Only a week ago the Aziz family of Yemen arrived on these shores. Allan Appel found the family and other relative newcomers at New Haven’s Long Wharf fireworks celebration, and spoke with them about Independence Day.
When the heavens opened up at 6:15 on July 4th in an intense rain, New Haven’s family-oriented Independence Day celebration, sponsored by the office of cultural affairs and scheduled to begin at 6:30 at Long Wharf Park, it seemed as if the 2006 edition might be in danger of being suitable primarily for the families of mallards and mergansers who populate the harbor.
However, when the rain ended a quarter hour later, human families, such as Susan Bolton and her daughter Shelby of Milford, were able to put away their star-studded umbrellas. They began to parade into the park with coolers, blankets, folding chairs, babies in strollers, speaking in many languages and accents, all expressing high hopes for the weather to hold for the evening’s pyrotechnics. Just who were these wonderfully varied families and what did the kids and the adults think of July 4th and its meanings, New Haven-style? 
Many, like Fang Sun and her daughter Angel Wang, were recent arrivals in the New Haven area. Although only two weeks in town, they had emigrated from China to Texas five years ago, so Sun knew the holiday was the “birthday of the country.” Now residing in Cheshire, where her husband works for a pharmaceutical company, they’d heard New Haven’s celebrations were the grandest in the area. 
Thomas and Alondra Torres, of Fair Haven, had perched on a rock at the edge of the water with their ten-year-old daughter Adelina. Translating for her parents, Adelina elicited that her dad knew the holiday marked the “independencia” of America. She added a few more impressive historical pointers she had learned in her fifth grade class at Fair Haven Middle School. 
Farther along into the park toward the veterans’ memorials, we encountered Twinkle, the patriotic balloon lady (aka known as Lisa Taylor of Bristol) who had just fashioned a Statue of Liberty crown for Steven Torres. Steven was visiting his dad, Eddie and his aunt, Wanda Ruiz, both of Fair Haven, and was experiencing his first July 4th. At nine-years old, Steven did not seem very impressed. “In Puerto Rico,” his aunt explained, “July 4th is the culmination of a festival, beginning with St. John (the Baptist)‘s day, which starts on June 25th. But there will be a lot more fireworks here than he’s ever seen. if it doesn’t rain again! 
Around the great V, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the far end of the park, eight-year-old Tatiana Cruz was surrounded by her family (from left to right in the photo), Millie Lopez, Juan Huertas, Linda Cruz, and Anthony and William Rios. Linda Cruz, Tatiana’s grandmother, alerted Lopez and Huertas to join them at the park. “They’re new to New Haven,” she said, “and the fireworks are a nice thing to see when you just get here.” Setting the record in our informal survey for recent arrivals, however, were the Aziz family, of Yemen, who had arrived in the area only one week ago. Aysha, younger brothers Zacharia and Yousif, and mom Eyman, were waiting by the Amistad pier for their father to finish parking the car. In answer to your reporter’s question on what they knew of July 4th, Aysha, a high school student in Guilford, consulted with her family in Arabic. “We know it’s very important for America,” she said. As indeed it is.