On Wednesday morning, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker kicked off the start of the outdoor dining season at College Street’s Music Hall.
A study by the New Haven Center for Performing Arts found that the Music Hall venue and the Westville Music Bowl venue at Yale brought thousands of people to the city.
“You see how vibrant our community is because of these small restaurants and businesses that are doing outdoor dining,” Mayor Elicker said.
In 2023, customers from both venues contributed to over $32 million in direct economic impact.
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“Because of the Music Hall, our business increased about 20%,” said Moe Gad, who owns Pacifico and Villa Lulu on College Street. “75 to 80% of our customers on a good day, they like to sit outside.”
Claire Criscuolo, the owner of Claire's Corner Copia on College Street, said her restaurant has been doing outdoor dining since 1975.
“It’s wonderful,” she said. “It gives a liveliness, it gives a vibrancy. I mean who doesn’t love seeing people enjoy food.”
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Criscuolo spoke about the importance of collaboration and the synergies between businesses on the street.
“We have reasons to come here, like you need reasons to stick around,” she said. “If we just had businesses here, they would go home to their homes after work. There would be no one to support businesses, restaurants and stores, so it’s a collaboration.”
Over 40 businesses in the city have applied for permits or are awaiting permit approvals to participate in the city's outdoor dining program.
“It’s awesome to see hundreds of people just out on the street enjoying the businesses, enjoying the outdoors,” Mayor Elicker said.