City Installs Festivus Pole

NEW HAVEN, CT - In an effort to recognize the diverse traditions of the holiday season, the City has installed a Festivus pole in the Market Street square. A dedication ceremony is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. With the addition of this new holiday centerpiece, the square is now thought to be the most diverse public display of late fall holiday symbols in the country.

"We're glad that we can please so many different people." said Phyllis Strauttman, Executive Director of the Mayor's Religious and Ethnic Tolerance Initiative. "These Festivus people seem like a lot of fun."

Festivus, a non-sectarian holiday, has grown in popularity since the mid 1990's, and is celebrated by people from all walks of life. The simple, lightly adorned aluminum pole - with a very high strength-to-weight ratio - is thought to symbolize opposition to other highly commercialized holidays.

Critics, however, warn that the display may be seen as an attempt by the City to promote Festivus. "The government shouldn't be condoning this." said Gerald Davis, a local activist who has lobbied for a lighted tree in the square. "The holidays are no time for the airing of grievances - that could tear families apart."

The square now boasts, along with the pole, a set of kinara Kwanzaa candles, an oversized bronze Menorah, a Ramadan prayer rug, a large World Aids Day ribbon, an Esperanto plaque commemorating Zamenhof Day, A Finnish Independence Day flag and an x-mas tree.

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