French Students Chase Cherry Blossoms At 51st Fest

Cherry blossoms met pizza grease as French students Fabien Guedes and Yanis Bouchfira lunged to catch the falling petals in their paper plates.

This was the breezy scene in Wooster Square Park on Sunday afternoon, where the Historic Wooster Square Association’s annual Cherry Blossom Festival was in full bloom.

Despite this being the 51st iteration of the festival, it was a day of firsts for Guedes and Bouchfira, who are visiting the United States for the first time as part of a sister-school initiative between Hopkins School in New Haven and Lycee Louis Pasteur in Avignon, France.

The delegation of 13 students and two teachers — who arrived in New Haven on Saturday afternoon after a two-day tour of New York City — are staying with host families until Thursday. Their visit includes a tour of Yale University, a visit to the newly-renovated Peabody Museum, and a meeting with Mayor Justin Elicker.

Upon their arrival at the cherry blossom fest on Sunday, the duo was drawn to the performance stage, where the St. Luke’s Steel Band was jumpstarting the festival. Guedes, a hip hop and reggae fan who knows the words to nearly every Bob Marley song by heart, recognized the song as ​“Maria Maria” by Santana in just a few notes and began to sing along.

As the song wrapped up, Bouchfira led the way to the several food trucks parked on Academy Street, including Lalibela Ethiopian Restaurant and Olmo Bagels. Bouchfira, who eats halal, opted for a lamb gyro and persuaded his friend to do the same. 

“It is good! My first time having American fat food,” said Guedes.

While wandering the park, Guedes and Bouchfira came across a poster painting booth hosted by the Historic Wooster Square Association. They took turns dipping flower-shaped sponges into pink paint and making their very own cherry blossoms, leaving their mark on New Haven.

Their stroll through the park’s web of paths led them back to the food trucks, where they decided to try New Haven’s signature dish: pizza.

“It is perfect!” said Guedes of East Coast Pizza, which had a line so long it snaked around those of other trucks. ​“It is much better than we have in France.”

“And France has very good pizza,” added Bouchfira.

After finishing their pizza, the pair decided to stay perched on the railing where they had eaten, under the canopy of cherry blossoms. Almost as fascinating as the new flowers were the people passing by, many of whom were decked out in pink.

“New Haven has a lot of diversity,” said Bouchfira. ​“There is no one type of person.”

“Yeah, and everyone here is very nice. French people are not very sociable,” Guedes laughed.

Bouchfira whipped out his phone and opened the Google Translate app, rapidly typing out a final reflection on his day. ​“I like this city a lot because it has a very calm atmosphere. You can see that everyone likes to live together — there’s a certain kind of harmony and a real mix of cultures in the food.”

“This was a good day!” said Guedes as he and Bouchfira searched for an exit upon feeling the first drops of a drizzle. ​“I feel like I am in a TV show, and this is the part where they play the happy music at the end.”