PHOTOS: Parkapalooza Turns Stratfield Into A Backyard Party

FAIRFIELD, CT — Efforts to raise funds to help a neighborhood improvement project seemed to help the neighborhood have a good time as well Saturday afternoon when the Stratfield Village Association hosted “Parkapalooza.”

Hundreds of people from the neighborhood and beyond participated in the musical festival and fair, which featured 10 lives bands performing at different houses throughout Stratfield over the course of the afternoon and evening.

“We’ve sold over 500 tickets,” said Jamie McCusker, co-president and co-founder of the association, a small nonprofit aimed at making improvements to the historic neighborhood on the upper east side of town.

Likewise, he said, generous donations from several area businesses, as well as a $100,000 donation from Sacred Heart University, have also gone toward the goal of collecting around $1.5 million to share with the town to improve the intersection of Stratfield and Fairfield Woods roads, aka the Four Corners.

“The response is overwhelmingly positive,” he said, noting that months of planning went into the event.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the day began on a solemn note with a ceremony at the Stratfield firehouse, where Fire Chief Denis McCarthy shared his thoughts with the crowd. In particular he noted how the event itself was a reflection of banding together, as people united following Sept. 11, 2001.

“It really is the best of who America can be, and who it wants to be, (and) what you’re doing is committing to your community neighborhood and each other,” he said, “and for that I applaud you.”

Response to the event was very positive among neighbors as well.

“It’s great,” said Meg Youngblood, who came to Fairfield last year.

“It’s a good display of the neighborhood and the community,” she said, “and I feel really lucky to live in this part of town.”