With West Haven’s Christmas tree aglow in the background, The John C. Ireland Bandstand on the snow-covered Green is bedecked with huge electric snowflakes as Victorian lampposts decorated with angels blowing on trumpets illuminate the walkways during a Yuletide celebration from yesteryear. (Contributed Photo)

Christmas tree lighting on Green set for Saturday

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 21, 2022 — The annual lighting of West Haven’s Christmas tree on the Green will herald an evening of merrymaking Saturday.

The holiday festival will commence at 4 p.m. with the national anthem sung by West Haven High School senior Madelyn Roche.

DJ Sonya will play holiday-themed music while costumed Christmas characters and Victorian-clad carolers entertain families around the downtown park.

Radio personality Brian Smith will serve as the master of ceremonies for the event, which is presented by the city, ArtsWest CT, the First Congregational Church and West Haven United, an organization aimed at bringing the city’s volunteer groups together.

The four-hour festival will feature an inflatable Santa’s village and craft stations on the 5-acre Green, where children can make marshmallow snowman ornaments, decorate wooden ornaments, write letters to Santa, and make cards for U.S. troops overseas and those at the West Haven VA Medical Center.

The Yuletide festivities will continue at 4:30 p.m. with holiday classics performed by the Indonesian Angklung Community led by Dabar Ratupenu.

The musical group will collectively play an angklung, an Indonesian instrument made of a varying number of bamboo tubes attached to a bamboo frame, with each musician playing a single note. The tubes are carved to have a resonant pitch when struck and tuned to octaves, similar to Western handbells.

At 5 p.m., the West Haven High dance team will perform, followed by the Top Hat Dance Academy a half-hour later.

At 6 p.m., Mayor Nancy R. Rossi will greet revelers from a portable stage on the Main Street side of the Green. The West Haven High cheerleading team will then escort Santa and Mrs. Claus to the stage, where they will join Rossi and her special guests to set the tree aglow.

Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive in the West Haven Fire Department’s 1935 Mack pump firetruck.

The city’s official Christmas tree is flanked by a smaller evergreen tree that will glow with fluorescent-colored lights.

Huge electric snowflakes will decorate The John C. Ireland Bandstand, and Victorian lampposts bedecked with angels blowing on trumpets will illuminate the walkways.

The decorated park will include a Touch-a-Truck and inflatable attractions that youngsters can go in and have pictures taken.

Before returning to the North Pole, Santa and Mrs. Claus will meet children and pose for snapshots until 8 p.m.

Just steps from Santa’s workshop, boys and girls can drop off wish lists at St. Nick’s official U.S. Postal Service mailbox.

West Haven United will hold a paper chain contest and award prizes. Shoreline Wellness Center will give out informational materials.

Along with hayrides, kids can ride in a vintage West Shore firetruck provided by Baybrook Remodelers Inc.

The activities are free, but people are asked to bring nonperishable items for the West Haven Emergency Assistance Task Force, which provides food for residents in need.

Volunteers from First Church will sell chicken tenders, french fries, hot dogs, coffee and cookies, and volunteers from West Haven United will sell hot chocolate, water and prepackaged snacks. Kettle King will sell kettle corn.

If it rains, the lighting will go on at 5 p.m. Monday.

Rossi urges support of Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26

Rossi urges support of Small Business Saturday Nov. 26

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 21, 2022 — Mayor Nancy R. Rossi has announced the city’s participation in the 13th annual Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26.

Nov. 26 also marks the lighting of West Haven’s Christmas tree on the Green. The Yuletide event attracts hundreds of people each year, many of whom Rossi hopes take advantage of sales at downtown specialty shops.

Small Business Saturday falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It is a day to support the small, independently owned businesses that help create jobs, boost the economy and keep communities thriving across the country.

“West Haven has a vibrant business community that I encourage everyone to support by shopping locally on Small Business Saturday,” Rossi said.

Small Business Saturday was established by American Express in 2010 in response to the most pressing need of small-business owners — more customers — and has served as the ceremonial kickoff to the holiday shopping season for the nation’s nearly 32 million independent businesses ever since.

According to AmEx, U.S. shoppers reported spending a record $23.3 billion at independent retailers and restaurants on Small Business Saturday in 2021.

Similar to last year, the Small Business Saturday Coalition, led by Women Impacting Public Policy, a nonpartisan small-business advocate known as WIPP, is rallying mayors nationwide to encourage local consumers to shop small on Nov. 26.

“It is more important than ever to shop local, as businesses recovering from the pandemic now face shipping delays and rising inflation,” Rossi said.

Merchants and consumers can learn more about Small Business Saturday, including how to participate, at Shop Small.

Rossi holding Nov. 29 town hall in person, on Facebook Live

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 21, 2022 — Mayor Nancy R. Rossi is inviting residents to participate in a town hall meeting in person at City Hall or virtually on Facebook Live at 6 p.m. Nov. 29.

The community event is aimed at fostering communication and transparency between City Hall and West Haven residents.

Residents can attend the town hall in the Harriet C. North Community Room of City Hall, 355 Main St., or they can participate in the meeting on the Facebook Live page called UNH Mayor’s Advisory Commission. Face masks are recommended for City Hall attendees.

The town hall is sponsored by the mayor’s office and the University of New Haven Mayor’s Advisory Commission, a collaborative, student-driven task force founded in 2015 to strengthen town-gown relations.

The UNH commission is led by Christyllis A. Douglas, a junior studying psychology, and adviser Chris Haynes, an associate professor of political science and national security.

All members of the community are encouraged to participate in the town hall and ask questions. The moderators are Haynes and commission member Brian Cao.

Participants can send questions before the meeting by email to bcao1@unh.newhaven.edu or chaynes@newhaven.edu. They can also submit questions during the meeting in the “Comment” section on Facebook Live.

Participants are allowed one question with a one-minute time limit. At the beginning of the question, they must state their name and the subject of their question, with all comments related to the city or government of West Haven.

Participants must keep all dialogue courteous and respectful.

For more information, call the mayor’s office at 203-937-3510, or email bcao1@unh.newhaven.edu or chaynes@newhaven.edu.

Community Development Block Grant applications available

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 16, 2022 — The West Haven Community Development Administration is accepting applications for federal Community Development Block Grant funding for program year 49.

The program year begins July 1, 2023, and ends June 30, 2024.

Interested agencies can obtain an application by contacting the Community Development Administration, 355 Main St., West Haven, CT 06516, or by calling 203-937-3550 or emailing cda@westhaven-ct.gov.

The application deadline is noon Dec. 22.

West Haven state Rep. Dorinda Borer, left, and Mayor Nancy R. Rossi present citations to Tom Conroy, a former program coordinator at the city Department of Parks and Recreation, dedicating the Painter Park pavilion as “Conroy Corner” on Nov. 14. The blue-and-white vinyl sign was unveiled in honor of Conroy, who retired from the department in September after 27 years of service. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

Painter Park pavilion immortalized as ‘Conroy Corner’

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 15, 2022 — Tom Conroy, a former program coordinator at the Department of Parks and Recreation, received citations from Mayor Nancy R. Rossi and state Rep. Dorinda Borer dedicating the Painter Park pavilion as “Conroy Corner” on Nov. 14.

As two dozen loved ones and friends, co-workers and staff members, and former and current city and state officials looked on, Park-Rec Director Mark E. Paine Jr. removed a black shroud revealing a blue-and-white vinyl sign in honor of Conroy, who retired from the department in September after 27 years of service and “improving the quality of life for countless Westies.”

Conroy, choking back tears in front of his newly unveiled Conroy Corner sign, said overseeing Park-Rec’s camp, recreational and sports programs was “a job of a lifetime.”

He thanked Rossi and his bosses, Paine and former Park-Rec Director Bill Slater, for giving him the freedom to create dynamic and engaging programs for West Haven’s young people.

A lifelong West Havener, Conroy also thanked his bosses’ boss, Human Resources Commissioner Beth A. Sabo, for hiring him in May 1995 for his “dream job,” along with the many colleagues and employees who helped him meet the city’s recreational needs.

At the midafternoon dedication, he was accompanied by wife Barbara Conroy, daughters Kristina Conroy and Colleen Innamorato, and grandchildren Charlie Innamorato, 2, and Grace Innamorato, 3 months.

He was also joined by his sister and brother-in-law, Lynn and Tom Jaqua; his niece and her husband, Stacee and Paul Nixon; and former Rep. Stephen D. Dargan, D-West Haven, a longtime friend of Conroy’s who had secured state funding to build the pavilion in the heart of the Kelsey Avenue park.

Before presenting the mayoral citation, Rossi read it to Conroy, saying: “I proudly dedicate the Painter Park pavilion as Conroy Corner, immortalizing the spot where many of your programs have been enjoyed by thousands of children. I hope you reflect with pride on the memories you have made and the lives you have touched.”

Borer, D-West Haven, followed by reading and presenting the General Assembly citation on behalf of the city’s delegation to Conroy, who has served with his good friend Borer on the Greater New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee for years.

Tom Conroy stands behind his “Conroy Corner” sign with, from left, wife Barbara Conroy, sister Lynn Jaqua, and daughters Colleen Innamorato, holding son Charlie Innamorato, 2, and Kristina Conroy, holding niece Grace Innamorato, 3 months. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)

West Haven heralds launch of state’s largest food-to-clean-energy program

WEST HAVEN, Nov. 14, 2022 — West Haven is the first city in the state to offer a citywide curbside food scrap diversion option to all single-family residents, Mayor Nancy R. Rossi announced.

Rossi said the program allows all single-family homes — one, two and three families — to easily separate food scraps and have them collected at the curb in the same container now used for residents’ trash collection.

The city has received a $1.3 million Sustainable Materials Management grant from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to develop and launch a food-to-clean-energy program.

Grant Coordinator Doug Colter, who secured the funding for the city, said the state is facing a solid waste disposal crisis, as traditional options for disposing of municipal solid waste are diminishing or becoming more expensive. With fewer and rapidly aging disposal options in Connecticut, residents and municipal leaders can expect disposal costs to increase at the remaining waste incineration facilities “as well as out-of-state landfilling,” Colter said.

On Nov. 7, the West Haven Food to Clean Energy program launched a nine-month pilot project for curbside food scrap diversion. Participation in the program comes at no cost to the 16,000 eligible households.

Colter said the funding covers the purchase of special color-coded bags for trash and for food scrap separation for the nine-month pilot. It also covers the cost of educational materials — mailers, a website and a Connect mobile app — along with personnel to sort the bags and the shipment of food scraps to Quantum Biopower in Southington, where the food will be converted into clean electricity, he said.

More details at Food Scrap Recycling.

Informational Materials

The Downsizing Donation Guide: A Resource for Residents of New Haven County (PDF)

What’s In? What’s Out? A Guide to Recycling (PDF)