Vendor finds his cart is a no-go for festival

By Patrick Wilson
Winston-Salem Journal

Selling $2 hot dogs is how Tarus Clark provides for his family. He can make $600 to $700 a week from his cart in downtown Winston-Salem.

This week, he was expecting to make at least $5,000 because of the National Black Theatre Festival.

But when he and his family set up their cart at Fourth and Cherry streets yesterday afternoon — a space they paid $75 to the city to rent for the year — police told them that they had to go.

The theater festival had bought a broad permit that allows it to control all vending in that part of downtown, which is a block from Benton Convention Center.

Dang, maybe I need to go selling hot dogs. That's a pretty good business this guy has...

(Mayor Allen) Joines said he isn’t sympathetic to such vendors as Clark.

“The festival is spending money to make it happen.... What is unfair is for him to come in and take advantage of the thousands of people that the theater festival is drawing to that area without contributing to getting those people to come down,” Joines said.

Has Mayor Joines ever heard of the free market and capitalism??? I don't think T. Clark was going to hold a gun to people's heads and force them to buy a hot dog.