Freddy Fixer Marches On, Cleans Dixwell

Without the usual fanfare of drums, drill teams, banners, and horses, a 30-strong Elm City Freddy Fixer contingent marched down Dixwell — armed with trash bags, shovels, and rakes to beautify the Avenue during a year in which the pandemic quashed the usual parade celebration.

“We can’t have a parade this year, but we can still have impact!” exclaimed one participant.

The Freddy Fixer Parade, which began in 1962 as a neighborhood beautification event, has come to serve as the festive culmination of an annual series of initiatives to support neighborhood beautification and to celebrate Black history and culture.

The official parade itself — which draws contingents from communities well beyond Connecticut — was postponed this year due to the pandemic. But the committee behind it kept the mission alive with the clean-up march, which took place Saturday.

“We can’t have a parade this year, but we can still have impact!” exclaimed one participant.

Olafemi Hunter brought his son Stephon to the clean-up. He spent the morning picking up trash while Stephon used a leaf blower to get trash out of the grass.

“It feels good helping the community clean up so the environment can be clean and so everyone can have a better living space,” Stephon said.

Olafemi Hunter mostly picked up cigarette butts and plastic waste throughout the morning. He said they were scouring the neighborhood very closely and being ​“tedious” in their approach: ​“We want you to notice a difference when you come out here, not thinking to yourself, They might’ve missed a spot.’”

Anthony Charles played music from a speaker and picked up trash alongside Hunter. ​“Giving back. That’s what it’s all about. Some of our kids are out here, we pass it down and instill some of this and they do the same” he said.

Hunter and Charles said they also were happy to see the community comradery. ​“I’ve enjoyed connecting with other people who have a heart for service,” Hunter added.

Racquel Pratt, whose mother lives in the neighborhood, reached under fences and into sidewalk cracks to snag wrappers and cigarette butts with a trash grabber.

“Giving back to the community and keeping it clean is important,” she said. ​“I feel like if we respect our community, other people will respect our community as well.”

She said picking up the trash brought a sense of peace for her. ​“As you’re out here picking up, you get lost in the breeze and the sounds of the cars.”

Pratt worked as a counselor in New Haven’s schools and said she wants the streets to be clean for kids. ​“When I think of my students walking down the street, I want them walking down clean streets. I don’t want them to see cigarette butts or alcohol bottles. I want them to take pride in the streets that they walk on.”

Sondi Jackson and Marlene Graham represented the Theta Epsilon Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority as they cleaned the sidewalks.

Graham spoke about the importance of supporting the community. ​“The comradery of getting out and when you help somebody or do something for someone it makes you feel good.”

Past President Petisia Adger and Past Vice President Diane X. Brown, who both currently serve on the Board of Directors for the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade, helped organize the groups and materials Saturday morning.

Brown said she has observed less littering along Dixwell this year. ​“From what I see, the community has done better. I see more people with trash cans out in front of their homes, I see more flowers out last year and this year. Maybe it’s because people were home. They were taking the time to clean up and beautify their own space.”

Adger noted that many neighbors Saturday morning poked their heads outside to thank the volunteers, offer water, or help clean. ​“People were happy to see us out and we were able to engage people in the community about the parade” Brown said.

Adger and Brown explained the significance of holding this year’s clean-up event on Juneteenth. ​“Prior to this becoming a federal holiday, a lot of people outside of our own communities didn’t even know what Juneteenth was. I think it’s important to keep putting our history out there because other people try to rewrite our history for us.”

“It’s a good example for people to see that Juneteenth can be about doing a variety of different activities. So you can start with service and clean-up in the morning, move into your informational, educational activities in the afternoon and you have your leisure activities at night,” said Executive Board President Malcolm Welfare.

“We want to make sure the community understands they have resources and people around them who are here to support them. That’s why it’s very significant to have pride in the Dixwell area and to have people come in to help it grow. It’s very important that people feel when they come into this area it’s not just a place to pass through, there are roots here. The roots have to be respected.”

Community Clean-up Coordinator Nina Silva walked with Welfare and Executive Board Secretary Chanelle Goldson, tossing litter into large trash bags.

All three are from the Dixwell area and emphasized the importance of taking pride in the neighborhood.

“Even if you’re a renter you have to take pride in your neighborhood. Sometimes renters say, ​‘Oh the landlord has to do it.’ No, we have to take pride in where we live,” Silva said.

“It’s important the support for us being out here because people get to see that we’re more than a parade,” said Goldson. ​“We’re about health equity, racial equity, activism, environmental justice so it’s good that we can get that message across while we’re still doing something we care about.”

Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT) CEO Genevive Walker exclaimed. Walker helped lead a group of volunteers picking up trash on the opposite side of the street. ConnCAT partnered with the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade and received support from the Epsilon Iota Iota Chapter (EIIC) of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, St. John’s Episcopal Church, and the New Haven police and public works departments.

Three weeks ago, Welfare and Goldson launched a survey of the community in Dixwell to gauge issues and perspectives around community revitalization and preservation. All of the roughly 40 respondents stated that community cleanliness is of ​“extreme” importance to them.

“They all said that trash pickup in this area is an issue. So a lot of what we’re seeing is the community taking its own initiative and coming out and cleaning up” Welfare said.

In addition to better trash pickup and cleaning, some residents requested mulch, paint, and flowers to beautify the neighborhood.

Welfare said the committee is now looking for donations and plans to help reach the families and residents throughout the year as they receive items.

“And that’s the spirit of what the Freddy Fixer stands for. It’s more about cleaning up your neighborhood, taking care of your neighbors, more than just the parade. That’s why we’re out here, even though we could not have a parade this year, we want to make sure the spirit of the Freddy Fixer and cleaning up is number one,” Silva said.