Pols, Pom-Poms Celebrate Pizza, Magnets

A plethora of pizza, pom-poms and politicians flooded Upper Westville Friday morning amidst a pair of symbiotic popularity contests – in which every party was a winner.

The slices of of za and strings of plastic were featured in two separate city celebrations taking place around the corner from one another. 

Over at Davis Academy, students screamed out of ostensible excitement or, perhaps, excess energy as their principal announced that both The Magnet Schools of America and the University of Connecticut have recognized the school for ​“innovative excellence.”

Down the street on Whalley Avenue, politicians and thin-crust fanatics packed like anchovies inside Ernie’s Pizzeria for National Pizza Day and a proclamation by the governor naming New Haven the ​“Pizza Capital of America.”

Through call-and-response, salsa dancing and dough tossing, state and local leaders performed the apparent importance of those prizes — as well as personal popularity points.

“We’ve got a very special guest!” a Davis Academy teacher told hundreds of K‑8 kids spread across the school’s gym floor. School administration had gathered them together to announce two new accolades: A formal recognition of Davis as a ​“school of distinction” by The Magnet Schools of America, which awarded six other New Haven magnet schools who applied with that same title, and a $5,000 grant through UCONN’s 2023 Rogers Educational Innovation Award, which will help fund the school’s ​“Davis Clubs Program,” an extant effort to increase student attendance and engagement.

“Is it Lebron?” one student wondered.

“It’s not Lebron!” the emcee shouted back.

“It’s the mayor!” an older student exclaimed.

“No, I am Lebron!” Mayor Justin Elicker countered. ​“You just didn’t recognize me!”

Elicker administered a quick pop quiz.

“Do you know how you get to be at this level?” he boomed into the microphone. ​“It is by hanging out and not showing up to school?”

“No!” students screamed.

“It is by not doing your homework?”

“NO!” they continued.

“When I say teachers, you say, ​‘Thank you!’ ” Elicker sang knowingly.

“Thank you!” the kids crooned.

As Elicker ran out of the building to make it to Ernie’s in time for lunch, schools Supt. Madeline Negrón stood up, determined to compete with the mayor’s brief production. Cuing in the Hillhouse High School drum band, she began grapevining across the gym as students raised their pom-poms once more.

On To Ernies ...

Across Whalley Avenue, Elicker slid on stage once again with Gov. Ned Lamont, State Treasurer Erick Russell, State Comptroller Sean Scanlon, and New Haven State Rep. Patricia Dillon, among other politicians, to join pizzeria owner Pat DeRiso and reps from Pepe’s, Sally’s, Modern and more in honor of National Pizza Day.

Prior to putting their own pizzas in the oven with help from DeRiso, politicians pushed the importance of all 75 pizza establishments across New Haven as popularity generators for the city. ​“The City of New Haven is home to what critics have hailed as the best pizza in the country, highlighted in national publications, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, New Yorker Magazine, Boston Globe, and most recently, Cosmopolitan Magazine, among others,” a press release for the event read.

Still, politicians remained vague as always concerning their preferred pizza joint.

“I don’t wanna get into ​‘what’s my favorite,’ ” State Rep. Pat Dillon said on behalf of everyone gathered at Ernie’s.

Gov. Lamont was content to declare ​“New Haven the pizza capital of America,” admitting that he didn’t allow ​“New York or New Jersey to vote.”

Pizza’s greatness, he suggested, could be understood through its ubiquity: America puts out ​“100 acres of pizza a day,” he said, or ​“3,500 slices every second.”

Of all that pizza, he said, ​“I can tell you that pepperoni is the most popular, anchovies the least.”

He and the other politicians, however, all made plain cheese pies for Friday’s consumers — with the exception of U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who missed the press conference but showed up later to make a pie with tomato sauce, parmesan and sausage.

“I’m lactose intolerant,” she explained.

It doesn’t matter if you prefer Sally’s, Brick Oven, Zeneli or Ernie’s — at least, not to Lamont. The point, he said, ​“is that whatever your love is, this is the place to be.”