New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
West Haven Shoreline Fest on tap for Thursday
WEST HAVEN — The new Shoreline Fest that will replace the Savin Rock Festival this year represents uncharted waters even for those involved, but it all will unfold this weekend and next, beginning Thursday.
Shoreline Fest — which, among other things, will be the largest annual fundraiser for the West Haven High School Band Parents Association — is the result of carnival operator Marenna Amusements, which operated the Savin Rock Festival’s midway, stepping up when the city, struggling under debt, pulled out.
Orange-based Marenna, which provided the rides and midway for the Savin
Rock Festival for 23 years, stepped forward to organize and operate the new festival — at no cost to the city — for two weekends, Thursday through Sunday and July 26-28.
Like the Savin Rock Fest, Shoreline Fest will take place in Old Grove Park — the former Grove area of Savin Rock — off Palace Street, as well as on the nearby lawn at Captain Thomas Boulevard and Oak Street.
The festival’s hours will be 6 p.m. to midnight on Thursday and Friday, noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday, noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday, 6 p.m. to midnight on July 26-27 and noon to 10 p.m. on July 28.
George Marenna Jr. could not immediately be reached for comment.
But Ruth Costa, who is organizing the West Haven High School Band Parents Association Craft Village, along with the participation of a number of nonprofits, said she was pleased to see the new fest go forward.
“It was good of him to step up, because this is the band’s major fundraiser for the year,” Costa said. “Without him stepping up, we wouldn’t have had anything.”
The crafters will be open this week on Thursday and Friday from 2 to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 8 p.m., Costa said.
They will be open next week from on July 26 from 2 to 8 p.m. and on
July 27-28 from 1 to 8 p.m., she said.
The Shoreline Fest will offer much of the fun of the Savin Rock Festival, including plenty of rides, food, crafts and some performances by local dance schools. It will not offer the full slate of musical entertainment that the Savin Rock Fest did, Costa said.
Because it’s not affiliated with the city, Shoreline Fest also will not have city employees cleaning up who need to be paid overtime, George Marenna Jr. has said.
What it will offer, however, is a Grand Carousel in addition to the midway rides and food vendors that have been at the Savin Rock Festival in the past.
Marenna Amusements owners George Marenna Jr. and George Marenna III agreed to cover all of the festival’s costs and pay West Haven $5,000 under a contract they recently signed with the city, Mayor Nancy Rossi has said.
“I’m very pleased that Mr. Marenna is providing for the city ... and it’s not going to cost the city anything” — and, in fact, under the contract, “the city will be given $5,000,” said Rossi, who made the decision to cancel the Savin Rock Festival as a cost-cutting move in early May.
“I honestly don’t know what the future of the Savin Rock Festival will be,” Rossi asid. “As everyone knows, we have a very serious financial situation in the city and we need to make sure that anything that we run in the future does not have a financial deficit.”
Shoreline Fest will mark a return to “more of a fair atmosphere,” mayoral staffer Tom McCarthy, who was the most recent chairman of the Savin Rock Festival, has said.
According to Marenna Amusements’ contract with West Haven, the company will assume all festivalrelated responsibilities and fees.
Those include paying for non-city maintenance workers and extra-duty police, obtaining all permits and licenses and paying for electricity, portable toilets and trash removal.
Marenna Amusements will offer bracelets for unlimited rides, a family pack of 24 tickets and single tickets.