Central Park Re-dedication Ceremony May 3
By Robin Vinci | Editor at April 27, 2024 | 10:43 am | Print
A ribbon cutting, lunch with Mayor Erin Stewart, music, art, food trucks and more are a few of the things that will be happening at the Central Park Re-dedication Ceremony on Tuesday, May 3.
“We just want folks, especially the business community that works downtown, to come out to the park and utilize it,” said Mayor Stewart. “There have been numerous issues in the park before. But, now we have a completely different park with a set-up that is ideal for food trucks and those that want to eat in the park.”
Tables will be set-up on that day so that people can come, sit and eat.
“We want people to get used to utilizing the park,” said Stewart. “We want people to feel safe and for people to visit or take a walk to on their break.”
There will be food trucks on Tuesday including Cruisin’ Cafe, Sabor A Kmpo, Epicurean and Chet’s Italian Ice. A full list of food trucks that will be there weekly has not been released.
Cruisin’ Cafe offers salads, paninis, wraps and burgers. Sabor A. Kmpo will sell rice, beans, meat pizza turnover, potato balls stuffed with meat, Jamaican patties and more.
“It’s a much larger park than it was. It is 33 percent bigger,” said Stewart. “It is also going to be a lot brighter at night. When those lights are turned on it will probably look like a runway. One of the requests we had, was to make it well lit.”
There will be better power capabilities so the park can have music and speakers.
“We will do a lot more programming at Central Park,” said Stewart. “We may have Wellness Wednesdays or yoga classes for free. We are trying to do farmer’s markets a few times a month. We need activities so people can use it through the summer and the year.”
In June there will be music in the park on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Grand Opening is meant to be a showcase for what can be done at the park. The event is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
An artist, Jordan Jones, will do a live painting of Central Park during the ceremonies. The New Britain Industrial Museum will be represented by having a chance to take a selfie with Frederic T. Stanley (New Britain’s first Mayor and Stanley Works founder).
“We want folks to come out and spend an hour with us in the beautiful park. We want them to use it throughout the year,” said Stewart. “People work in New Britain and live out of town and are used to staying in the office. They don’t know what is going on. The Streetscape plan is meant to get people out and to walk around and use the sidewalks we have and take in downtown for what it is. The more people we have in using our businesses, blossoms into more businesses showing up. You are creating a market for more. We are hoping Central Park will be a good kick-off for that.”
The flag pole will be the only part of the park not ready. They will be ready for Memorial Day.
“There has been a lot of negative energy surrounding Central Park. Illegal behavior is not going to be tolerated anymore. We know all the things that have happened there. We put a lot of work into creating a different environment and one we want to change to get more people in the area,” said Stewart. “I really hope people will give it a shot.”
