Paul Bass Photos
A plague killed the formal celebration. Wooster Square’s cherry blossoms put on their annual show anyway — drawing pilgrims like Gina Helland (pictured with Yasmerica Cortorreal) to drink in the splendor.
The blossoms ringing and filling Wooster Square Park bloom in splendor at this time every year, marking New Haven’s spiritual commencement of spring.
Usually thousands of people come out to celebrate with a formal festival in the neighborhood full of music, speeches and dance.
This year, because of the Covid-19 ban on public gatherings, the 47th annual celebration cannot take place. Just as, directly across the street, St. Michael’s Church couldn’t hold Easter mass in person (instead connecting with parishioners virtually).
But festival or no festival, the riot of color and spring air drew a steady stream of visitors Sunday. Not a crowd packed together as during the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. But a social-distanced park full of spring celebrants nonetheless.
Helland cherished the annual blooming when she lived on Warren Street, then before that while growing up in Morris Cove and accompanying her parents. Now Helland lives in East Haven, and continues to make the trek. Sunday she dressed Yamserica, her 3‑year-old custodial granddaughter, in an Easter outfit and brought her along.
“I always come to see the cherry blossoms. I’m trying to hand the tradition down,” Helland said as she left Yasmerica free to roam while keeping guard to make sure she didn’t roam within six feet of the dozens of others circulating through the park.
It was a day for meditating under the trees …
… or producing a blossom-framed self-portrait. Elizabeth Larkin has been making one self-portrait a week during the pandemic. Sunday was the first time they did so outdoors.
Veronica Urdaneta and Hubert Salvail found a cozy bench for reading. Salvail was deep into Bret Eaton Ellis’s anti-millennial-political-correctness offering, White, while Urdaneta was absorbed in a New Yorker article by Rachel Aviv about one woman’s relationship with her dance teacher. “I’m at the part where everything starts to be shifty,” Urdaneta reported. She and Salvail sometimes hit Wooster Square Park on their daily walk/escape from their apartment in the Dwight neighborhood. They were pleasantly surprised to encounter the crescendo of pink flora upon their arrival Sunday. The pair, both Yale post-docs in bacterial microbiology, have been working on their research from home since the outbreak. Some of their colleagues in neighboring labs, who study viruses instead of bacteria, have been called in for essential work on Covid-19.
Tamen, an artist, and Chris, a musician, wandered over from Trumbull Street for an outdoor respite before picking up groceries at Elm City Market. Like everyone else, they were keeping their “social distance” while enjoying the park.
Second-generation Wooster Square patrol cop Ralph Consiglio was making sure everyone did. For the third straight day he brought his cruiser into the park to keep an eye out. Once on Friday, once on Saturday, he took to his loudspeaker to direct people to spread out when they were crowding too closely together for safety.
“I say it very nicely: ‘Please move along. There’s too many in one area,’” Consiglio said.
It was around 1 p.m. Sunday. “So far, nothing today,” said Consiglio, who had gloves, mask, and hand sanitizer ready in case he needed to exit his vehicle. Consiglio was hearing from home. “My kids are calling: ‘When are you coming home?’” Consiglio’s shift was to end at 3 p.m., after which point he could be on duty for Easter dinner.
