Wake Up the Green Spring Festival

The Committee of the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands in New Haven will be celebrating Wake Up the Green Spring Festival on Saturday, May 11 from 10:30-4 p.m on the New Haven Green. The event will mark the start of spring and encourage the citizens of New Haven to get out and enjoy our beautiful city and the New Haven Green! To open the event, a reenactment of Powder House Day is held, taking place at 10:30 AM. To learn more about Powder House Day, read more below.

Wake Up the Green is family-friendly, leashed pet-friendly, and open to all! Community activities are free to participate in with options to shop from local vendors and purchase food and drink. Enjoy performances from the Hillhouse Band and Amistad Band throughout the day.

Mother's Day Market
Welcome to the first Wake Up the Green Mothers Day Market! Shop from 10 local vendors and their hand-crafted and curated items, perfect for celebrating your Mother's Day Weekend.​

Vendors include: MELT Chocolatier, Fine Fettle Pets, East Street Arts, Beacon Craft Studio, Radiant Art, Joyce's Painting, The Peace, Love, Books! Bus, Indiigo Culture, Tinaliah Designs, and Knitten Word. Food by: Blue Orchid Thai

Schedule:

9:00 a.m: Clean the Green with the Friends of the New Haven Green - Interested in joining? Sign up here.
10:00 p.m - 12:00 p.m: Powder House Day on the Lower New Haven Green with the Second Company, Governor's Foot Guard Association
(Please note: Reenactment may have musket fire between 11:30-12:30 p.m.)
11:00 a.m: Wake Up the Green activities and Mother's Day Market - See full list of activities and vendors below!
11:00 a.m - 1:00 p.m: Drop-in Tiffany Stained Glass Tours at Trinity On the Green with Christine Janis, featuring music from Walden Moore, Trinity's Music Director of 40 years!
12:00 p.m - 2:00 p.m: Crypt Tours at 12 p.m, 1 p.m and 2 p.m at Center Church
12:00 p.m: Brief remarks with the Proprietors of the New Haven Green, The New Haven Garden Club, and performance by Hillhouse Band to "wake up" the Green!
12:00 p.m - 3:00 p.m: Goat and farm animal petting zoo with Circle K Farms
12:00 p.m - 4:00 p.m: Reptile Petting Zoo with City Ranger's, Ranger Leanne and Ranger Harry
12:00 p.m - 4:00 p.m: Adult Volleyball on The Green with the City of New Haven's Youth and Recreation Department
2:00 p.m: All Ages Yoga on The Green with the City of New Haven's Youth and Recreation Department
4:00 p.m: Event ends - Happy Spring.

Activities and Games

Center Church on the Green - Crypt Tours at 12, 1 and 2 p.m
Trinity Church on the Green - Stained Glass Tours 11-1 p.m
UConn Master Gardeners Program - "Ask A Master Gardener" for plant and gardening advice!
Town Green District - Lawn games, board games and picnic area by @DowntownNHV
New Haven Sketchers - Outdoor community sketching activity
Ely Center of Contemporary Art and EcoWorks - Community art project
Ives Squared at the New Haven Free Public LIbrary - Make your own stamped bookmarks and sign up for a free library card
New Haven Reads - Grab a free book and pick a spot to read

City Climb Gym - Family-friendly stepping stone obstacle course with fun prizes
Friends of the New Haven Green and the New Haven Garden Club - Grab a wildflower seed packet and information on how to join the Friends!

RAR (Radical Adventure Riders) New Haven - Bike and group info on RAR rides taking place this year
City Bench - Interactive activity
Connecticut Roller Derby - Community roller skating activity
Gather New Haven - Farm-to-table food preservation and cooking demos (i.e pickling, and fermenting) and GNH merch available to purchase
Divine Zine - Spring and renewal-themed zine-making activity with art prints available to purchase

Pardee Rose Garden and Greenhouse - Seedling flowers transplant program for children and annuals, house plants, hanging baskets and perennials available to purchase

City of New Haven Youth and Recreation Department (Yard) - Reptile Petting Zoo and Adult Volleyball from 12-4 p.m,and Yoga at 2 p.m
Circle K Farm - Goat and farm animal petting zoo from 12-3 p.m

Spotlight: Crypt Tours at Center Church
Meet at Center Church for Crypt Tours, taking place at 12PM, 1PM & 2PM
​Organized by Puritan settlers in 1639, Center Church on the Green, also known as The First Church of Christ in New Haven, is one of the oldest congregations in America. Built between 1812 and 1814, the church’s current meetinghouse stands over a crypt, an enclosed chamber around a portion of the burial ground that once occupied much of the upper Green. Although the tombstones outside the meetinghouse were removed to Grove Street Cemetery in 1821, the stones found in the Center Church Crypt have been left in their original positions.
​
Spotlight: Clean the Green with the F.O.T.N.H.G.
Meet at 9AM on May 11th at Trinity Church on the corner of Temple & Chapel​
​Friends of the Green New Haven is a group of dedicated volunteers from Trinity & the community that seeks to enhance and care for the beloved public space that is the New Haven Green. Traditionally, we gather on the last Saturday of each month April through October to clean the Green. They will be holding a special Clean the Green session on May 11th for Wake Up the Green, but other upcoming dates include: May 25, June 29, July 27, August 31 & more.

Historic Activities:
The celebration and reenactment of Powder House Day in New Haven:
On April 22, 1775, Benedict Arnold demanded the key to New Haven’s powder house to lead his battalion of over 60 men north to aid in the fight against the British in Boston. Arnold and his men called upon the city leaders, who were in session debating their response to the conflict, to open the powder house for supplies. They refused, with General Wooster stating the need to wait for regular orders. Arnold demanded—and eventually received—the key to the town’s powder house by threatening to order his men to break open the building and help themselves if they didn’t have the key in five minutes. Once armed, the company began a three-day march to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to join the fight against the British.