Weekly flower cart on Fountain Avenue: ‘It’s just something I dreamed'

Juliana Cydrus with her Painted Petals flower cart which she rides along Fountain Avenue Friday. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

Credit: Bill Lackey

Juliana Cydrus with her Painted Petals flower cart which she rides along Fountain Avenue Friday. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

A downtown Springfield business owner said she had always dreamed of having a flower cart running up and down Fountain Avenue for residents to buy flowers; that dream became a reality once the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Sip & Dipity Paint Bar Owner Tracey Tackett explained that when she was allowed to reopen after being closed because of the pandemic, there were not a lot of customers coming in to paint. She said she decided this would be the perfect time to try out the flower cart.

“It’s been rough getting everybody back downtown,” Tackett added.

The Painted Petals Flower Cart is in downtown Springfield on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays with bouquets of mixed flowers for $15 to $25. The flowers are from the Columbus Flower Company, Tackett said.

“There are weeks we will sell out. We will sell out in a day,” Tackett said. “Then there are weeks where there’s just nobody downtown.”

For about five weeks, Juliana Cydrus, a sophomore at Shawnee High School, has ridden the cart up and down Fountain Avenue.

“I feel like it’s helping downtown Springfield, helping the community,” Cydrus said. “I think the flowers are really pretty and I just like being in downtown Springfield. It’s a pretty place and it’s a fun job.”

Tackett said that she noticed an increase in teenagers looking for jobs at the beginning of the pandemic.

Cydrus is usually busy with sports, but many events were canceled due to COVID-19- giving her extra time to do the flower cart, Tackett said.

“It’s just something I dreamed, that I wanted for my downtown and my community,” Tackett said. “You make it happen, instead of waiting for someone else to do it. If you have a positive vision, just go for it.”

Tackett said she plans to have the Painted Petals Flower Cart in downtown Springfield during First Friday events and the farmer’s market.

For more information about the flower cart, search for Sip & Dipity on Facebook and look under the events tab.

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