Beer Garden Makes Way For Steam

by Jisu Sheen

Sauna co-owner Michael Garrow adds wood to the fire.

Nice and toasty.

Heated greenhouse.

DRYYP Sauna
Corner of Orange and Chapel Streets
New Haven
Open Wed 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., Fri 5:30 – 9:30 p.m., Sat 2 – 7 p.m., and Sun 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Why was I outside in just my swimsuit and shorts on the coldest day of the year?

Because I was emerging from a 190-degree sauna, the baby steps of what will soon be a Wellness Park on the corner of Orange and Chapel streets.

The days of late night shows and DJ sets at CITA Park in that downtown corner are now behind us, I learned from Michael Garrow, who co-runs the sauna with his wife Megan Garrow under the name DRYYP Sauna. But New Haven music-lovers need not fret. Change In The Air, the organization behind CITA Park, is looking for a new location for those activities—one that’s less residential, with a later cutoff for noise.

In the meantime, DRYYP is partnering with Jamal Robinson, CITA Park’s founder, to slow down the tempo of the existing location. Starting in early December, Megan and Michael have been offering sauna in their once-mobile setup, now parked inside the fenced corner lot along with a set of changing rooms fashioned from a shipping container and two greenhouses with cushions and hot tea. In the coming months, they’ll add more activities and infrastructure. They are considering yoga, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) classes, Pilates, calisthenics, and more.

It’s “our first baby,” Michael said of the project. Then he corrected himself. “Well, we have a cat.”

Now, the couple says they’ve spent more time outdoors than they ever have. I talked to them Saturday in the trailer housing their all-cedar sauna, with Megan joining via videocall. Behind a door was the steam room. When it came time to up the heat, Michael held Megan’s video feed on his phone with one hand while adding wood to a crackling firepit with the other. He noted the local supplier of the firewood used to supply Sally’s Apizza. Outside, the wind whistled.

The natural cold provided what Michael called “contrast therapy.” Heat dilates blood vessels, raises the heart rate, promotes circulation, and helps with muscle soreness. In the cold, blood vessels contract and endorphins rise. The sauna process at DRYYP involves cycling between both extremes, only staying in the heat for five to fifteen minutes at a time.

As the weather starts to warm up, DRYYP will have a plunge bucket available. At the moment, Michael said, it was frozen.

“We want to grow with what the community needs,” Michael said, encouraging people to come try the sauna even if the high temps seem intimidating at first. In the future, he and Megan are hoping to put some of their proceeds together into a pool for discounted and free memberships. Right now, they have a discount for first-timers. You can contact them via email or Instagram to inquire.

Most saunas in the U.S., he said, are at gyms or private residences. And they are mostly indoors. This one has an outdoor element, is situated in the heart of the city, and involves meeting new people (unless you spring for the private sauna option).

The concept is for the corner to become a place where people can read, drink coffee, and stretch. The faster-paced activities of the old CITA Park will now become a Culture Park in a new spot, possibly in the form of pop-ups first.

Michael and Megan seemed open to suggestions as they build out their Wellness Park dream with CITA. They’re trying to make sure the change in offerings doesn’t make the corner park’s regulars and downtown wanderers feel shut out. If you want to give your feedback or ideas for keeping the space grounded, I would say these early stages might be your chance. (Their email is dryypsauna@gmail.com.)

DRYYP Sauna has seen more and more sign-ups with each week they’ve been open. When I visited, I was joined by a group of four women trying out the communal sauna for the first time. In between sessions in the 190-degree room, they embraced the icy cold, even tossing snow on themselves.

Hot stones hissed as sauna-er Melanie Quigley poured water on them to increase the steam. The pages of my reporter’s notebook, sitting outside the door in the trailer’s wood pit area, softened with the moisture.

Experiencing the extremes of hot and cold together, I found it easy to befriend my sauna-mates. The natural bonding made me think of the talk show “Hot Ones,” where interviewer Sean Evans discusses personal topics with guests while eating spicy wings. On the show, media-trained celebrities drop pretenses as the spice gets to their heads. In the sauna, the ever-present awareness of our physical realities did away with stiffness, both musculoskeletal and social. There was no choice but to be open with one another.

“I was wondering how they were going to do this,” one sauna-er, Loralee Crowder, said.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Lani Rosen-Gallagher chimed in, “But it was seamless.” She appreciated the breaks from the sauna room to the cozy greenhouse, and the fresh outside air in between. Quigley agreed, noting that they were able to do all this on the coldest day of the year.

“It feels like a little oasis,” Dana Hoffman said.

Crowder said it was fun to catch glimpses of traffic through the fence while zipping between the park’s structures. “What’s that naked lady doing?” she imagined them thinking.

All four agreed they were glad they came out to see the city on the wintry day.

I admit I had my worries at first. 1.) The one time I tried hot yoga, I nearly passed out. 2.) I had no idea how I was going to walk from one spot to another in just my swimwear on a day of winter weather advisories. And 3.) as a fan of the CITA Park beer garden, I had high expectations for the corner spot.

Those concerns, like my notebook pages, softened with the sauna steam. I did not pass out (I made sure to eat beforehand, which I think helped). I found I could even linger outside in the cold air. And the Wellness Park plans seemed promising. It really was a smooth way to meet people, and not just because of the curated vibes. The temperature extremes made me feel safe in the constant presence of my body. And from there, the world felt approachable.

I shivered, covered head to toe, at the bus stop heading to the sauna, and I shivered on my walk back home. But somehow, in the hour or so in between, I was able to spread my bare arms in the winter air and feel quite alright.

Art by local painter Shavon Gales. Michael braves the elements.