Ethan Kuperberg Photo
New Haven celebrated America’s 234th birthday at the top of East Rock with some rescued fireworks and the reopening of a 123-year-old stone and brass monument.
The anniversary of the independence of the United States from Great Britain brought over 600 people to the summit of East Rock Park Sunday. The doors of the Soldiers and Sailors monument were unlocked and flung open until early evening. Fireworks exploded in the night sky after darkness fell.
It was unlike any Fourth of July in Parks Commissioner Bob Levine’s recent memory. The capstone fireworks were fired not from Long Wharf Park – but the summit of East Rock. “We’ll see how this works, because this is the first time we’ve done it,” Levine said.
Tickets to the summit, which included a bus ride from the parking lot on Davis Street, cost $12 a person (excluding children under 12) — or you could hike up to the top for free. The “festival” benefited the Perpetual Maintenance fund for the Soldiers and Sailors monument.
Before the fireworks started, the main attraction was the monument, with its tower recently rebuilt and now reopened to the public.
The monument cost only $50,000 to build in 1887, but after the completion of a $1 million renovation, the monument has never been more prominent. Tours of the inside, which had to be guided by East Rock’s Dan Barvir and other rangers, occurred every 15 minutes Sunday, from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. (Rangers said they are about ready to announce more tours on upcoming weekends this summer.)
Jay Dockendorf Photo
Political candidates Roland Lemar, Debra Hauser, and Dan Malloy were in attendance for a least part of the time, campaigning. “Step into my office,” Malloy (pictured), who’s seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, said to passersby he greeted.
Lemar and Hauser, opponents in the upcoming race for the 96th State General Assembly District, which straddles Hamden and East Rock in New Haven, came with their significant others and children tow. They stayed to watch the fireworks in New Haven.
Ethan Kuperberg Photo
“This is the most beautiful night,” Hauser said to her husband and son from the lookout deck.
“I’m the only candidate insane enough to work all day every day this weekend,” Malloy said. He had come from Greenwich in the morning and was off to New Britain for the fireworks. Monday, he said, he and his wife would have a quiet BBQ at their Stamford home.
The United States of America may be all grown up, but two-week-old Xavier Collegio enjoyed his first Fourth of July with parents Oscar and Stephanie. No politicians kissed him.
Staff and police officers reported that an unidentified woman had gone into labor at the base of East Rock near Wilbur Cross and delivered her baby in a police car.
Don Colberg is a surveyor for John Paul Garcia & Associates. Walking back from the ledge at dusk, he said, “I think this is the best venue yet – up at East Rock. It just so happens that I can almost see my ancestors’ ship coming in.” The ship was the vessel that landed in 1638 carrying John Davenport. Colberg’s ancestor, James Clark, was the surveyor responsible for the New Haven Green. He was among the first wave of Puritans emigrating from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. After explaining this, Colberg amended his original thought, “In fact, this is the best Fourth of July of my life.”
Jay Dockendorf Photo
The fireworks themselves were 30 minutes of explosions over Indian Head Rock, which is slightly to the northeast of East Rock. “If you can see the monument, you can see the fireworks,” Levine told people. Ikea, New Haven Register and the Keys To The City nightclub donated the free “bombs in mid-air” after the mayor cut them from this year’s city budget.