The Colón sisters joined salsa dancers on a new stage, and a veteran vote-puller donned a top hat, as Democrats flooded to the Omni to celebrate the inauguration of their new president.
Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colón and her sister, Amelia (in video; click the play arrow) were among nearly 1,000 people who showed up at the downtown hotel Tuesday night for an inaugural ball, hours after Barack Obama took the oath of office. The event was a fundraiser for the New Haven Public School Foundation. To the tunes of the band Agua Pa Chocolate, the Colóns twirled in the grand ballroom.
The sisters knew the steps. For those who didn’t, there were a free lesson in a back room from Alisa’s House Of Salsa. Students could be spotted counting out loud in the hall. Soon enough, salsa newbies of all ages and backgrounds were braving the dance floor without worrying who was watching.
“I think the Obama election has erased 30 to 40 percent of Americans’ inhibitions,” reflected veteran Democratic party activist Brian McGrath (pictured in top photo), who helped organize the event. Sipping a drink at a table, he motioned to the lively dance floor.
“People used to be shy of salsa dancing,” he said. “Now they’re not.”
Across the room, Hill Alderwoman Andrea Jackson-Brooks watched as couples twirled on a new stage, now governed by the nation’s first black president.
“I was one that never thought I’d see this day,” said Jackson-Brooks. The alderwoman, who’s half African-American and half Native-American, said she spent the day thinking back on the civil rights movement.
“A lot of old memories came back today,” she said. “People who lost their lives, physically and mentally, around the whole issue of not having a place in this country. There were a lot of unsung heroes.”
(Click here for Tom Ficklin’s photo albums of the evening.)
Helen Powell-King marked the day by painting tiny Obama images on her fingernails.
“It’s history in the making,” she said. “I’m glad to be a part of it.” In her post as the city’s deputy Democratic registrar of voters, she was instrumental in making sure everyone got to vote.
“I worked my tail off,” she said. “It was worth it.”
The mastermind behind Tuesday’s ball was Lesley Mills, who runs a home care company and is a dancer herself. Mills took six weeks off of work to organize the gala. She said she was inspired by the caregivers who work for her, many of whom are black and Latino.
“I underestimated how important this election was,” she said, until she saw how transformed and enthused her employees were by Obama’s candidacy. Mills didn’t vote: She was born in England and remains a British citizen.
“I’ve applied for citizenship,” she said, “mainly because of this.”
Searching for a companion to stand beside her in a photograph, she walked over to Frank Douglass, a dapper man who was standing nearby. It turned out Douglass knew Mills’s daughter: she helped him run his Ward 2 aldermanic campaign against Gina Calder in 2007.
Douglass seized the occasion to make an announcement: “I’m definitely running again.”
Taking a break outside the lobby doors, Alejandro De Frutos was making plans for the future, too.
The Fair Haven developer is currently trying to drum up $7 million to build a celebrity plastic surgery clinic on Ferry Street. De Frutos stood outside with Mariusz Polak (at right in photo), a construction company owner whom he considers a potential business partner. He was hoping he might have a friend not just locally, but in D.C., too.
“Hopefully Obama would give me a little push, who knows?” said De Frutos. “I may be knocking down the door of the White House.”