Beaver Hills shines at the 2nd Block Party

Photos by Thomas Breen

Father-son duo Dexter and Isa Singleton practice drawing…

… while Mendy Katz and Nir Bongart prepare kosher burgers on Sunday.

Quiet. neighborly Various.

Beaver Hills residents and visitors praised these community qualities as they turned out for an annual party filled with CBD body butter, kosher hot dogs, a bouncy castle and lots of neighborhood love.

This was the scene Sunday afternoon from noon to 5 pm on Glen Road between Ella T. Grasso Boulevard and Osborn Avenue.

The reason for the gathering was the second annual Beaver Hills Block Party, hosted by a host of neighborhood stalwarts including Ainissa Ramirez, James Dormon and newly elected Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills (WEB) Chair of the Community Management Team Rebecca Cramer.

Early to Sunday’s block party on Glen Road.

In addition to bringing out dozens of residents from the Boulevard, Roydon Road, Bellevue Road, Ellsworth Avenue and other tree-shaded locations on a street temporarily closed to car traffic, event organizers also opened the party for first time. this year to local entrepreneurs.

That meant that Ekow Cos‘by Candice Dorman, BAMN Nyzae of books, Studio Allie‘s Allie Bruch, Devils Gear Bike Shop‘s Johnny Brehon, Make Haven‘s Lior Trestman and Westville hood artisan Joyce Murray, among others, talked up the shop and plied their trades from tables and tents set up along the block. Alongside them were Beaver Hills residents Mendy Katz, Nir Bongart and Alder Brian Wingate, who served up a variety of freshly grilled hamburgers and hot dogs (“All kosher,” Katz said of the offerings from his table) to hungry passers-by.

Photos by Thomas Breen

Bernetta Witcher-Boateng and Lior Trestman discuss screen printing and leather work at the Make Haven table.

Unlike last year, when the block party was held on Saturday, this year’s event was held on Sunday. Ramirez said the date change was made to respect the observance of the Sabbath by Jewish neighbors and to encourage Beaver Hills residents who were unable to come on a Saturday last year to see the neighborhood celebration this time. Ramirez said the event will alternate Saturdays and Sundays in future years.

Beaver Hills is among New Haven’s most diverse neighborhoods, with a significant black population and a rapidly growing Orthodox Jewish population affiliated with the Lubavitch Hasidic movement. While tensions have run high at times in recent years over public safety concerns, general violence and anti-Semitic incidents, Sunday’s event saw Beaver Hills residents from all walks of life they united to overcome divisions and celebrate the diversity that defines their neighborhood.

Ainissa Ramirez hat and “I Heart Beaver Hills” pin.

Once again on Sunday, organizers and attendees alike described the event as a welcome opportunity to break the spell of pandemic-induced isolation, hang out with old friends and new neighbors, bridge the invisible gap between the neighborhood that is the boulevard Ella T. Grasso. and meeting outdoors in public in a residential neighborhood that many of them adore.

“It’s been a good way to meet people in the community,” said Ramírez, who lives on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, and who asked not to be photographed for this article.

Growing up in New Jersey, Ramirez said: “I didn’t understand this concept of “walking to the neighbors’ houses and hanging out, getting to know the people who live next to you. He said, in his nearly two decades living in the community, it is a defining part of Beaver Hills.

“We take care of each other,” he said.

And he described the neighborhood as a place where “you can see people in all different stages of life”, people of all ages, races, religions.

That diversity, he said, is part of what makes living in Beaver Hills so special.

Roydon Road resident and theater manager Dexter Singleton agreed. “It’s a diverse neighborhood in every way imaginable,” he said.

Trestman and Allie Bruch.

Bellevue Road resident and interior designer Allie Bruch said the same thing when asked about her thoughts on the neighborhood she’s called home since 2019.

“I love my neighborhood,” she said.

What do you like about it?

“It’s diversity,” he said. “It is undoubtedly the most important” in the neighborhood. “It makes for a much richer existence.”

He said he has stayed in touch with his next-door neighbors during the pandemic by often walking to catch up on their front porch. “It’s special to be in a neighborhood of long-term New Haven residents,” he said. “It is very family oriented. I feel blessed every day” to live here.

“It’s very quiet. It’s very peaceful,” Roydon Road resident Bernetta Witcher-Boateng said.

Candice Dorman.

In between offering samples of CBD body butter, Candice Dorman of Ekow Body described Sunday’s event as a “block party throwback” that he remembered as a staple of his youth growing up in the Bronx.

“It’s a small, quiet neighborhood,” he said of Beaver Hills. Everyone knows about Westville and downtown, he said. “We’re this little alcove.” Events like this are a perfect opportunity to introduce people to the neighborhood.

Asst. Chief David Zannelli and Letitia Charles.

Alongside Assistant Principal David Zannelli, Colony Road resident Letitia Charles proudly said: “This is a beautiful neighborhood. This is the most diverse neighborhood” in the city.