Birmingham, Alabama — On a hot summer day, when temperatures exceed 90 degrees by noon, lunch crowds begin to flow into parking lots outside Birmingham’s Busheron Funeral Hall at the weekly West End Food Truck Park. ..
Ten trucks and trailers circle the asphalt lot and serve everything from curry chicken to Philly cheesesteak, strawberry lemonade to key lime cupcakes.
Arilian Busheron, whose family owns the funeral hall, walks through the parking lot in a bright yellow dress and ankle strap heels.
“Hey, how are you today?” She greets one guest.
“Thank you for coming out,” she tells some others. “see you next week.”
Boucheron seems to know everyone here.
“If I don’t know them, I’ll make them my friends,” she says.
The West End Food Truck Park, which takes place every Thursday in the funeral hall parking lot, is all that Boucheron does. She says it was an idea that was inevitably born during the COVID-19 pandemic last fall.
She and her staff were often busy at the funeral home and couldn’t take a break for lunch, says Boucheron, and with the exception of some fast-food outlets, there are nearby places to pick up food to go. There was no.
So she wondered why she didn’t bring them food.
And even better, why not invite your neighbors too?
“Food trucks were starting to become popular in Birmingham, so I said,’There are (parking) parking lots on either side of the funeral hall. Bring it here and offer something to ourselves and the community. Let’s try.”
“Basically, we just tried to do something for our community other than love for the bereaved family.”
West End Food Truck Park debuted in October last year with a single truck, the Chef Whitney Genelet Simone’s Kitchen ATL, commonly known as “Chef Simone.”
“She has a lot of support, so it really helped her to start the park by promoting and naming the park,” says Boucheron.
The food truck rally on Thursday grew quickly and became a significant event in the West End.
“Currently, we have up to 8-10 trucks a week,” says Bushelon. “There is a waiting list every week.
“This was a great snowball effect at this food truck park,” she adds. “Most of these people are still in their infancy. They are start-ups.
“And they came here and did the tremendous job of putting their name out there and getting exposure. We already bought another truck that made them so popular. “
According to Boucheron, all trucks are from the Birmingham region and are all black-owned companies.
“The funeral industry is one of the last isolated businesses, so in the case of a black-owned funeral home, we primarily serve the black community,” she says. “So this is another way to support black-owned businesses …
“Funeral director, we had a lot of trouble during the pandemic — basically we had to reinvent a book on how to do things,” she adds. “But it was a blessing because there is a food truck park. We wouldn’t have come up with it at other times.”
Quesadillas, turkey legs, vegan cupcakes
On this particular Thursday, Boucheron keeps cool during the Summer Dog Day with an oversized lip packer lemonade from one of the park’s most popular trucks, the Lemonade Junkies.
“We meet a lot of different people,” says Wanda Howard, who owns a lemonade truck. “The community here is like my family. That is, it’s a pleasure for me to see how happy they are. Try lemonade and you’ll be just as happy.”
Boucheron then walks to the CoCo Crabs truck and orders fried shrimp tacos from his mother, Le Voria Bushelon. Then head to the truck at station A and pick up the Jamaican jerk quesadilla with pepper and onions (not including meat). .. Later, she gets excited with Jolly Cakes & Treats vegan cupcakes.
“I’m a vegetarian / vegan, so I’m always looking for other options,” says Boucheron. “So having (food trucks) helps me catch up with my diet. On almost every truck, I can get some kind of vegetarian diet.”
Buffalo Rock’s marketing and sales company, Myrin Russell, is back at Food Truck Park.
“I came out last Thursday, but I’m here again this Thursday. I’m sure I’ll be here next Thursday,” she says. “The food is great.”
She is here for lemonade Junkies lemonade and station Philly cheesesteak polished sausages.
“Last week I had a turkey leg (from O’My Turkey Leg),” says Russell. “I’ll try everything until I get it all.”
Reinvesting in the community
As food truck parks became more popular, Arlillian Bushelon found another way to reinvest in his community.
Food truck owners pay $ 40 a week to the funeral hall and park in the parking lot. Boucheron saved all of these costs and put them into a scholarship fund to cover part of the cost of college for children in the West End community.
“Basically, all we did was put that (money) in the pot and it grew to $ 6,000,” she says.
Bushelon will award a $ 1,000 scholarship to six students who have submitted videos showing what they can do to make the community a more livable place.
“It’s not a traditional scholarship that requires you to write an essay or view your grades,” says Boucheron. “I just want to know what to do when I get back from school. What can I do to improve my community and what can I do to improve my home?
“We want people to be proud of where they live,” she adds. “So if we can make a difference in our community and make someone smile, it may have a trickle-down effect on other people doing other good deeds.”
For Boucheron, making a difference in the West End community has been a business belief in her family since her father’s late Aubrey Boucheron opened the funeral hall in 1976.
“I always refer to my dad,” she says. “He died in 2013. He basically lived his life saying that if he did something to help someone, it would come back to you.
“So I think I’m out of his shadow and just trying to do something to be a blessing.”
The West End Food Truck Park is held every Thursday from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm in the Bushelon Funeral Home parking lot at 800 14th St. SW in Birmingham.
"popular" - Google News
August 18, 2021 at 02:50AM
https://ift.tt/37Wjtec
Alabama's funeral hall is also a popular food truck park | Lifestyle - Pennsylvanianewstoday.com
"popular" - Google News
https://ift.tt/33ETcgo
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Alabama's funeral hall is also a popular food truck park | Lifestyle - Pennsylvanianewstoday.com"
Posting Komentar