Allan Appel Photo
Pollyanna has one hump and lots of patience.
A small and relatively new human, 1‑year-old Amber Little, stretched out a little handful of straw towards a sight she had never seen before: Pollyanna, an 8‑year old teenage dromedary, an animal of the season.
The camel was one of several animal stars at the annual municipal holiday tree-lighting festivities that drew hundreds of kids and their families to the Green Thursday night.
This year’s light-bedecked 60-foot Norway spruce was officially lit at precisely 7:25 a.m.
“She [Pollyanna] doesn’t do rides. All she does is photo shoots,” explained Mary Krogh of Circle K Farms of East Hampton, who brought the camel, sheep, and other Christmas-themed animals to the Green to the delight of kids and their parents.
For Amber, it was a moment wonder to meet Pollyana.
“She’s thinking, ‘What is this!’” said Amber’s mom.
The petting zoo has been a feature of the city celebration on the Green for years. The Rivera-Rodriguez family made a beeline for the Ferris wheel, which made its debut on the Green only last year.
The Rivra-Rodriguez revelers represent two generations at the Truman School in the Hill.
“It’s our first stop, ” said Edward Rivera as he, Roxann Rodriguez and their two kids Benjamin Rivera and Manual Rodriguez patiently waited for their turn to go aloft.
“All we need is hot chocolate,” he added.
Also drawing long lines were the carriage rides provided by the splendid percherons, Joe and Zena of Allegra Farms in East Haddam.
They comprised one of two teams giving participants something of the experience of the way people used to circumnavigate the Green in Christmases of centuries gone by.
Kids also went on small carousel rides and waited at the Santa House, where they sat on the famous lap and made a wish. Then, when they came out and met each other in the darkness, they compared weapons and sometimes engaged with their glow swords in mock battles.
Firemen Daniel Del Prete and Michael Rickaby, who is also a Marine Corps reservist, with Jacques Bolduc and his donation.
Meanwhile, over on Temple Street, many of those kids, like 3‑year-old Jacques Bolduc, were also learning lessons in generosity. The New Haven Fire Department and the United State Marine Corps this year joined forces for an extensive Toys For Tots toy drive campaign, which they launched during Thursday night’s festivities.
A seven-ton unarmored Marine supply truck, three fire vehicles, a smoke trailer, and three ambulances from American Medical Response (AMR) arrayed themselves along Temple Street for kids to get lifted into the cabs to see what it felt like being in charge of an immense vehicle.
On the way, Bolduc gave to the officers two of his “fast lane” toys and one of his favorites, a “hot wheels.”
“It’s for the kids who don’t have any toys” of their own, he explained.
For two weeks after the tree lighting, donation bins will be set up at all 10 firehouses, 10 police substations, the fire and police training academy locations, and at the AMR headquarters on Middletown Avenue, said Del Prete.
O’brien bought the calendar as a gift for her daughter.
Meanwhile, folks had two opportunities to to pick up made-in-New Haven gifts for the holidays.
One opportunity: at booths on the Green. There, Barbara O’Brien picked up local photographer Chris Randall’s holiday calendar, which features an ecstatic view of the Quinnipiac River looking south toward the Grand Avenue Bridge.
The second opportunity: a bazaar of about 30 local vendors had arrayed their wares in the atrium of City Hall.
Like a brick-and- mortar store, vendors do a large percentage of their annual business this month, according to Divine.
Some visitors went to the colorful booth of MD Boutique to pick up Diamond Tree and Majestic Divine’s inventive pack-a-pillows, their jewelry, scarves, and skirts, many made with cloth and based on colors and traditions emanating from Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and other locales in Africa.
The couple go to about two dozen fairs a year. They operate fairs of their own and sewing and jewelry-making classes out of temporary space in the Dynamic Universal Shadow Dojo at Stetson Plaza on Dixwell Avenue. They are working towards having a store of their own.
“It [the bazaar] gives all of us a chance to be downtown before the holidays,” said Divine, who came to New Haven from Queens six years ago to go into business with Tree.
Claus and city culture czar Andy Wolf just after the tree was lit.
As the night wore on, the atrium grew crowded with curious shoppers checking out the other booths vending clothing, jewelry, soap, how-to-make-your-own candle sets, and many other products.
During the next three consecutive Saturday afternoons Joe and Zena or other of their Percheron pals will continue to offer rides around the Green.
The Toys for Tots “pick-up party” event — where families in need will be able to select toys for their kids — takes place on Wednesday Dec. 14 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Central Station Fire Headquarters on Grand Avenue near Olive, said Del Prete.
Jeremiah 10
"Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the
heavens, though the nations are terrified by them. 3 For the practices
of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a
craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and
gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.