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May 30, 2024

New Haven beer garden will support, highlight minority brewers

Costar A new weekend beer garden is coming to downtown New Haven.
By Hanna Snyder Gambini

A New Haven nonprofit has created a new downtown park and event space for minority local brewers to showcase their craft beers.

City officials and local brewers were on hand Thursday to launch CITA Park, at  360 State St., at the corner of Orange and Chapel streets. 

The park was envisioned by the Change In The Air (CITA) Foundation, a city nonprofit “dedicated to fostering diversity and inclusion within the beer industry and to giving Black and Brown brewers a space to showcase their craft and brews alongside their fellow brewers,” according to New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker’s office.

Elicker was joined Thursday by Jamal Robinson, director of sales and marketing at New England Brewing Co. (NEBCO) and founder and president of CITA, for a ribbon-cutting celebration of the “weekend beer garden” at the park.
 
The CITA Park beer garden will feature live music, art exhibits, salsa nights, food festivals and more, alongside craft beer from local brewers.

The new park is also making use of a previously underutilized space in downtown New Haven, city officials said.
 
In the U.S., craft beer is a $80-billion industry, having created more than 500,000 jobs, but fewer than 5% of those involved are people of color, according to CITA. 

This initiative alongside others, including the CT Brewers Guild African American Brewing Scholarship at Sacred Heart University, are efforts by CITA, NEBCO, and others to diversify the craft beer industry, CITA and city officials said.
 
CITA Park will be open to the public on weekends beginning June 1 through Oct. 31, on Fridays from 3-11 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 11 p.m., and Sundays noon to 9 p.m.


 

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