Brian Slattery Photo
At Quinnipiac River Park in Fair Haven, Orquesta Espada was heading into the last song of its set. The Caseus truck had run out of supplies to make sandwiches and was packing it in, while the ¡Ay Arepa! truck was still going strong. Chatham Square resident and community organizer Lee Cruz ran back and forth through the crowd of hundreds, from the stage to make announcements to the registration table, where families were still coming. And along Front Street bordering the park, the sharp-eyed could detect a string of new badges fixed to some of the street signs — a string that loops 5.8 miles through Fair Haven in a system of urban trails representing the culmination of a long, community-driven effort.
Orquesta Espada.
It was part of Saturday’s Fair Haven Family Stroll and Festival, a neighborhood party and fundraiser for early childhood education that featured music, food, activities for kids, and the involvement of a couple dozen organizations, from New Haven Reads and Neighborhood Music School to the New Haven Health Department and the Peabody Museum. It kept a crowd of hundreds at Quinnipiac River Park from the late morning through the afternoon.
Chris Randall Photo
Children from local early childhood education center cut ribbon to start the Fair Haven Family Stroll.
The beginning of the festival marked the opening of the Fair Haven Urban Trail, a series of walking routes that lead those who follow them through the neighborhood.
The trails are the result of a collaboration among the Chatham Square Neighborhood Association, the Office of the Mayor of New Haven, Yale School of Public Health, and the Fair Haven Family Stroll and Festival.
After a short ceremony, dozens of families walked a 1.5‑mile loop of the trail, taking them the length of Quinnipiac River Park and across the Grand Avenue and Ferry Street bridges.
“These are trails that people have been walking for years,” Cruz said. “We’re affirming it here to increase safety and to encourage people to do something about their health.”
Cruz said that people in the neighborhood have been talking about creating the walking routes for “probably about six years, and really actively doing it for the last couple years.”
“We needed to get the right combination of people motivated to get out there,” he added.
The entire project cost about $3,000 total from the neighborhood association and the School of Public Health — plus a lot of volunteer time and labor. The city, a willing partner, paid for the labor to install the trail markers, designed by architect and Fair Haven resident Kathleen Flynn, who donated her services. The city will also pay to install maps on stands at five locations along the routes, adorned with photographs donated by Ian Christmann.
“Our next step is to be active about promoting people walking,” Cruz said. As foot traffic increases, small improvements along the trail, such as better sidewalks and lighting, might be in the offing.
“Community building is a lot of little blocks — it’s a constant mix of people, ideas, and resources,” Cruz said.
Just to be clear, the Fair Haven Family Stroll and Festival is in its 6th year. It is an event that is organized by the Friends Center for Children and Elm City Montessori (parents, staff and other volunteers). The FHFS and festival supports quality early childhood education in our community. The FHFS and festival has always included the 1.5 mile walk. It only made sense to inaugurate the Fair Haven trails with this well-established event that encourages a broad cross section of our community to walk. I was privileged to serve as the MC this great annual event.