Freaks Take to the Streets

On its last weekend, the Ideat Village fringe festival flooded an area where the only official protocol was the approved permits: in the streets.

Spanning from the street enclosure of Pitkin Plaza to Millennium Plaza, the New New Haven Street Festival coincided with Saturday night’s Arts & Ideas Festival. The festivals had markedly different vibes.

Hundreds of people milled about the Green at Arts & Ideas, most of them surrounding a stage with a buffer zone five feet wide due to a barricade, and six feet high due to stage height.

Across the street, at Ideat Village, there were no stages.

“We love to say yes to people,” said electrified festival co-founder Bill Saunders.

Those yesses played out in day-long musical plaza sets, performances in front of the street gallery, vendors and a bevy of half-pipes and rails set up in the street for skating.

Jon Stone put on a solo performance at the tail-end of a slot he booked during Saturday’s music.

“The fact that I can approach Bill at a gallery opening and ask him to play at this festival and then get to produce an hour-and-a-half of music is pretty cool,” he said. ​“And that can only happen in New Haven.”

“As you can see, it’s anarchy,” said Saunders, gesturing to the commotion behind him. ​“I think it’s a direction you’re going to see happening in this country, because art isn’t something that should be judged or controlled. Art is something that is inherent in all of us.”