This Week in New Haven (May 27 – June 2)

C asual and causal, veracious and vexatious, variety this week comes down to more than mere letters. 

Monday, May 27 – Memorial Day
Before heading to a beach or a cookout, consider spending an hour at Grove Street Cemetery (227 Grove St, New Haven), where guide Myles Alderman is leading a 10:30 a.m. tour of “Civil War graves and memorials” focused on “admirals, generals and infantrymen with ties to New Haven.” Free.

sponsored by

Long Wharf Theatre 2019 Gala featuring Laura Benanti

Tuesday, May 28
At Barcade (76 Orange St, New Haven), local pinball enthusiasts are holding the “second in a series of monthly knockout pinball tournaments.” With “all skill levels welcome,” registration starts at 7 p.m. (and the competition at 7:30), costing $5 plus however many coins it takes to last as long as you can.

Wednesday, May 29
The 36th local PechaKucha, dubbed the “Spring Into Action Edition,” happens at Lotta Studio (911 Whalley Ave, New Haven), where doors open at 6 p.m. and the first of several speakers—given 20 slides to show for 20 seconds apiece—takes the mic at 7. Topics tend to range all over the place, so you never quite know what you’re going to get. But you can know what you’re going to drink, since the event is BYOB. Also, “a food truck of some sort is in the works.” Attendance is free, with a tip jar “to cover some of the costs our volunteers incur.”

Thursday, May 30
Culminating in three days of Michael Moore films and panel appearances on June 7, 8 and 9, the 2019 NHdocs, otherwise known as the New Haven Documentary Film Festival, begins tonight with two screenings in the Whitney Humanities Center (53 Wall St, New Haven). First up at 7 p.m. is The Sweetest Land (2018), which confronts an apparent epidemic of costly, ineffectual institutions that are failing to confront another epidemic—youth violence in urban America. Then, at 9 p.m., the world premiere of Questions of Justice (2019) “unpacks complicated relationships between police and marginalized communities” by following local “officers of color in the era of Black Lives Matter.” Both screenings are followed by expert panels. “Admission to all screenings is free,” but, as organizers say, “if you want guaranteed seating or a chance to party with the filmmakers”—including for the opening party, which precedes the screenings at 5:30—“pick up a Fast Pass or Fast Pass Deluxe,” on sale through May 29. The former goes for $50, while the latter goes for $200.

sponsored by

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven - Read the 2018-19 Report to Our Community

Friday, May 31
Probe the depths of two sonic oceans tonight: the finale of the spring jazz series at Firehouse 12 (45 Crown St, New Haven; 203-785-0468), where saxophonist/clarinetist Brian Krock and the rest of his quartet offer “brain-twisting sonic labyrinths… with a brutal twist of attitude from Krock’s power metal and prog roots” during a $20 set at 8:30 p.m. and a $15 set at 10; or the latest Sanctuary night at Pacific Standard (212 Crown St, New Haven; 203-983-9557), where, starting at 9 p.m., with no cover before 10 and $5 after, DJs R.I.C.H.A.R.D., Azrael and Ralphie Chill spool up “dark underground music” for the gothically inclined or curious.

Saturday, June 1
From noon to 7 p.m., the annual New Haven Food Truck Festival musters an untold number and diversity of food trucks to the Long Wharf waterfront, while, in the nearby harbor, people in colorful dragon boats try to outpaddle each other. Organizers also promise non-food vendors, kids’ activities, a bicycle wheelie competition and “a day’s long music concert featuring both local talent and nationally recognized musicians.” Admission is free; food is not.

Sunday, June 2
Following a related Dixwell Neighborhood Festival yesterday from noon to 5 in Scantlebury Park, the 2019 Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade—the “oldest black American parade in the Northeast,” begun in 1962 and animated by community service and community pride—steps off at 1:30 p.m. The 1.3 mile-route along Dixwell Avenue, lined by spectators and traveled by marching bands, drill squads, dance teams and other community groups on foot or float, begins at Bassett Street and ends just before Broadway at Lake Place.

Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Image features a moment during a past New Haven Food Truck Festival. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dan has worked for a couple of major media companies, but he likes Daily Nutmeg best. As DN’s editor, he writes, photographs, edits and otherwise shepherds ideas into fully realized feature stories.

Leave a Reply