DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTOS
A Hanukkah menorah at the corner of Blake Street and Whalley Avenue was still aglow with the good cheer of a holiday just ended. Several feet way, a crowd had gathered to usher in another holiday season with the annual lighting of the Westville Village Christmas Tree.
It was not your biggest or most lavishly decorated tree. Its understated beauty elevated by the community that had gathered at its feet to sing and celebrate together.
Tim Kane plays trumpet. Jaime Kane (right) leads the caroling.
Sponsored by the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance (WVRA) and co-sponsors The United Illuminating Co, University of New Haven and the State of CT, DECD., the event was guided by perennial community leaders Tim and Jaime Kane, who led the audience in a round of Christmas carols and popular holiday tunes, accompanied on guitar by Westville’s Chris Kristan.
Some SOUND Affect members.
Special musical guest was Westville-based SOUND Affect. Founded as a family enterprise, the group of nine musicians and growing list of students use their expertise and love of music as a vehicle for charitable works at home and abroad; their ambitious mission is to “affect the world with the arts.”
In 2008 The group had a good showing on television’s Americas Got Talent. Its members have since continued to gain attention for their good works, like this past summer’s musical mission to Haiti by their SOUND Proof musical ensemble. Friday’s tree-lighting concert featured an Acapela ensemble directed by SOUND Affect founder and director Carol Taubl.
A bright star tops the just lit tree. Celebrants approve.
Braced against the damp chill and intermittent rain, the crowd cheered at the moment of the tree’s lighting. Afterward, some continued down the street to the nearby DaSilva Frame Shop and Gallery for a holiday open house, or to the warmth of Kehler Liddell Gallery for cider and some holiday storytelling with master storyteller Ann Shapiro.
What a fabulous article! I smiled reading it, wishing I have been able to attend such a joyous event! The photos and videos truly capture, as the author so eloquently observed, that the Westville Village Christmas tree's understated beauty was "elevated by the community that had gathered at its feet to sing and celebrate together."