Community Comes Back Together For Cherry Blossom Celebration

The annual Cherry Blossom celebration at Wooster Square Park returned for the first time in two years on Sunday — bringing back families, friends, puppies, and community to the park.

The Historic Wooster Square 47th Annual Cherry Blossom Celebration — renamed from ​“Festival” this year to reflect pandemic-related downsizing — featured vendors and live music in the park from noon to 4:30 p.m.

In both 2021 and 2020, the festival was canceled due to the pandemic. (Click here and here to read the stories from then.)

Sunday’s celebration missed the peak of the blossoms by just under a week. Click here to see photos from last Wednesday when the pink flowers were in full bloom.

“Every year they blossom at different times, but all stages are equally beautiful from the start of the buds to the ​‘snow’ as they fall away,” noted Cheryl Szczarba and Sarah Greenblatt, co-chairs of the Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Committee, in programs passed out by volunteers.

Kiomi Rincon, a junior at Hill Regional Career High School, and Giancarlo Gallicchio, a senior at New Haven Academy, were among the volunteers walking around and handing out informational pamphlets. The two, both recipients of New Haven Promise scholarships, said this was their first time attending the festival. They were impressed with the turnout.

Meanwhile, other attendees waited in lines to get grub from food trucks. Holy Guacamole, Bear’s Steakhouse, Lalibela, Crispy Melty, and Ben & Jerry’s were just a few of the options lined up along Academy Street.

While Hamden residents Meaghan Tetro and Josh Licursi waited in line to get coffee from the Jitter Bus, their pup Garbanzo posed for some photos.

Back in the park, parents Zang and Shane Lanan enjoyed the sunny weather with their 7‑month-old, Madelyn. The family took the commuter rail from Hartford to come to the festival; they said they were delighted to see the city come alive. On their blanket was an empty take-away food box; Shane said the lobster roll was delicious.

In the northeastern corner of the park, kids aged toddler to too-old fell over themselves and each other racing after bubbles. The soapy water seemed to keep the children entertained for an hour. 

Elaine Peters sat with her dog Coconut in front of the stage, enjoying the live music. The show featured Airborne, a band with a ​“beautiful trademark sound of Island Passion and Urban Emotion,” (as per the program); St. Luke’s Steel Band, featuring a ​“dedicated membership of players of all ages, many from the West Indies”; Movimiento Cultural Afro Continental Musical, whose mission is to ​“educate people across Connecticut about Puerto Rico’s rich African-based folklore, music and dance,” and and Carlos y su Momento, a band that plays Latin music, salsa, merengue, and bachata.

“Did you see us doing the Conga line right before this?!” Peters asked.

At the southwest entrance of the park, a man named Howard sold a variety of balloons and souvenirs.

“Tell them there is a beautiful man selling beautiful balloons at a beautiful festival,” Howard said.

He declined to share his last name: ​“The ones who know me, know me.”

Many attendees took a stroll down Court Street to take more photos in front of the blossoms. A woman named Anastasia posed her two children, Tess and Ivan, for a picture with their ice cream cones. Anastasia said she had taken a picture in the same spot when she was pregnant with Tess. She was excited to make a collage of the two photos.

Sophie Duncan, Diana Nguyen, and Josh Deanda enjoyed Ethiopian food from Lalibela on their picnic blanket, which Nguyen said was a great find from Good Will. Duncan made a new friend: a puppy named Azaleah. Azaleah’s parents, Miguel and Julie Olmo, came out from Willimantic for the celebration, and to take some cute pictures of their new canine.

Wooster Square Cherry Blossom Planning Committee member Melanie Gunn worked an informational table at the center of the park, where posters and pillows with cherry blossoms were being offered in exchange for donations. 

Gunn said the turnout was larger than it had been in the past. She said that this year, with fewer vendors, the celebration provided more space for the community to hang out and enjoy the nature.

Gunn also said that she thought the timing of the celebration was fitting, being so close to Earth Day. She was excited for people to learn more about the history of the trees.

“This celebration of spring commemorates the planting of 72 Yoshino Japanese Cherry Blossom trees in 1973 by the New Haven Historic Commission in collaboration with the New Haven Parks Department and neighborhood residents,” read the pamphlet.