Brightening up the neighborhood
Light display aims to bring some holiday joy to South Green residents
Christmas cheer can be difficult during a pandemic, but an initiative organized by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, an emergency shelter, and local residents has brought some much-needed holiday cheer to the South Green neighborhood in Hartford.
Thousands of colored lights are now decorating Barnard Park.
“Growing up in Wethersfield, we always would spend one December evening every holiday season looking at the lights on Constitution Plaza. They brought a lot of smiles to me and my brother and my sister,” said Murphy, who recently moved to the neighborhood. “The Goodwin Park lights are fantastic, but this green intersection of major roads right next to Hartford
Hospital seemed to be begging for something.”
Murphy hasn’t seen the light display yet. “I’m stuck in Washington. We’re in the middle of negotiations for the coronavirus relief package,” he said. But in announcing the light display on his Facebook page, he emphasized the need for simpler sources of comfort and joy.
“Economic security brings smiles. But for kids especially, so do the whimsical, silly things. And there aren’t many of those to be found this year,” he wrote about the lights. “No, it’s not the most important thing. But sometimes the small, silly, fun things matter, too.”
The 40,000 feet of lights will go on at nightfall every evening until early to mid-January in the small triangle-shaped park, which is at the intersection of Main and Maple streets and Wethersfield Avenue. Murphy said if the neighborhood responds well to the display, he hopes it will become an annual event.
Murphy, a Charter Oak Place resident, visited the South Park Inn, an emergency shelter for people who are homeless, and shared his idea about the light display. “I’ve taken walks around the green with my kids a number of
“Economic security brings smiles. But for kids especially, so do the whimsical, silly things. And there aren’t many of those to be found this year. ”
— U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy
times and we always remark how beautiful the green would look if it was lit up for Christmas,” he said.
Members of Murphy’s staff, led by Britt Foulds, who lives in the neighborhood, volunteered their spare time to spearhead the project, Murphy said. More than 400 people contributed money to the effort. Mayor Luke Bronin made sure the city departments needed to put up the lights would be able to do it in time.
Jane Banks, executive director of the South Park Inn, which is across the street from the park, said the joyful display is needed in the often-blighted neighborhood.
“That park is the bane of everyone’s existence, people hanging out all the time, dirty. But the bottom line is it’s a public park and people should be able to spend time there,” Banks said. “Our staff and some of our guests cleaned up the park and then the light folks put up the lights. It’s so beautiful to have something people can enjoy through the holiday season.”
During the pandemic, the Inn has reduced its capacity from 85 to 53, Banks said. It has redesigned its space and implemented new measures to protect its guests from the spread of the coronavirus.
Banks said that the shelter has endured the health crisis well and has benefited from support from the community during the holiday season, but she wanted to emphasize that the problems of homelessness aren’t confined to the pandemic or the holidays.
“During COVID, the underbelly of our country and community has been exposed: health care, stability, the real division between people who have and people who don’t have. But supporting people who are homeless or on the cusp of homelessness is a 365-day-ayear responsibility,” she said.
“Homelessness is not just people who have mismanaged their money or people battling mental health or addiction. The face of homelessness can rapidly change,” she said.