Vendors sell clothes, jewelery, fruit and more.
BY KIM DOLEATTO
NNB Student Reporter
ST. PETERSBURG – “Hallelujah! He comin’! You won’t have to wait much longer!!”
The bishop’s voice blared from speakers outside the tiny church on 22nd Street S.
“They have a real good sound system,” Veatrice Farrell said with a resigned chuckle.
She is the project manager of Deuces Live Inc., a nonprofit committed to revitalizing Midtown’s main artery – 22nd Street S, otherwise known as “the Deuces.”
It’s 10 a.m. Sunday. The service at the Refuge Church of our Lord, at 920 22nd St. S, is in full cry.
Meanwhile, in the clearing across the street, Farrell helps vendors set up for the Deuces Live Market. From 1 to 6 p.m. every Sunday, vendors sell clothes, jewelry, smoothies, barbecue chicken, homemade pies and more. There is a DJ, too. (The market is closed for the summer until Sept. 14.)
Edith and Antonio Trejo unpack their colorful bounty: peaches, oranges, watermelon, lettuce, jalapenos and more.
Theirs is the only produce stand and they are the only Latino vendors. But they don’t feel left out.
“We can really feel the city supports this market. Here, everyone helps each other,” he said.
Since its April 6 debut, the market has been part of Deuces Live Inc.’s mission to “provide redevelopment services to the area,” Farrell said.
But it’s not just business; it’s personal. Volunteers are the backbone of the market.
Elihu Brayboy directs people setting up tables and umbrellas where shoppers can enjoy market goods.
“Instead of young black men being noticed for being in trouble, here they are setting up for market,” he said.
He has stock in the future of the once-thriving, now-struggling area. He and wife Carolyn – vice president of Deuces Live Inc. – bought four buildings adjacent to the market. Public records show the Brayboys spent close to $500,000 buying the properties, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
They have since transformed the spaces – boarded up for 30 years – into an ice cream shop, consignment clothing store, art gallery, hair salon and other small businesses.
The Brayboys grew up in Midtown and remember when 22nd Street was a thriving center for the African-American community.
Carl Lavender also has close ties with the area. He braves the hot sun to wave people toward the market and direct parking; he helps bag-laden customers to their cars. “How are the kids? How was church this morning?” Lavender asks them.
He’s the Deuces Live Market maitre d’, but he used to be the director of the Boys and Girls Club at the historic Royal Theater down the street. It opened in 1948 to serve St. Petersburg’s African-American community during segregation. It closed in 1966. It now serves the Boys and Girls Club, where Lavender was executive director for many years.
Empress PJ Crosby performs poetry and sells T-shirts.
One of the vendors knows all about it. Empress PJ Crosby produced a CD there with teen musicians from the neighborhood. It’s for sale at her stand: Romantic PJ’s Jewelry Booth, along with other handcrafted items.
Since developing a nerve condition, Crosby said, she wanted to “stay constructive and keep her hands going.”
She fashions tie-dyed hair wraps, earrings and T-shirts. One says, “nails, breasts, hair—all mine.” Another, “Irony is….ugly.”
Crosby is a teacher of spoken word and poetry. Through the arts program at the Royal Theater, she helped create the Poetic Colla’ge Youth Society and has performed at poetry and spoken word festivals in the U.S. Virgin Islands and throughout Florida – all funded by the Royal Theater Boys and Girls Clubs.
Crosby will take her poetry program to the Virgin Islands for the summer while the market is closed for the summer.
“It’s so hot to be hanging around outside in the summer; plus, a lot of the vendors like to tour the local events that need vendors,” Farrell said.
Crosby will be back, though. “It could be a good day or bad day, I always love it here,” she said.
Although 22nd Street S has suffered the effects of neglect over time, some residents have never abandoned the memory of what it once was and is today: their home.
At the market, “you have everything you need,” Farrell said.
“Home is where you live.”