By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
Bohemian Queen, “the ultimate Queen tribute band,” will headline the Savin Rock Festival on Saturday in Old Grove Park at 1 Palace St.
On Friday, the festival’s opening night will feature Bee Gees Gold, performing its Las Vegas tribute show to the one and only Bee Gees.
West Haven’s annual shoreline festival pays homage to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Savin Rock Park, the legendary amusement park once known as Connecticut’s Coney Island and locally as “the Rock.”
The heritage event is presented by Mayor Dorinda Borer and the Savin Rock Festival Committee from 5-10 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday. The sponsors are Premium Parking, Riva Bar & Restaurant, Carmody, Torrance, Sandak & Hennessey LLP, and The Frankson Fence Co. Inc.
In addition to live music, the festival will include a kids zone with a variety of free activities, including inflatables and firetruck rides, along with boatloads of seafood and other appetizing dishes.
According to committee Chairman Andrew Chartier, a number of nonprofit organizations will have informational tables in the 156-year-old Grove, and a fleet of food and dessert trucks will serve up eats and sweets on nearby Palace Street.
The food trucks are: Cousins Maine Lobster (lobster rolls), Crave (tacos), Habesha Flavor (Ethiopian), Heaven’s Delights (Jamaican), Louise’s Homemade Food & Baked Goods (fried dough, meatballs, sausage and peppers, eggplant), Lucky Dogs (hot dogs), Old Mexico (birria tacos, burritos, steak nachos), Shoreline Prime (steak and cheese), Spuds Your Way (loaded baked potatoes), Szabo’s Seafood (lobster rolls), Taste of Grill (gyros) and What the Truck BBQ (smoked barbecue).
The dessert trucks are: Dad’s Cannoli, Repicci’s Real Italian Ice & Gelato, Tiki Sweets & Treats (old-fashioned sweet and salty kettle corn), Waffle on Wheels (soft-serve ice cream) and Westies Nutrition (health drinks).
The two-day event will also include the traditional craft fair, spread beneath the park’s oak trees.
Parking costs $10 for nonresidents and is free for residents.
Parking is available in the grass lot off Oak Street, across from the Surfside public housing complex at 200 Oak St. Parking is also available at West Haven High School, 1 McDonough Plaza.
Handicapped parking is available in the municipal lot on Altschuler Plaza, off Captain Thomas Boulevard.
The festival will open at 5 p.m. Friday and will include a greeting by Borer and a rendition of the national anthem at 5:50 p.m.
For the ninth year in a row, WOW Radio personality Brian Smith will serve as the “ringmaster” of ceremonies.
At 6 p.m., the Rum Runners, “one of Connecticut’s most popular cover bands where the party never ends,” will play a set of “the best classic and new music out there,” followed by a career-spanning performance of the Gibb brothers’ chart-topping hits by Bee Gees Gold at 8 p.m.
Day 2 will kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday with the West Haven Rotary Club’s free pancake breakfast, followed by the city Department of Parks and Recreation’s annual bocce tournament at 10 a.m.
Back by popular demand, the festival will showcase helicopter rides for $60 per person. From 9 a.m. to dusk, the five-minute rides — offered aboard two helicopters this year — will take off from a cordoned-off grass area off Oak Street, adjacent to the former Jimmies parking lot, and will fly up and down the West Haven shoreline.
Firefighters of the West Haven Fire Department, led by Fire Marshal Roger Sicotte, will demonstrate the department’s 35-foot smoke trailer and show children what to do in case of a fire. Sicotte will also have a fire safety and public education table with informational materials.
To help people stay cool and hydrated, the Fire Department will have a cooling tent and misters, and the Regional Water Authority will have its Water Wagon.
From noon-2 p.m., the kids zone will feature Bache the Klown, crafts, face painting and games, including a beach scavenger hunt and a sandcastle contest sponsored by Surfside Veterans.
The zone will also include a children’s concert by West Haven’s own Judy Pancoast at 1:15 p.m. The Grammy-nominated recording artist will host a meet-and-greet after the concert.
At 2 p.m., West Haven firefighters will demonstrate the Jaws of Life tool by prying open parts of a vehicle to free those trapped inside.
Members of West Haven Professional Firefighters Local 1198 will hold their annual fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. All proceeds will benefit MDA, including sales from beverages, popcorn and chips and ticket sales from a bounce house, a dunk tank, a speed pitch and raffles.
At 3:15 p.m., the second annual cornhole tournament will pit West Haven’s finest against the city’s bravest, a no-holds-barred contest that is fast becoming a festival staple.
At 6 p.m., Bo and the Hot Heads, featuring local music scene veterans Rich Weber, Rob Hames, Lou D’Amato and Max Cappello, will perform high-energy covers of party rock anthems.
At 8 p.m., Bohemian Queen will entertain festivalgoers with costume changes and musical gems galore from Freddie Mercury and company’s acclaimed rock ’n’ roll canon.
West Haven’s flagship festival was established in 1982 by the Chamber of Commerce — initially under the direction of Brian M. Stone, David Gesler and Michael Shiner and later by John L. Perrone and wife Mary Perrone — to bring organizations, clubs, businesses and families together for a summer event that celebrates life in one of America’s oldest coastal communities.
From the dawn of the Savin Rock House hotel in 1838, the Rock had long been a resort hub until it was officially incorporated as an amusement park by the Savin Rock Park Co. on Memorial Day 1925, when it opened to 300,000 visitors and 66,000 automobiles in one spectacular day.
For the next four decades, the famous seaside park captured the hearts and imaginations of “Rock rats” young and old. “The playground of New England” shuttered on Sept. 21, 1966, to pave the way for the Savin Rock Urban Renewal Project.