PUTNEY-Julie Winchester had no desire to get involved in the restaurant business.
What she did want was to bring her community together and show visitors what her town has to offer.
And she had a vision that included making Exit 4 a destination - maybe even a food truck spot.
After a while, since no one else was stepping up, Winchester did.
Now Rod's Food Truck Park is open every Friday and Sunday, from 4 p.m. until dusk or until vendors sell out of food.
"I didn't want to be the person to pull the trigger on this, but it was like, OK, I guess I have to do it. For me what's been a little stressful is I've never done restaurant businesses," says the seemingly ever-sunny Winchester.
She works as a dental hygienist and helps her husband Greg with Rod's Towing and Repair at 40 Main St., which they purchased last year from Greg's father.
"For those businesses, people make appointments," she says.
She asked herself, "Are people really going to come?"
They did. "The park has stayed full for the past two weeks for the entire time it's open," she says.
Winchester says multiple vendors have stopped by the garage asking about setting up food trucks but there wasn't enough space there.
"We tried to give them other suggestions, but it just kind of kept coming back to us," she says.
So in January, the couple bought the ⅔-acre of green space between Rod's and 802 Credit Union.
"We were inspired by what the Retreat [Farm] does with its food truck roundup," says Winchester. "I thought, 'If Brattleboro can do it, why can't Putney?' So we've done it."
So far the park has been full each week with a maximum of six trucks.
Marcel Maxwell, owner of 802 Soul Kitchen, a pop-up kitchen he started in February, was the first vendor who said "yes" to Winchester.
"It meant the world to me that he believed in this vision and Putney," she says of Maxwell and his southern soul food.
"I love the park; it's awesome. And it's going great, probably my second or third biggest turnouts since I started," says Maxwell, who brings along his 5-year-old son Little Marcel and his best friend. "Putney really comes out to support. It's just a fun place."
Other vendors are part of Brattleboro's Afghan refugee community. "Their food is to die for," Winchester says.
A new vendor will bring Puerto Rican cuisine, she adds.
"All these vendors put their hearts and souls into their food," Winchester says. "The diversity in the food we're offering on the property has been beautiful."
Approximately 600 people came through in the first two weeks.
"It's been everything I imagined and more," Winchester says. "I've had this vision, seeing Exit 4 being a destination, and I haven't wanted our town to give up, thinking Putney has just fallen asleep."
She and Greg travel through many small New England towns, and Winchester says she always thinks, "Putney has everything this town has; we just need to let people know more about what's here."
The spring eclipse showed Winchester how much Exit 4 really was "a destination on steroids," as folks from across New England traveled there for terrific viewing.
"We'd never seen such traffic and so many people," Winchester says.
Now she's enjoying seeing her vision become a reality.
"It's been exciting seeing family, friends, and community visiting for hours in the park," she says. "It really is a positive gift that Covid gave us of getting back to gathering, like the outside restaurant. It's been lovely, and the food has been happening organically."
She says that people told her that it would be too late in the season to start the food truck spot.
"But sometimes you can't believe the things people say," says Winchester, who measures the park's success in the success of vendors and the happiness of vendors and community members.
The park - almost completely booked for this season - will close Oct. 31 for the winter, though Winchester has some ideas about a winter solstice/ice sculpting event.
In the meantime, "I want everyone in this space to just relax," she says.
"I don't want it to be about politics, or all the things that are going wrong in our town," Winchester says. "I want it to be about the things that are going right in our town."
For more information, contact Winchester at 802-387-4771.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.