Allan Appel Photo
Santa Claus made his usual landing at the annual City Point holiday celebration, traditionally the earliest of numerous neighborhood Christmas celebrations scheduled to unfold in the next month across town.
This year for the very first time the wily old gift-giver showed up Sunday morning — instead of in the mysterious down-the-chimney hours of evening. He also brought along his wife, Mrs. Claus, to read to the kids after they received their presents.
The Sunday morning arrival, courtesy of the New Haven Fire Department’s Engine 11, was followed with bagels and cream cheese and was hailed by three dozen kids and their families at the Shell & Bones restaurant at City Point marina.
Kayla Picheco and Jacq Bolduc had plain bagels and orange juice while they waited for You Know Who.
The event was festive and thronged, featuring oatmeal for 50 and gingerbread marshmallow figures to drop in hot chocolate.
No wonder nobody seemed to give a thought to a troubling situation: namely, that an entire generation of City Point kids is growing up thinking that fire engines fly, and are living without an answer as to why a New Haven Fire Department vehicle is stationed at the North Pole.
Rob Bolduc, along with his partners Marc Knight and Dave Kay, purchased Sage American Grill from Dave McCoart at the beginning of this year and rechristened it Shell & Bones. The idea was both to have a touch of Yale sonority in the name but also say “surf and turf” without having to use that hackneyed phrase, Bolduc said.
They did major renovations to the now more flood-resistant, woodsy, glassy, and light-filled eatery by the harbor, reopening in July. Amid the changes they were keen on keeping McCoart’s long streak of generosity in hosting the City Point holiday party, which he supported for at least 15 years.
“We wanted to keep the tradition going,” said Bolduc, who owns other restaurants, including Geronimo on Crown Street. He’s also owner of Boldwood Interiors of Fair Haven, which makes restaurant booths, bars, and other fixtures; he and colleagues did most of the construction work on Sage themselves.
Camacho and Bolduc with a recent prize for the restaurant’s clam chowder.
What they changed — in addition to the interiors and a bright, totally new kitchen now chief-chefed over by Arturo Franco Camacho of Roomba and Bespoke fame — was the timing of the party, shifting it to Sunday morning.
“We do a good brunch business, and we thought it might be nicer for the kids,” said Bolduc, as his own 2 1/2‑year-old Jacq and his pals dug into the Sunday morning fare, including bagels with schmears of cream cheese and blueberry muffins.
The Ogando kids Camila and Lysmel with Santa.
The kids and their families — many belonging to the 30 or so employees of the restaurant and City Point neighbors, like the Ogando family (pictured) — were the guests of the restaurant and Carmen Rodriguez.
“We want to showcase City Point and New Haven,” Rodriguez said as she arranged 100 bags of toys that she had prepared for the event. “We want people to know we come together as a family today, and every day.”
After Kayla made her request for a pink bike to Mr. Claus, Mrs. Claus got in an educational moment by the fire.
Rodriguez lives on Sea Street resident. For many years she helped organize the party with Kris Sainsbury and the Hill/City Point Neighborhood Action Group.
The shift to a morning party was a hit with Larissa Hildebrandt and her kids, who were among the first to toss artificial snow on the Clauses and then receive a hug.
“For us the morning is much easier. On Sunday it gives us something to do” with the kids, said Hildebrandt (pictured).
The hour certainly wasn’t bothering the kids. Still, was as it OK with Jacq Bolduc that Santa had come in a fire engine?
“Yes,” replied the boy between bites of his bagel.
“He says ‘yes’ to almost anything,” his mother Donna Capuzzo added.
Kayla said she didn’t care what kind of conveyance the Clauses had used just as long as they showed up.
To the crew of Engine 11, from the Hill station located at 525 Howard Ave., it was also, well, quite self evident what had happened.
Santa’s crew: Cory Brown, Michael Miller, the sleigh driver, Rafael Zayas, Fire Chief Allyn Wright, and Patrick Sheiffele.
“Their sled broke down, they called 911, and we were there in under two minutes,” said Lt. Rafael Zayas, who was among the firemen who arrived to lend assistance.
And, no, Engine 11 did not have to go all the way to the North Pole. “They were almost here,” Zayas added.
Had the Clauses needed help at the North Pole, another squad would have responded.
Bolduc said that since Shell & Bones has opened, business has been good — although they “held their breath,” he said, when they opened in the summer around the time that Hurricane Joaquin was predicted to arrive and create havoc.
In 2011 and 2012 the harbor-side Sage endured lots of damage from Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy.
Bolduc said that the renovation has been a kind of labor of love and memory.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a kid,” said Bolduc, who grew up in Fair Haven. He recalled visiting the restaurant in its long-ago incarnation as the Chart House;he and his father used to boat over from Fair Haven.
He has extended the bar and rebuilt it, added a raw bar, redone the kitchen, and replaced all the floors and walls with water-resistant material. There’s always more to be done, he said.
Yet Santa’s arrival on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving at City Point will remain unchanged.