A brand new performance stage was unveiled on the New Haven Green Wednesday. The new, city-owned feature will be used for concerts and other events starting this weekend.
New Haven Mayor Toni Harp cut the ceremonial ribbon for the new $437,000 stage, as the International Festival of Arts and Ideas gets into full swing.
Harp called it a cost-saving measure.
"It solves a list of logistical challenges that repeated itself over and over again each year -- where to rent a stage, how much to pay for it, how much time is needed to set it up and break it down again," Harp said.
The state-of-the-art stage was funded by a $1 million grant from Connecticut's Department of Economic and Community Development as part of a larger green improvements project.
One of the first to perform on the new mobile stage Saturday night is the band Troker, a six-member jazz and mariachi fusion style band from Mexico, who recently made an NPR Tiny Desk Concert.
The 40-by-40-foot stage was booked for the weekend and beyond with festival events.
Then the hydraulic stage, which folds into what looks like a standard tractor trailer, will be transported to the city’s maintenance facility where it will wait for the next concert or event.
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