'Contributor' Cart Comes to Church Street Park

Story by Amanda Haggard, photos by Hannah Herner

The Contributor has added another way for vendors to earn income through a new partnership with the Metro Parks Department at Church Street Park.

Some vendors for The Contributor will now staff a cart at the park, selling the paper and cold beverages like water, soda and juice out of a new bicycle vendor cart. Giarratana LLC, owned by developer Tony Giarratana, is sponsoring the cart.

Vendor Randolph Bray "Bootz" is excited about the opportunity to work at the cart. Bray normally sells in Hermitage and plans to work mornings at the cart and evenings at his typical spot during the summer. Arthritis and other health problems have sidelined his typical career as a painter, so he's looking to The Contributor as his main gig now. "I'm not doing this for the money up here," Bray says. "It will pay off eventually. But I just got to meet the people. I mean, I'll get most of my income from Hermitage. Who knows, we have these big high rises downtown here now, there's a lot of people here."

Bray is looking forward to meeting a new set of people downtown. "We need a positive presence downtown," he says. "You know, you got people out here that don't even know anything about it. And God gave me the gift of gab. Every car that goes by, I wave and say ‘hi.’"

Over the past few months, renovations have been ongoing at Church Street Park after a long and drawn-out conflict over what to do with the park. Over the years the park has become a service point for people living on the streets and a respite for folks — though some living downtown have complained about homelessness in the area.

“This is just another way our vendors can engage with the community while they earn an income,” said Cathy Jennings, executive director of The Contributor. “When people are downtown — whether a tourist or a native — they should definitely stop and grab a drink and a newspaper and hang out in the park for a while. Our vendors would be thrilled to meet them.”

Vendors will have special We Are Nashville issues to sell in Church Street Park.

Church Street Park will also have free programming like regular history tours with historian David Ewing, musical performances, fitness classes and more.

Find the program scheduled at churchstreetpark.org.