The Gathering at Library Park 2018

I'm sorry to say I did not get in as much of The Gathering this year as I wanted. By the end of watching the parade, my back was killing me. The delicious Lithuanian beer helped mask the pain, but by about 3 p.m., I was ready to collapse and headed home early.

At any rate, here are the photos from what I was able to enjoy. There's always so much going on, and so many awesome things to try to experience. The photos barely skim the surface of all that happened at The Gathering.

Welcome from Ghana

The Gathering Parade 2018

Another year, another great day at The Gathering! I wasn't feeling my best, but there was no way I was going to miss out on this event.

As before, I'm posting photos of the parade first, then I'll do a second post of the events in the park.

Police Pipes & Drums

Open Studio for On the Trail of Calder

Since October 2, a group of five artists from Italy have been working in an old factory on Freight Street, creating artwork inspired by Alexander Calder. The end result will be installation of five new sculptures in downtown Waterbury. Today was the Open Studio at the factory, giving the public a chance to preview the work and meet the artists.

Artist Eduardo Giannattasio greeting new arrivals to the studio. Giannattasio came up with the idea for the project, recruiting local resident Ann Marie Somma to help make it happen.

The Gathering in Library Park 2017

If the whole world got together for a party, it might look something like this. This was the fifth year of The Gathering, celebrating the many cultures that make Waterbury a wonderfully diverse city, with music, dance, food, and more.

It was hot in the sun, so the Italian ice vendors probably did very well.

The Gathering Parade 2017

Another year, another fabulous Gathering in downtown Waterbury! This annual festival celebrates the many different cultures that have found their way to the Brass City throughout its history. The event's slogan is "We all came from somewhere, now it's time to come together."

As in the past, I've divided up my photos into two blog posts: one of the parade, and one of the celebration in Library Park.

Lining up on East Main Street -- Dominican Republic

#IBelieveInWaterbury and The Valley Girls

#IBelieveInWaterbury is the title of a new exhibit at the Mattatuck Museum, on view until December 3. The art is installed throughout the building, rather than being condensed into a single space. The result is that visitors find themselves on a sort of treasure hunt, looking for artwork inspired by Waterbury throughout all three floors (plus two mezzanine stairwell levels, a rooftop, and the front lobby).

The museum spent several months recruiting artists from near and far to participate, arranging special tours of Holyland, Rose Hill, and several churches to help inspire the artists. The final submissions were sifted through by a trio of jurors, who wound up selecting the work of 40 artists for the show. Below are some of my favorites.

ACT For America Protest in Waterbury

A group called ACT for America organized "March Against Sharia" protests in two dozen cities around the country. The protest in Connecticut was held in front of Waterbury's City Hall. A counter-protest was held in front of the Silas Bronson Library.

The scene at City Hall just after 10 a.m.

Peace and Unity Community Gathering

The Naugatuck Valley Project partnered with Waterbury's United Muslim Masjid and St. John's Episcopal Church to host a community gathering on Wednesday, January 18, 2017. As soon as I heard about it, I was determined to attend and show my support for my Muslim friends and neighbors who face an uncertain future with a president who gladly stoked people's irrational fear of Muslims during his campaign.

I was so pleased to see a large audience at the community gathering. When I arrived, the church was nearly half full and many more people arrived after me. The Rep-Am estimated some 200 people were in attendance. Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, unaffiliated voters, and more came together to take a stand against bigotry, racism, xenophobia, and intolerance.

The scene when I arrived, before the church filled up.

Brass City Comic Con 6

Naugatuck Valley Community College once again hosted Waterbury's own comic book convention, the sixth annual Brass City Comic Con, on Sunday July 26. As always, it was a great event for families and anyone wanting to meet real live comics professionals. No lines, and plenty of accomplished artists and authors happy to discuss their work.

A few of the great cosplayers at the Brass City Comic Con.

First Annual Jerk Festival at Library Park

Two of the things I love best about Waterbury are its summertime ethnic festivals and its diversity of culture and food, so I was delighted to learn that the West Indian Social Club of Greater Waterbury was launching an annual Jerk Festival. I had a busy day, but I made time to swing by the festival for lunch and take a few photos.

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, "jerk" is a spicy Caribbean dry-rub barbeque (in simplest terms).

Connecticut has the sixth largest non-Hispanic West Indian population in the U.S., with 87,149 immigrants reported in the 2010 Census.

A 2013 Census report estimates that Waterbury has 3,304 non-Hispanic immigrants from the West Indies, with 2,185 of those people coming from Jamaica.

The Gathering 2015

The third great year of a great event. Thousands of people, speaking dozens of different languages, with different cultures and different life experiences, all gathering together for a festival celebrating each others music, dance, clothing, food, culture.

As before, The Gathering started with a parade down East Main Street, around the Green, up Bank Street to Grand Street, and then to Library Park. The park was set up with stages for music and dance performances, and tents for vendors selling food and other goods from all over the world.

New Zealand (Rod Dixon)

The Gathering in Library Park

The second batch of photos I took at The Gathering. Music, dancing, food, and more!

The Gathering Parade

I missed out on The Gathering last year because I was too busy. I was too busy to go this year too, but I decided that didn't matter. It's a fantastic event, with more to see than you can fit into your day.

Here is a selection of photos of the parade, which traveled from East Main Street, around the Green, up Bank Street, and down Grand Street to Library Park. This isn't even close to including all the groups that participated, just a sampling.

The event at Library Park is in the next post.

Save Shakespeare in Library Park

One of Waterbury's best events is in need of your support. Shakesperience Production's annual performance in Library Park started ten years ago and is in danger of being discontinued.

Performance at Library Park, 2012.

Wine on Main Street

Following on the success of the annual Brass City Brew Fest, Main Street Waterbury has launched a similar event for wine lovers. I've been looking forward to this event since I first heard about it over a year ago, and it was great!

The event started at Howland-Hughes on Bank Street a little after noon. After signing a waiver, I was given my souvenir wine glass and my passport, with my group assignment (701). 

The hundred or so participants were organized into seven "flight" groups. Seven restaurants participated, each representing a different country, pairing sample wines with appropriate foods (so, for example, our Spain stop featured Spanish wines and paella).

Our passport booklet was filled with coupons for each of the participating restaurants.

Participants spent some time socializing at Howland-Hughes while we waited for our "flights" to depart just before 1 p.m.

People browsed the plaques of the Waterbury Hall of Fame and checked out some of the Waterbury-related displays.

Raffle prizes.

The "boarding area" for each flight group.

When the groups gathered together at the start of the event, everyone seemed a little nervous, unsure who these strangers in their group might be, wondering if they would enjoy spending the next four or five hours together, wondering what was in store for them at this new event. By the end of the first hour, everyone was having a great time together.

The first stop for my flight was California.

California (Signature's Restaurant)

This was a great event for exploring downtown restaurants and bars. We spent half an hour at each location, sampling their food and ambiance along with the wine. Quite a few participants discovered new restaurants that they really liked and would never have known about otherwise.

Each location had a wine menu explaining what we were sampling. I made notes about each wine and whether or not I liked it. One of the event organizers, Nutmeg Wine and Liquor, offered a special tasting day order form, giving us a chance to buy the wines we sampled at a discounted price at the end of the day (with 5% of the proceeds being donated to Main Street Waterbury).

And, of course, there was the food. Signature's served pastries stuffed with broccoli rabe and with steak tips. The orange slices were marinated in olive oil and garlic, sprinkled with black pepper. The flavor was surprisingly good.

South America (Braza Churrascaria)

We walked from one venue to the next, allowing participants to discover businesses they didn't know about before. You notice so much more when you're walking than when you're driving. Several times I overheard someone say "I didn't know this was here!"

Artist Eduardo Paredes had an easel set up outside of Braza on Bank Street, creating a painting inspired by the Wine event.

Braza is one of my favorite Waterbury restaurants, but it is strictly for meat lovers. Their Brazilian BBQ special features eleven different meats.

Group 701 checking out the setup at Braza.

The wines sampled at Braza.

The food served at Braza for the wine lovers: a salad with carmelized pears, walnuts, and goat cheese; and chicken sausages with peppers and onions.

On the left, in Wine on Main burgundy shirts, our flight attendants: Main Street Waterbury volunteers who escorted us from venue to venue, keeping us moving and on time.

Northern California (City Hall Cafe)

The longest walk was to City Hall Cafe, but we had a good time. We passed a few people, waiting for a bus, who looked very confused to see a cheery group of people carrying empty wine glasses through downtown.

The weather was nice enough to use the outdoor patio at City Hall Cafe.

The wine samples were served up in plastic shot glasses. The server explained which food was intended to be paired with which wine.

Crab cakes, bacon-wrapped steak, mini quiches, and spanakopita.

France (Tryst Lounge)

Every so often, we crossed paths with one of the other groups. They all seemed as happy as our group. Wine has that effect on people. In fact, a couple of people in my group were so happy, they declared this to be the best Saturday they'd ever had.

We spent a little more time at Tryst than at other locations, largely because most of our group had never been there before and went upstairs for a tour of The Loft.

Toasted pita bread, cheese, and an olive/cheese spread.

Fresh-cooked mussels in a delicious sauce.

This couple was celebrating their 11th anniversary with Wine on Main.

Another one of the groups, waiting for their turn at Tryst.

Spain (Courtyard by Marriott)

Chorizo in apple cider, asparagus and artichokes, tapas paella.

Italy (Diorio)

We cut through the hotel building to go to Diorio's without stepping outside.

The food for the Italian wines was gemelli and sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, mascarpone cream sauce.

Leaving Diorio's for the last stop on our tour.

Australia (The Shamrock)

By the time we got to The Shamrock, we were all ready to stay put for a while.

My ride arrived (no way would I plan to drive after spending an afternoon drinking!) around 6 p.m. and hung out with the remaining group members while I placed my order for the wines I liked. We were on the patio until it got dark out.

This was a fantastic event, fun for everyone who participated and a boost for the participating restaurants. I'm definitely looking forward to doing this again next year, although getting a ticket might be harder. Everyone had such a great time, they'll be telling everyone they know to try it next year.