“Hallmark Holiday” Shopfest Hits Downtown

A quartet of carolers dressed in traditional Victorian holiday garb harmonized to ​“Silver Bells” as children laughed and passersby ambled along downtown’s busy sidewalks. Families gathered to listen outside of Union League Café, shopping bags and hot cider in hand. 

Next door, children sat around tables to decorate ornaments with ribbons, bells, markers, and gems. Beyond the arts and crafts a professional ice sculptor worked his trade, using a chainsaw and chisel to carve out a holiday elf. And around the corner, Santa and Mrs. Claus posed for photos. 

That was the scene on Saturday as downtown New Haven welcomed some winter holiday cheer in the form of the Town Green Special Services District’s annual ​“Hallmark Holiday,” which promised all-new events, special shopping promotions, and festive activities for locals and visitors alike.

Presented in collaboration by the Shops at Yale and Market New Haven, these ongoing events have been planned to get shoppers shopping at downtown’s small local businesses. The events, which run through Dec. 24, also offer free activities for families to celebrate the season. Such offerings will vary from the tree lighting to Santa story-telling to a cappella concerts to ice carving contests. Click here for a full list of programming.

This weekend’s collaboration celebrated Small Business Saturday and the launch of a Holiday Passport Program.

Organizers convened a pop-up outside of 1042 Chapel St., where they passed out free hot cider, freshly-popped popcorn, candy canes, reusable shopping bags, and promotional material for the seasonal events. There were also entry slips for a giveaway raffle to win $50 gift cards to Strange Ways, Claire’s Corner Copia, and Maison Mathis, that will run through early December (click here to enter).

Bruno Baggetta, director for Market New Haven, Inc., was on the scene to help promote the 3rd Annual Holiday Shopping Passport program, which encourages shopping locally and will run through Sunday, Dec. 18.

“The holiday season is a crucial time to support local business and uplift the working members of our community. Shopping local provides a more personalized gifting experience, a reprieve from the dreaded holiday shipping fiascos, and a variety of retailers, old and new, ready to help craft the perfect gift,” Baggetta said. 

Shoppers who spend $50 or more at any three participating independent downtown retailers can enter for a chance to win one of three $300 gift cards. Participating retailers include local favorites such as Strange Ways, Bark & Vine, and four new women/minority owned shops — MINIPNG, Soap-edi, More Amour Boutique, and Üni-Home Life. Click here for a full list of participating retailers and official rules and regulations.

While parents shopped, there were plenty of festivities to keep children entertained. Inside at 1042 Chapel St., Taekwon Taylor was excited to show off the ornament he had decorated with complimentary supplies from the event organizers.

Outside, the Smith family, who were visiting from Needham, Mass., stopped back at the ice sculpture after a long day of shopping. The children of the family said the carving was their favorite part, and they were desperate to see the final product: the Elm City Elf, which has been part of Downtown New Haven’s marketing campaign since the rise of Elf on the Shelf. Both Leah, 10, and Jacob, 7, remarked that the sculpture was much clearer when finished than it had been while the sculptor was working on it. 

At B‑Natural Café around the corner from the icy elf, Santa and Mrs. Claus offered a story-telling hour and posed for photos with kids. Noah Doucette, from Guilford, said that he had been doing extra chores to be on Santa’s nice list. He had been looking forward to meeting Santa for weeks.

Margaret Donovan of Hamden took her toddler to meet Santa, remarking that her family has not celebrated the holidays in a social way in several years, and that they were excited to take advantage of the festivities New Haven was offering.

David DelVecchio, director of real estate management at Yale University who was representing the Shops at Yale, remarked that what made the day special was seeing the excitement on all of the kids faces. The Yuletide Carolers agreed; their favorite part was seeing the magic light up behind children’s eyes.

“New Haven really is out of a Hallmark movie. We have the beautiful cobblestone sidewalks. Everything is in a walkable, manageable area. We have so many small businesses which are all unique. We are the antithesis to the mall experience, we like to say,” Baggetta said.