A Fourth Of Families

Anjaniece Wilson doesn’t recognize the Fourth of July as a holiday, but a promise of fireworks and time with her cousins were enough to get her out of the house and onto a blanket at Rice Field before sundown.

Wilson was one of hundreds who came out for New Haven’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display, a 40-minute pyrotechnic show set off from near the summit of East Rock.

Sailing over the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, fireworks filled the night sky, drawing ooohs, aaaahs and shrieks of delight. For many who made it to Wilbur Cross High School, Rice Field, and the surrounding streets in both East Rock and Cedar Hill, this Fourth was not about politics or patriotism but families, and the joy of having them close. 

Around Wilbur Cross High School, a crowd began gathering around 6:30 p.m. As front- and backyard cookouts popped up on Orange Street and Mitchell Drive, vendors Hank and Cynthia Bolden rolled up with the latest addition to their 60-year marriage: a food cart for roasting corn. Since schlepping it back from the Midwest four years ago, the two have started taking it to celebrations across the city. This was their second year by Wilbur Cross

As soon as Cynthia Bolden put out a sign advertising the cart’s elotes — hot, grilled Mexican corn dripping with parmesan cheese, butter and dried, powdered chili — 7‑year-old Shakilah Muhamad and her mom Shahidah appeared on the sidewalk, entranced by the smell.

Shahidah Muhamad, who grew up in the city, and her kids had landed on Mitchell Drive to reconnect with cousins from New Haven and West Haven, swaying to loud pop music before the fireworks began around 9:15. 

“The bestest part is getting off of school,” Shakilah said, finishing off an ear of corn wrapped in tinfoil. But of the fireworks, she expressed an almost equal excitement. ​“They go so high! It’s great!” she said. Around her, cousins danced and played on the sidewalk and at a cookout on the lawn next door. The Boldens got ready for their next customer.

Across the street, new business owner Netta Hadari served up hand-made ice cream to those trickling into Cross’ track and athletic fields.

There, sisters Lakayla Edlow and Promise Perkins were sprawled out on a picnic blanket with family members, hoping that the fireworks would make summer in Connecticut — a state that feels uncomfortably small next to her home of Virginia, said Edlow — a little more exciting. 

“Connecticut is tiny,” said Edlow, who lives in Newport News, Virginia, during the year. ​“But I’m excited for the fireworks. I do like them.”

“I’m hoping for some spectacular sceneries,” added her aunt, Alexandria Brock. She said she’d been disappointed to see the summit closed to viewers again this year, but was trying to acclimate to the school’s sprawling athletic grounds. So far, so good she said. ​“Everyone is happy and loving everything.”

Across East Rock Park at Rice Field, a smaller crowd was also growing, drivers parking along Rock, Grace, Ridge and View Streets in Cedar Hill.

Sprawled out on a comforter, cousins Nate Spearman, Melanie Willoughby and Mariah Bryant had color coordinated for the evening with stars, stripes, and tricolor plaid. Their cousin Anjaniece Wilson, a rising junior at Achievement First Amistad High School and aspiring pediatrician, wasn’t having it. That morning, she said, she had dressed in a t‑shirt and sweatpants because she doesn’t celebrate the Fourth.

“The Fourth of July is independence for white America, but not for black America,” she said. ​“With all that’s happening now with Black Lives Matter, with Philando Castile’s case — I can’t celebrate something that doesn’t celebrate me.”

“June 11 is my holiday,” she added, referencing Juneteenth. But when given the chance to spend the night watching fireworks — which she said she likes — she still jumped onboard.

Watching families readjust picnic blankets and light sparklers before the fireworks, newcomers Caesar Garcia and Cameron Schang tried to feel out their first fireworks in New Haven — first by learning that it was happening.

The two, who moved into a home on Ridge Street from Utah a month ago, had arrived at the field to walk their dogs Auggie and Miko. When they learned that they were in a prime location for the annual fireworks, they settled in for a few hours, taking turns sprinting across the field with the dogs.

“I love it,” Schang said of New Haven and Cedar Hill. ​“It’s an awesome place to live.”

Not long after they found a place to sit, the sky slipped from dusk to dark. At 9:15, the first firework pierced the sky, stopping conversations as it popped over both Cross and Rice Field. Another followed. And then another, filling the sky with an array of glittering bright whites, reds, greens, yellows, blues and golds. Luis Ocasio and his wife Kathy Ayala huddled in on a blanket to watch it with their daughters. A few yards behind them, Bridgeport resident Rodrigo Marques and his daughter Paloma (pictured in collage above) caught up with extended family members, watching carefully as the family’s youngest members lit sparklers.
 
​“It’s perfect, coming to see the fireworks,” he said, watching as family member Gilbert Ortiz lit a sparkler, and then ran with it, trailing smoke. ​“It’s just wonderful.”