Jeanette and Miguel Gonzalez. Ward 21 Alder Troy Streater (left) at the EMERGE table, one of many social-service orgs to show up to the fest. Luis Caraballo-Garcia proudly reps his girlfriend Taina Cintron’s bakery business, The Loaf Boutique. Fair Haven Pharmacy tech Sajan Ninan: “It reminds me of my childhood.” Mary Wade workers during the week, Fair Haven Day clowns on Saturday. Segundo Maldonado (behind the cart): “Everybody’s my friend.” The post Annual Fest Fetes Fair Haven appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less