Allan Appel photo
Valerie Richardson lives on a houseboat in the marina and makes art, often of the river and its bridges
A place of peace and sanity, almost a stay-cation; a sense of history so deep you can feel the life of people here 10,000 years ago; a place where the local beer is a beautiful amber and you can also practice tai chi, as the gods intended, in nature, down by the banks of a river.
Those were some of the paeans of appreciation – and reasons – people come down to the water’s edge as more than 500 of them did so on a blustery Saturday morning. They were there to celebrate the 15th year of Riverfest, complete with vendor tables, craft brews, art, community organizing, and local mayoral politicking at the annual Fair Haven love song to the Quinnipiac River.
The celebratory scene was the Quinnipiac River Marina, at 307 Front St., where the river widens at its mouth getting ready to flow under the Grand Avenue Bridge to meet the harbor and the Sound.
Christel Manning, Jonathan Perlich, Lisa Fitch, Lee Cruz (all of the Riverfest organizing commitee), and 15th Ward alder challenger Frank Redente, Jr.
For the last several years under the ownership of Johnny Grunblatt and Jonathan Perlich, the marina has upped its game, reaching out and embracing residents not only from the immediate area but many parts of the city, who often do not even know the east side of town offers what amounts to a classic New England coastal village, said Perlich. .
“One of the things we loved about it,” Perlich said, as he took a break from mc-ing the several bands and presentations on a platform set up in the center of the marina, “is that this is [beautiful] New England waterfront, but we tend to lose sight of that.”
Not any longer.
“It just needed some operational changes, new services, and marketing, for example, for the kayak services; shoring up the docks; new meters and lights for the boaters,” and keeping the fueling dock in good shape, he added, “because there are very few of those in the New Haven area.”
Perlich also cited partnering with local organizations like the Fair Haven Community Management Team on events (such as this one) and bringing in the current operator of the restaurant, Fair Haven Oyster Company.
While there have been an array of eateries on the site during the ownership of Lisa Fitch (she was also on hand, retained as a consultant for the marina operation), this one seems to have genuinely caught on, Perlich said, for its “seafood fine dining” experience.
In addition, and soon to open near the kayak launch 25 yards away is a new wooden shed Perlich calls “The Pearl.” Out of it they’ll soon be serving lobster rolls, hot dogs, smash burgers, and ice cream.
The marina has also purchased the building to the north end, the former home of the New Haven Partition Company, and has converted it into a kind of small business incubator or creative work space. Almost all of the 16 office spaces already are rented out to local folks, attorneys, and nonprofits like City Seed and Greenwave, an ocean-farming start-up, among them.
Marcia DeLafemina (right) and Lindy Gold.
Many of those were among the two dozen colorful tented tables of for-profits and nonprofits set up on the grounds of the marina — CitySeed, Save the Sound, Copp Island Oysters, New England Brewing, Fair Haven Garden Exchange, Mary Wade Home– and new ones as well.
Among the latter is MATCH (Manufacturing And Technical Community Hub), soon to open at 26 Mill St. (not far from the banks of Fair Haven’s second nearby river).
The brainchild of long-time economic development official and philanthropist Lindy Gold and Branford business owner Marcia LaFemina, this nonprofit is aiming to enroll up to 600 local low-income women for manufacturing training, pay them a wage while they learn, and make all that possible by providing childcare, and childcare-sensitive work shifts, financial management, and other services.
What makes it innovative is that the women, with their deep contacts across the state, intend to attract contract manufacturing work, finishing products, and so forth that will be the source of both the training and revenue to pay the trainees.
“There are no tests, you just come, knock on the door, we find out what they need, we’ll train and we’ll find them jobs [through out connections],” Gold said, as she gazed out at the river.
“The river is peace and sanity,” Gold said. “It feels like a staycation.”
“The river takes me away,” added LaFemina,
When they return, they can be reached, for now, at 475 – 33-MATCH, with a website going operational later this week.
Westvillian Aedan O'Brien with his Sea Hag American IPA.
Mayoral hopeful Shafiq Abdussabur makes a campaign pitch to Fair Havener Isaiah Cooper.
Lee Cruz, a member of the organizing committee, along with Perlich, Christel Manning, among others, said this year’s Riverfest had added more music offerings like jazz, and more vendors even than last year’s festival, which attracted about a thousand visitors.
One of the lessons particularly well learned by those who live down by the river is that there’s no control over the weather. Still, despite windy conditions and an overcast sky nearly 300 people were in attendance within the first two hours of the festival, which lasted until early evening.
Shirley Chock and her students from the Aiping Tai Chi Center in Milford were giving a demonstration of the ancient art. “Tai chi is best experienced out in nature,” Chock said before stepping out to perform. “It’s because we tap into the natural energy of the universe.”
Then she offered attendees to put down their IPAs and their wraps and their tangy oysters and to do just that.
Cruz estimated that by day’s end more than 500 people had come down to the river.
Click on the video below to watch part of Saturday’s fest.