East Haven Fall Festival 2019: Here's What You Need To Know

EAST HAVEN, CT — The East Haven Fall Fest is upon us. Just like previous years, the Fall Fest will impact traffic in the area of the Town Green and surrounding streets on September 6,7, and 8.

"As always, we ask for your patience, as we know this can be an inconvenience for residents who live and have to travel the streets in the area. The East Haven Community Road Race will be held on Saturday, September 7th. During this race, portions of the roadways will be closed to all traffic. The Road Race traffic pattern will be in effect from 8:00 am - 10:00 am. Please view the details below for Fall Fest / Road Race traffic pattern info," East Haven Police said.

East Haven Fall Festival President Al Zullo and Mayor Joseph Maturo, Jr. have announced that one of pop music’s most successful and memorable bands, The Grass Roots, will be the feature entertainment for the 28th annual event being held the weekend of September 6th, 7th and 8th on the East Haven Town Green.

In 1965, Rob Grill and 3 others teamed up with mega-hit producer Steve Barri (The Mamas & The Papas, Tommy’s Roe, Four Tops, and Dusty Springfield) to form The Grass Roots.

Since their formation, The Grass Roots have gone on to chart 29 singles; 13 of which went gold followed by 2 gold albums and 1 platinum album.

In the entire history of Rock n’ Roll, only 9 bands (including The Beatles) have charted more hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 than The Grass Roots. For almost 50 years one of the most recognized groups on “Classic Rock” stations has continued to be The Grass Roots.

During that time, the Grass Roots have averaged over 100 live performances each year. They have appeared on over 50 national television shows including, “The Tonight Show,” “The Today Show,” “Ed Sullivan,” “Andy Williams,” “Sonny & Cher,” “Good Morning America,”VH1 Hit-Makers,” “MTV,” and a record 16 times on “Dick Clark’s American Bandstand,” and they have sold over 20 million records worldwide.
Along with these impressive accolades, The Grass Roots have also accomplished many more amazing feats including:

• Holding the all-time records for a one act, US concert by performing for 600,000 people on July 4th, 1982 in Washington, DC.

• Setting a record between 1967 and 1972 by being on the Billboard charts an unbelievable 307 straight weeks.

“Through the tremendous generosity of our business community the Festival this year is again able to bring nationally acclaimed entertainment, which attracts thousands who are willing to pay appreciable ticket prices; yet thanks to our Festival, East Haven will again be presenting an entire weekend of talent for FREE ! Once again this could not be accomplished without the generosity of our entire business community as this event continues to be the best free festival in the state and with our Fireworks Day, one of East Haven’s signature events.” stated Maturo.

The Festival is also delighted to announce that Friday night will also be featuring Men of Soul featuring Personal Touch. The group was formed in 2016 to create and old school style R & B group.

The group was the sole entertainers of the Basketball Hall of Fame EnshrinementCeremonies for ten years and appeared in the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz for more than eight. Opening for the feature act will be the very popular sound of Timmy Maia !

Sunday morning will feature what has become a very popular Classic Car Show, which again this year will be coordinated by the Vietnam Veterans Association, Chapter 484. The show will run from 9 am until 3 pm.

Sunday afternoon entertainment will feature New England’s Head over Heels. In addition to the feature entertainment the Festival will showcase various local musical talent and youth groups including the award-winning East Haven High School Co-op Marching Band.

The East Haven Chamber of Commerce will hold its Business Expo onSaturday, September 7th from 12 p.m. until 4 p.m. in the Festivals Corporate Tent.

The Chamber will showcase local businesses that will meet your professional and personal needs. Adult guests are encouraged to enter a raffle while visiting the businesses for a chance to win a bicycle, donated this year by Jennifer Higham Photography.

As in the past, carnival rides will be available all weekend for children and pre-teens. This year’s event will again feature an area of the green, which will be titled, the “Teen Corner” under the direction of the Town’s Youth Coordinator, Bob Petrucelli. The “Teen Corner”, will be open Friday and Saturday nights beginning at 6:00 pm.

The event continues to be supported by corporate sponsorships and individual contributions. Anyone interested in helping with this effort, or for any further information on the Festival, should contact Joe Coppola in the Mayor’s office, at 468-3204 or email him at eh.jcoppola@gmail.com

For further information on the Festival and to get all the latest entertainment schedules and weather related changes on your smart phone, you may go to the Town’s website: www.townofeasthavenct.org or through social media when you follow the East Haven Fall Festival on: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EHFallFest & Twitter https://twitter.com/EHFallFest.