Brian Slattery Photos
Dozens of people thronged the lot across from the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center on Columbus Avenue on Saturday for Hillfest, a neighborhood festival organized by the Hill community under the auspices of International Festival of Arts & Ideas. The event brought food, music, and a host of activities and kept the crowds out for a full sunny afternoon.
A chaotic tennis game in the center of the lot proved to be a hit with several kids, often at once.
An ice cream truck had a steady stream of takers, as did the neighboring stand giving out hamburgers, hot dogs, and other outdoor food favorites. All the food inside the fence was donated, thanks to the HIllfest organizers who worked hard to get it all provided.
Arts and crafts tents near the tennis court also stayed busy.
On the bandstand set up at the end of the lot, musical acts were scheduled all afternoon. A DJ set that kicked off festivities at noon, followed poetry from Epic the Poet, jazz from Kristen Koller, and a short hip hop set from Bridgeport-based MC Famous the Rapper, who kept his audience glued to the area in front of the bandstand with a collection of winning originals and some friendly banter to glue it all together.
On the street between the lot and the health center, several other food vendors had set up shop for the afternoon, including Trevor Johnson and his Fantastic Foods cart, serving chicken, hot dogs, and Georgia hots. Johnson has been working the cart since 2012. Over the past few years, he reported, “things are starting to pick up for me,” both in day-to-day business and in getting hired for events. “It must be a lot of word of mouth,” he said.
Johnson is a cook at University of New Haven during the school year. “When the summer comes around,” he said “that’s when I bring out the cart. Cooking is my passion. I enjoy serving people, meeting people from all walks of life. It’s a beautiful thing.”
During the summer he can usually be found on the corner of Whalley and Orchard from about 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. He gets foot traffic from the avenue and from the Yale-New Haven Hospital St. Raphael’s Campus nearby.
“My goal is to get a food truck. I don’t always want to have to stand outside,” he added with a smile.
The artwork on the side of Johnson’s cart was done byCarthel Hudson, who lives in New Britain. “I gave him an idea of what I wanted and it took him a week or so,” Johnson said. “It was amazing.” Johnson connected with Hudson through a co-worker at University of New Haven. “He plugged me into this guy and I’m so glad he did,” Johnson said. “He’s going to come down for a touch-up, because it’s time for a touch-up!”
Alisa Bowens from Alisa’s House of Salsa did a dance set that brought a throng of kids to the stage, laughing and stealing Bowens’s moves. As Bowens got the signal to wrap up her set, she asked the kids, “do you want to do one more?” The kids jumped up and down to signal that they did.
Cyclist Mike Steadley gave a stunt bike performance in the street near Johnson’s cart that brought a small crowd to the curb. As Steadley performed ever-more-complicated stunts involving popping wheelies and hopping precariously from platforms to posts — which, he explained to the crowd, he had learned through painstaking practice in his driveway, always wearing a helmet and padding — the kids gathered to watch cheered him on and even heckled a little.
“Do a backflip, Mike!” one kid yelled.
“He can’t do a backflip!” another kid said.
Maybe not. But Steadley did finish the show with a willing volunteer from the crowd who lay down on the street, unmoving, while Steadley hopped over him on his bike again and again.
Manny James and Soulclectic rounded out the afternoon with a set of James’s originals along with classics from Sam Cooke, Bob Marley, and Michael Jackson that kept people moving to the end. As Bowens said during her set, “it’s all about getting the community together and dancing.”