All Sunshine At Sunday’s Freddy Fixer

By Adele Haeg, New Haven Independent

NEW HAVEN, CT — Tyler Booker returned to New Haven on Sunday for his first Freddy Fixer Parade since he was four.

“It’s exactly like how I remember it,” said Booker, now a 22-year-old offensive guard for the Dallas Cowboys. The homegrown NFL player served as the parade’s Grand Marshal — and signed plenty of autographs along the way.

“It’s a city that shows love and embraces you,” Booker said. “Great things come out of New Haven, Connecticut.”

Booker was one of hundreds of people to gather on Dixwell Avenue on Sunday afternoon to march in the 61st annual Freddy Fixer Parade, one of the city’s premier Black community events.

Eighty-nine floats rolled down Dixwell, heralded by marching bands, airhorns, and onlookers who set up chairs and tents from Bassett Street to Lake Place to watch. Following Booker in the parade were New Haven alders, state legislators, police officers, firefighters, and Mayor Justin Elicker and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, among many others.

“This is a reunion,” remarked city Assistant Fire Chief Shakira Samuel. She used to walk in the parade as a cheerleader for what was then Davis Street Elementary School. Every Freddy Fixer, Samuel runs into friends from across the city that she hasn’t seen in years. If she doesn’t see them anywhere else, she said, she knows they will come to Freddy Fixer.

The Freddy Fixer festivities seemed to unify the city for the afternoon. Pastor Robert Kinney watched the parade from the steps of his church, Mount Hope Temple. He said he was moved by the “spirit of harmony and peace” the parade-goers contributed. Manmita Dutta said this was her second year volunteering for the Freddy Fixer committee, which is helmed by Reese McLeod. As an immigrant, “coming here was made possible by the rich history” of solidarity that the parade represents, Dutta said.

What began as a parade dedicated to neighborhood beautification — in honor of Freddy Fixer, or Ed Grant — has become an unofficial holiday in New Haven, and in that, a place for the city to reflect.

Arnetta Troutman rode on one parade float covered with posters bearing the faces of New Haven homicide victims. Troutman pointed to a sign of the face of her son, Keron Troutman, who was killed last spring. Her float participates in the parade to show that they “support for our loved ones,” she said. “They are still part of us.”

According to city Police Chief David Zannelli, who was also in attendance at Sunday’s parade, New Haven has made “tremendous progress” this year against crime, though there is still “work to do,” he said. Zannelli referenced the city’s mid-year crime statistics — the NHPD reported zero homicides in the first five months of 2026.

“It’s events like these” that show progress, Zannelli said of the parade.

Members of the Wilbur Cross Marching Band felt similarly. “At our first parade, we were a little timid,” said Luca Santell, a junior at Wilbur Cross who plays the flute. A year later, he said, the band is much more confident.

The New Haven Independent is a not-for-profit public-interest daily news site founded in 2005.