Ian Christmann Photos
A forest of pinwheels, spinning in the spring air, sprang up along the Quinnipiac River on Saturday morning to guide hundreds of children, families, and friends on a 1.5‑mile stroll around the Quinnipiac’s bridges.
With Mayor Toni Harp in the vanguard, the marchers were lending their support to high-quality early childhood education, as part of the ninth annual Fair Haven Family Stroll and Festival.
Created by a partnership between the Friends Center for Children, led by Executive Director Allyx Schiavone, and the Elm City Montessori School, led by Principal Julia Webb and Executive Director Eliza Halsey, the festival has grown every year since its inception.
This year, 1,366 people filled Quinnipiac River Park to play, dance, hang out, and learn. For the kids, there were activities like face painting, bubbles, parachute play, arts and crafts, and more.
For their parents and other adults from the community, there were resources offered by over three dozen community organizations in attendance, including Fair Haven Community Health Center, New Haven Public Library, Neighborhood Music School, Read to Grow, the Peabody Museum, and ConnCAT.
This mix of pleasure and purpose was the idea behind the festival from the start. It’s grown into a big three-hour neighborhood party, where kids and their families can patronize food trucks and enjoy loads of live entertainment. This year’s acts included Magic with Amazing Andy, Zumba Kids with Rosemary, VIVACE- a teen string musical group, Drumming with Gammy, a children’s dance troupe called S.W.A.G., and the Blue Steel Drumline from Southern Connecticut State University.
Participants also got to look inside a police car and fire truck, and relish the sight of New Haven’s fire boat spraying tall arcs of water over the river.
The festival has no shortage of fun, but it’s also a chance to raise money for early childhood education — $20,000 this year — to increase awareness about the importance of what places like the Friends Center and Elm City Montessori are doing, and to encourage the expansion of similar forms of early-childhood education to families that don’t have access right now — and sometimes don’t even know that the possibility exists.
“Investing in our children in their early years enhances their development and leads to success in later years,” U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro passionately exclaimed while addressing the crowd of over 1,350 early childhood supporters, “We have to make sure that every child is safe, fed, supported, educated and loved. EVERY CHILD!!!” Joining DeLauro in support of the stroll’s child-focused mission were Mayor Toni Harp, who cut the ribbon, and State Rep. Al Paolillo.
Schiavone emphasized that the festival’s awareness-raising has implications beyond New Haven: The stroll, she said, is “a fantastic opportunity to engage our community in the overarching conversation about quality early childhood education in this country. We know that high-quality early education programs have a high return on the investment, making it that much more important to educate our community to inspire a change nationwide.”
The whole experience was underwritten by a diverse and growing group of sponsors:
Alfresco Landscape and Design, Chabaso, Cheney & Company, Eder Family Foundation
Elite Property Services, Inc., Friends Center for Children, GHP, NH ChILD, Patriquin Architects, TM Byxbee Company, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, TYCO Printing, Webster Bank, Whitneyville Food Center, David Thompson Architects, National Roofing, NERO (heating & AC), Network for Good, Walgreens, Wilson Maturo Motors, RWA.
And, a similarly extensive group of local businesses kicked in with door prizes for attendees: Blue State Coffee, Connecticut Basketball Academy, CitySeed/Sanctuary Kitchen, Connecticut Children’s Museum, Evan’s Toy Shoppe, Friends Center for Children, Grand Vin, Ian Christmann Photography, Koffee, LEAP, Nica’s Market, Neighborhood Music School, New Haven Age Group Track Club , New Haven Museum, Rascal’s Gym, Trader Joe’s, The Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, The Jitter Bus, and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
But the most important energy came from the families themselves, who walked, played, and danced their way through a three-hour celebration of all that early childhood education in New Haven currently has to offer, and all that the early childhood experience might become.