Allan Appel Photo
Isabella Herrera’s mom is Peruvian, and although the 9‑year-old has been to Peru, she had never actually seen a llama or its camelid cousin the alpaca.
On the New Haven Green Thursday night, Isabella crossed that off her must-do list thanks to New Haven’s festive annual tree-lighting ceremony and holiday village. The event featured a Ferris wheel, carousel, spinning cups, a Santa workshop, a carousel, lots to do see — and, of course, Chester the alpaca and her mom Lillie Mae.
The alpacas were stars of the petting and feeding zoo, courtesy of the Circle K Farm in East Hampton. The petting zoo was one of the most popular attractions spread out across the Green and entertaining hundreds of kids and their families who waited for the 65-foot spruce Christmas tree to show off its lights at 7:30 p.m.
No one, least of all the alpacas, goats, and donkey in the petting zoo, seemed perturbed that the event’s main sponsor was Wells Fargo bank — from which the city has just removed its operating accounts due to the bank’s predatory practices and its support of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Isabella (pictured with mom Erika Caballero) spoke not of the bank but of the alpacas when she said, “They accept everything [I feed to them,] and they’re cute and kind.”
Kids ran around with twinkling unicorn heads and with illuminated noisemakers provided by NBC Connecticut, which for the fifth year turned the ceremony into a TV special, punctuated by performances from choruses all across New Haven and the state.
The northern half of the Green’s main feature was the Ferris wheel, It was flanked in a commercial wedge by eight torch-lit booths occupied by nonprofits and local artists such as Hannah Leckman, who makes pottery at her Erector Square studio.
This year the Proprietors of the Green, the private owners of the property, allowed transactions to take place. That new toleration of commerce made Leckman happy. A year ago, she recalled, she and other small artistic vendors were relegated to a small section far away at Temple Plaza, away from the action on the Green itself..
She showed a shallow porcelin bowl decorated in flowers that she termed a “Turkish garden.” Two other colleagues from Erector Square shared the rented space with her — Jinzu Ceramics and Pottery By Niko.
From where they sat, the potters had to look almost straight up to catch the act of Krazee Kevin. For purposes of wowing the kids — like Isabella, who had scooted over — Kevin had grown from his normal biological five-foot-nine to eight-feet-five.
Also a scarecrow, a juggler, and a top-notch unicylist, Kevin said he performs in those capacities at weddings, parties, and events two to three times a week. This was his first appearance in New Haven. The work seemed easy and relaxed compared to a feat he recalled for several listeners who crowded around his legs to hear: “I did the entire Macy’s parade backwards on a six-foot unicycle.”
New Haven’s tree-lighting was child’s play, in the best sense. As kids crowded around him wondering what was inside those immense, six-foot trousers flapping in the brisk breeze, Kevin leaned down and implored, “Give me five, down low. Give me five up high.”
Nearby in ye olde holiday workshop, more traditional Christmas acrobatics were unfolding as 1‑year-old Ty-mir Cutchin and 5‑year-old Maya Harris climbed up on Santa’s lap.
Caroline Flint, the kids’ grandmother and godmother, respectively, said they had asked Santa for tools and dolls. Flint’s wish? That “everybody just get along.”
Arianna Nevarez was getting along just fine with the first ice elf she met in her life. No one seemed to be able to tell me who had sculpted the creature. But it was brilliantly positioned just outside the Santa workshop so that kids and families waiting for the jelly-bellied guy could take a picture with the cool elf.
On the central stage, between the Ferris wheel to the north and the alpacas and the petting zoo south of the flagpole, the main stage had been set up.
One after one, middle school choral groups decked the Green with acoustic cheer. There were five choirs from New Haven schools including Betsy Ross Arts Magnet, Wexler/Grant, John Martinez, and Celentano.
As the clock ticked down to tree-lighting time, the music culminated in the appearance of the winner in the statewide NBC choir middle school contest. That group would be the Crescendos of Washington Middle School in Meriden.
Behind them, along Temple Street, more commerce seemed to be not only tolerated but appreciated. The food trucks, including the Sugar Bakery’s cupcake truck and Casseus’s cheese truck, among others, were doing a brisk business, as was Los Mariachis On Wheels, whose window said they were purveying “authentic Mexican cuisine.”
All that food made me think of Chester and Lillie Mae. So I circled back to the petting zoo to see what the alpacas were eating. Circle K’s manager of the animals, Ted Krogh. said the alpacas were doing fine with the handfuls of hay that all the kids enthusiastically held out to the animals’ mouths.
Isababella had been right. Chester and Lillie Mae couldn’t look in any direction around their fenced pen without a kid offering them a handful of hay. There was so much hay being shoved at them that a call was made to bring over another bale, from the five or six that were strewn nearby — and over which kids were jumping in a game of their own making.
“They love being here,” Krogh said of the alpacas. “We train them at an early age to be around people.” The alpacas had recently been hired to appear in a posh wedding ceremony. Dominique the donkey is of course getting a lot of calls to audition for manger appearances, he added.
The alpacas do not speak. The sound they make is generally humming, Krogh explained. If they’re upset or fearful, they make a high chirp. But none of that was heard at the tree lighting, even when the 30,000 multicolored LED lights finally went on, and everyone exhaled their amazement.
Mayor Toni Harp, who offered thanks to city staffers and sponsors, presided over the lighting. “Come back to our holiday village,” she urged the crowd. “We’re here through Sunday.”