Freddy’s ​“Energy Is Back”

Gramen Wilson said he saw his first horse and his first Harley Davidson at a Freddy Fixer Parade when he was a kid. Now he and his son — along with a wave of volunteers popping up in the black community — are helping to raise money to restore the event to its former glory.

Wilson was one of dozens of volunteers who packed a meeting room at the Dixwell Stetson branch library Wednesday night to hash out details of what they see as a revival of the black community’s foremost annual public event.

After some controversy, a new team has formed to stage this year’s parade, which takes place Sunday May 15. The team has attracted legions of new volunteers like Wilson who have gotten busy staging a host of fun fundraising events leading up to the parade; the new ​“Freddy” has become a cause in the community. That energy was on display at Wednesday night’s gathering. Find out more about the parade and the committee at this Facebook site.)

Community leaders formed the Freddie Fixer event in the early 1960s as part parade, part community clean-up drive. It grew into a multi-state draw for black police, fire, drill squad and other organized groups, complete with weekend-long events. ​“Freddie Fixer” was created as a fictional street-sweeping symbol for the event.

“I was telling my family that [the parade] was something that my mom took us to to see things that we’d never seen before living in the inner city,” Wilson recalled. ​“I feel like the energy is back.”

Wilson, who is managing partner in 18 McDonald’s restaurants, including two in New Haven, said for many years his restaurant and all the other merchants on Whalley Avenue benefited directly from the parade. ​“It was our biggest Sunday of the year,” he said. ​“But you could tell the deterioration of it over the years.

“I not only want to be a [personal] supporter of the Freddy Fixer,” Wilson said, ​“I talked to all the powers that be at McDonald’s and said ​‘Let’s support something that used to support us.’” So for the next few weeks, now customers at the Whalley Avenue McDonald’s nearest to downtown are asked to donate to the parade, and people are giving freely. Wilson said he’s committed to resuming the drive every year in February for Black History Month going forward.

Wilson told his son, Avery, about how much the parade meant to him as a kid and what the community was doing to revive it. Avery Wilson,a Co-Op High grad, is an up-and-coming singer who appeared in season three of The Voice and has since been signed by none other than music mogul, Clive Davis. Avery,volunteered to perform at a fundraiser for the Freddy this coming Sunday at Park Place East (aka the old Humphrey’s).

Terez Pitt is working on nailing down between 300 and 500 volunteers to help make sure the parade goes off without a hitch, while Gary Gates, owner of Supreme Cuts barbershop at 861 Dixwell Ave., is helping to organize a basketball tournament and an upcoming skate party fundraiser. Both are with the not-for-profit Newhallville Neighborhood Corporation, providing opportunities for young people in the city.

“We’re doing the same thing that these guys are trying to do — have a good time in the city and give these kids an opportunity to enjoy their city as well,” Gates said. ​“Being apart of what’s going on and bringing back the pride of New Haven — that’s what we’re trying to do, be a part of that.”

Pitt said Freddy Fixer is a tradition for all who were born and raised in New Haven. She she wanted to be a part of making sure that it’s around for future generations.

“It’s been in our lives all our lives,” she said. ​“We want to see it be what it used to be, when everybody enjoyed coming out as a family. Not having to worry about everything that’s going on in the here and now. Just bringing back the positivity of the parade.”

Raising funds to help offset the costs associated with the parade has been an issue in the past; organizers have been hard a work, cooking up a series of events to raise the more than $20,000 needed to cover the costs of the parade. In addition to the Wilson event and the skate party, a prayer brunch, a block party and bake sale, and an all-white attire event are being held in service of raising funds for the event.

The city is working with organizers to help raise funds by putting on the First African American Festival on May 7. The event is being sponsored by the city’s Small Business Academy, which is located in the Dixwell community, and will feature food, entertainment and a barbecue pit master contest. Jackie James, deputy director of economic development, said the city is shouldering the cost to put on the event, and all the money raised will go to help defray the cost of the parade.

Retired Assistant Police Chief Petisia Adger was given hearty applause Wednesday night for helping the organizers navigate logistics of the parade. She said raising the money to provide full payment to the city for police overtime service and other costs, estimated at $30,000, is going to be a challenge. But she said the organizers ​“have committed to continue the fundraisers immediately following the parade to make up any deficient and to become financially healthy for next year’s parade.”