July 3 fireworks light up West Haven shoreline

WEST HAVEN, July 5, 2024 — Longtime Westie Lois Doerr and her 8-year-old helper, Logan McCauley, flipped a light switch to launch the Savin Rock Fireworks Spectacular on Wednesday.

The moment Doerr and McCauley flipped the switch, fireworks blasted off Bradley Point and exploded over Long Island Sound, dazzling thousands of patriotic revelers, many wearing red, white and blue, along West Haven’s 3 miles of public beaches with a display of brilliant lighting and booming sound effects.

The 20-minute pyrotechnic show, presented by the Savin Rock Fireworks Committee, was held on July 3 for the first time since 2019. Last year’s display was postponed from July 3 to July 5 because of thunderstorms.

Doerr, 90, a West Haven Historical Society board member and an ardent fireworks supporter, and McCauley were joined onstage in front of the city’s prominent Savin Rock landmark by Mayor Dorinda Borer and radio personality Brian Smith, the master of ceremonies.

Doerr recently won the committee’s “Light Up the Night” raffle fundraiser to flip the switch to set off the fireworks, billed as “They Will Be Heard on the 3rd.”

Before turning it over to Smith, Doerr and McCauley, Borer welcomed the Savin Rock crowd and thanked the city’s Public Works, Police and Fire departments, as well as fireworks committee members, including co-Chairwomen Sandy McCauley and Marianne Drapeau, for helping to organize the large-scale event.

Smith then led the crowd in a spirited countdown before Doerr and Logan McCauley, who is Sandy McCauley’s grandson, flipped the switch and triggered an assortment of rockets that flew and burst over Bradley Point in a shower of colored sparks.

Before the fireworks went off with a bang, families and friends danced to party rock hits performed by Absofunkinlutely on the Savin Rock stage.

As the music played, seven food and dessert trucks dished up eats and sweets on Captain Thomas Boulevard, near Dyke Street, and Ocean Avenue, near Dawson Avenue.

Police closed Captain Thomas Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, from Kelsey Avenue to South Street, for several hours to give the festivities a block party vibe.

The fireworks show is the city’s largest one-day event, attracting tens of thousands of residents and visitors to the West Haven shoreline each year.

See the photo gallery at 2024 Savin Rock Fireworks Spectacular.

John Merola playing acoustic set Sunday morning

WEST HAVEN, July 5, 2024 — Westie John Merola will perform from 9:30-11 a.m. July 7 at the Oak Street deck, off Captain Thomas Boulevard, as part of the city's Acoustic Sunday Morning Concert Series.

Grab a coffee and a beach chair and chill out to smooth-sailing ditties from one of West Haven’s favorite troubadours. No rain date.

Join us Sunday morning!

City hopes to detect remains of British war ‘hero’

WEST HAVEN, July 3, 2024 — A state-contracted archaeologist and his two-person team used a ground-penetrating radar on Tuesday to determine if the centuries-old remains of British Adjutant William Campbell are buried in a hollow on “Monument Path” near Wade Street in the city’s Allingtown neighborhood.

David E. Leslie, the principal of TerraSearch Geophysical LLC of Berlin, used the radar, which resembles a baby stroller, to scan the wooded path for Campbell’s remains.

Geophysical specialist Fiona Jones and summer intern Ayden Child took turns pushing the GPR back and forth and collecting data as Mayor Dorinda Borer and West Haven Historical Society President Susan Walker gazed intently at the team’s painstaking survey of the grounds.

Borer and Walker were joined by retired city Human Resources Commissioner Beth A. Sabo and author Peter J. Malia, a native of West Haven and an authority on the community’s history.

Nearly 245 years to the day, Campbell, a Scotsman serving in the British army, died hours after saving the Rev. Noah Williston of West Haven’s First Congregational Church from certain death at the hands of British soldiers and Hessian Jager mercenaries during the British invasion of Colonial New Haven.

On the sultry morning of July 5, 1779, the British army invaded New Haven Harbor in an amphibious assault from a fleet of 48 ships, with 1,500 troops coming ashore at West Haven’s “Old Field” under Maj. Gen. George Garth and 1,100 troops landing in East Haven under Maj. Gen. William Tryon.

The survey work is being funded by a $5,000 nonmatching grant from the State Historic Preservation Office, said Sabo, now a volunteer in the mayor’s office who is coordinating the effort for the city.

The high-tech GPR technology helps archeologists uncover buried artifacts without breaking through soil, said Leslie, who has a doctorate in anthropology and is a research scientist at the University of Connecticut Department of Anthropology.

Leslie said preliminary results from his team’s three-day radar and metal detection scans are expected later this week.

“Anything that’s found would be huge,” Sabo said.

If Campbell’s remains are detected, Borer said she’ll commission an archeological dig, most likely conducted by experts from Southern Connecticut State University.

The sliver of property is owned by the Historical Society and is maintained by the University of New Haven, which skirts the burial site.

On June 8, 2023, Campbell descendants George F. Campbell, then 70, and his daughter, Miriam Campbell, then 17, of the Pollokshields suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, paid their respects at the final resting place of their revered fifth- and sixth-generation grandfather at the summit of Monument Path, just off the north side of Route 1 and up the hill from the hollow.

According to a mayoral proclamation presented to the Campbells in June 2023: “William Campbell is one of the first true ‘American’ heroes and is revered by West Haven. To this day, the adjutant is the only known enemy combatant recognized by the very American town he invaded with both a monument and principal avenue named in his honor. Campbell Avenue runs through the heart of our community and has been a vital commercial and transportation artery since it was christened by townspeople in 1874.”

As Leslie’s team scanned for any anomalies in the ground, including human remains, Malia talked about the invasion and some of the actions that occurred on that fateful day.

“We’re not only known as a city of rich history but as a city of rich historians who have the knowledge to share the story of West Haven with future generations,” Borer said.

Hours after sparing Williston’s life, Campbell was shot in the chest atop Milford Hill in present-day Allingtown on his way to New Haven by a local farmer turned defender, according to Malia.

According to oral traditional, Campbell’s body was wrapped in a blanket, placed on a sheep rack, and transported to a hastily dug grave on the north side of the Post Road in a hollow by the edge of the woods. An adjacent strip of land was donated by resident John Prudden.

In October 1831, a small stone bearing the inscription “Campbell, 1779” was erected by resident John Warner Barber to mark the adjutant’s approximate gravesite, but it was destroyed by vandals on Oct. 22, 1872.

The stone was followed by the existing memorial to Campbell, a gray granite monument that was erected by the New Haven Colony Historical Society on July 4, 1891.

The memorial is surrounded by a black wrought-iron fence and is adorned with a wreath and a Union Jack, the national flag of the United Kingdom. The path is bordered by a stone wall.

Nicole Zuraitis, West Haven Grammy winner, cited by Borer for ‘musical excellence’ at City Hall reception

WEST HAVEN, June 27, 2024 — Grammy-winning resident Nicole Zuraitis received a citation from Mayor Dorinda Borer recognizing Zuraitis’ “exceptionally meritorious musical excellence” and her contributions to the arts community during a reception at City Hall on June 26.

Borer was joined by City Council Chairman Nicholas A. Pascale, D-at large, Councilwoman Michelle Coletti, D-2, and Councilman Gary Donovan, D-4, in the City Council chambers to bestow the citation on Zuraitis, who won best jazz vocal album for “How Love Begins” at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 4 in Los Angeles.

The album, released in July 2023, was written and arranged by Zuraitis, a native of Litchfield who now lives on the West Haven shoreline.

She dedicated the album to “preservation and conservation of my backyard, Long Island Sound and proceeds of the record are donated to Save the Sound.Org.”

Zuraitis’ infectious smile lit up the room as Borer and the council members honored the award-winning vocalist/pianist, whose arrangement of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” co-written with drummer and bandleader Dan Pugach, was nominated for a Grammy in 2019.

The mayor praised the “talented” Zuraitis before presenting the citation.

“We are so proud of calling Nicole a resident of West Haven,” Borer said. “You represent what’s not only creative and good in West Haven, but your cool vibe gives us all an uplift.”

The reception was attended by a number of city employees and officials and included a cake with “Congratulations” and musical notes in blue frosting, along with cookies, fresh fruit and lemonade.

Reading the citation to Zuraitis, Borer said, “I applaud your commitment to setting an example for aspiring young artists to follow and to supporting others in the music industry and in our thriving arts community.”

Zuraitis, holding back tears, was overwhelmed by West Haven’s goodwill gesture, thanking the mayor and the city she’s called home for five years and counting.

“I speak about the beauty of West Haven wherever I go,” she said. “This is the best-kept secret in all of the East Coast.”

Zuraitis was accompanied by her parents, Brett and Jeanette Zuraitis, of Litchfield, and members of the arts community, including Elinor Slomba, the director of ArtsWestCT.

“Nicole’s an incredibly generous spirit, and to see her honored this way warms my heart,” Slomba said.

Zuraitis expressed optimism about West Haven’s burgeoning arts and music scene, and she and Borer hinted at the potential of bringing a world-class jazz festival to the city’s shoreline next summer.

‘Bowlin’’ Bob Nugent receives ‘Way to Go!’ award

WEST HAVEN, June 27, 2024 — (Pictured): “Bowlin’” Bob Nugent, the owner of Woodlawn Duckpin Bowling Alley at 240 Platt Ave., center, receives the “Way to Go!” award from West Haven’s Youth and Family Services and Interagency Network for Children on June 26.

WHINC Parent Support Group members and families presented the framed award to Nugent for “providing duckpin bowling fun to families of children, youth and young adults with disabilities. Congratulations on your 20th anniversary serving West Haven.”

The presentation took place during a pizza party marking the culmination of WHINC’s five-week duckpin bowling league, which consisted of 14 bowlers ages 9-13.

The Way to Go program recognizes those who go above and beyond to offer services and resources.

To join the support group, call Youth and Family Services Director Diane Dietman at 203-937-3633.

(City Photo/Diane Dietman)