Nati Tesfaye, Contributing Photographer

To commemorate the 90th year since prohibition ended, New Haven’s bars celebrated the city’s annual holiday, Repeal Day. 

The festivities and events, hosted by 19 bars across New Haven, included special Prohibition-era drinks and opportunities for patrons to explore this era in the city’s history. 

Jonathan Edwards, an account development manager at Slocum & Sons, organized Repeal Day. He urged the public to attend this “momentous anniversary” and to dress the part in a promotional post on Facebook. In the post, Edwards wrote that this year’s event was the ninth annual party celebrating Repeal Day in New Haven.

“We encourage everyone to dress like your favorite flapper, bootlegger, gangster or crooked politician… just like you were living in 1933,” he wrote. “We look forward to seeing all of you in your hats, spats, pearls and boas!”

Phill Alves, the regional manager of Elm City Social, highlighted the importance of Repeal Day in educating the public about New Haven’s history, considering the city played a crucial role in both the temperance and repeal movements. 

Bootleggers in the city received whiskey from Canada and rum from islands in the Caribbean through New Haven’s harbors, according to Alves. 

“New Haven was very involved in all aspects of Prohibition. There was a strong temperance movement here to ban alcohol, and since it’s a harbor town there was a lot of bootlegging happening around here,” Alves said. 

Elm City Social, which already serves drinks from this era including the “Rubber Ducky,” added more cocktails to their menu to give patrons a glimpse into nightlife of the era. 

The Rubber Ducky dirnk is meant to pay homage to bootleggers who used their bathtubs to make gin, according to Alves. 

He also emphasized that the holiday was meant to celebrate freedom. 

“It’s important to realize that our entire industry was banned from existence 90 years ago. It’s important to celebrate the fact that they have freed the booze,” Alves said, “We are all welcome — those of age of course — to enjoy a night out. It’s symbolic of the American spirit. As a country we are revered for the love of freedom we have, and it’s important to celebrate that.” 

Chacra, a Peruvian restaurant downtown, followed the theme by providing popular drinks from the era like French 75s and their house special, “The Last War,” which is a blend of juice, gin and lemon, common ingredients for cocktails of the time. 

Despite the emphasis on drinking and appreciating the freedom to do so, Walter Vera, the owner of Chacra, highlighted that Repeal Day is about more than just alcohol. 

“It brings people together. It’s not just about drinking. It’s about gathering and seeing friends that you haven’t seen in a while,” Vera said. “This is our second year hosting Repeal Day. There is something really nice about celebrating with the rest of New Haven. People can go bar hopping with friends and working with the other bars was a great time. It was a successful night and we even got feedback from our patrons on drink ideas.” 

Next year’s Repeal Day is set for Dec. 7, according to Alves, and many of the city’s local bars are expecting another successful celebration. 

Prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933, with the ratification of the 21st Amendment.