This is reprinted from The East Nashvillian magazine.
Story and photo by Melanie Meadows.
It’s that time of year, and once again, the Historic East Nashville Merchants Association (HENMA) has chosen both a citizen and a business for the annual East Nashvillian of the Year award. Launched in 2008, this award honors both a business and an individual for outstanding contributions to the East Nashville community. This year’s winners — Eric Jans and The Green Wagon — are neighborhood advocates who have poured their hearts and livelihoods into this community.
So, what does it mean to be an East Nashvillian anyway? What makes this neighborhood different from any other part of Nashville? Most people say it’s a “vibe” or “state of mind.” It’s hard to put into words. But one thing is certain, this year’s East Nashvillian of the Year award winners — Eric Jans and The Green Wagon — both have it.
East Nashvillian of the Year 2011 (Citizen): Eric Jans If you’ve spent any time in East Nashville, chances are you’ve heard of Eric Jans. He moved to East Nashville from Cedar Falls, Iowa, in 2002 with his singer- songwriter wife Wendy. Jans owns a successful business — Eric Jans Insurance — and he’s been very active in East Nashville community and business organizations.
“My personal rule is that whenever I say, ‘Somebody should…,’ then I need to stop and figure out if that somebody is me, and if so, what the next step is,” Jans says.
He has certainly lived up to his rule. Jans’ community involvement started shortly after moving to the neighborhood when he served on the dog park planning committee. Next, he teamed up with local crime fighter Bob Acuff to pressure local convenience stores to stop selling roses inside glass beakers that were being used on the street as crack pipes. Soon, he joined the Lockeland Springs Neighborhood Association and took over from Bob as crime and safety chair of Rediscover East!. He would go on to serve as president of both of those organizations, and then as president of HENMA.
This year, Jans became chair of Chamber East, an advisory board of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce.
“We focus on East Nashville businesses who are Chamber members and we also target the needs of the community,” he explains. “We are trying to bridge the gap between the schools, neighborhoods and business in order to create a more vibrant economic base. We have a monthly meeting with area leaders, police, schools officials, nonprofits, churches, our council members and the mayor’s office to address the issues concerning the neighborhood.”
The East Nashvillian of the Year award is a fitting end to what has turned out to be a year of significant milestones for Jans and his family.
“In my job as a health and life insurance broker, this last year has been one of my best yet. I am nearly to my eighth year in business and it keeps getting better every year,” he says. “Personally, it’s been an awesome year as well. In July, Wendy and I welcomed our first child, Miranda Paige, into the family. She has pretty much taken over our hearts and minds lately.”
Jans feels that, as an East Nashvillian, he’s part of something unique, a place where people can be themselves and feed off the energy of everyone else around.
“It sounds cheesy,” he says with a laugh. “This award means so much to me because I really feel like this neighborhood is a deep part of me and has helped shape the person I have become. That makes me want to give back in any way I can. The previous winners are all people that I consider great examples and friends, so I am joining good company.”
As chair of Chamber East, Jans has his finger firmly on the pulse of economic activity on the East side. He’s excited to see new businesses and business districts spring up all around the area — Eastland and Porter, Five Points Collaborative, Paro South Business Suites, East Nashville Storage and Jeni’s Ice Cream, to name a few.
“East Nashville is becoming more and more of a place to do business,” he says. “I think the real challenge is economic and particularly whether Gallatin Road/Main Street will start to become the commercial corridor we all want.”
Jans expects 2012 to be another big year for East Nashville.
“2012 will give us a new park and hopefully a new baseball stadium on the east bank,” he says. “5th and Main will continue to add retail and restaurants. We have new apartments being built on Woodland Street. It just keeps getting better and there is room for so much more.”
East Nashvillian of the Year 2011 (Business): The Green Wagon
They say “great minds think alike” and that adage was affirmed once again when Johnny and Tara Shields met Jennifer Casale, founder and CEO of The Green Wagon.
“I’ve always needed to know that what I was doing for a living was helping others,” Johnny says. “As I learned more about the environmental crisis that our planet was in, sustainability seemed to be the most important and therefore best way, to accomplish my goal of helping others while earning a living.”
The Green Wagon’s concept — a “green” general store that sells locally made, environmentally friendly products including cleaning supplies, clothing, personal items, gifts, baby supplies and much more — was very attractive to the Shields.
“I think what really influenced us was the farmers market scene in Hawaii,” Tara says. “There were so many of these neat farmers markets that were much more than just a place to buy your vegetables. There were always artists and artisans selling their wares, and even stylists and massage therapists sharing their services. When I thought about mainland culture, I thought, Nashville really needs more markets like this.”
While working on a project for his graduate program in sustainability, Johnny visited The Green Wagon to discuss some of his ideas with Jennifer Casale, who opened the East Nashville store in 2009. The couple struck up a friendship with Jennifer and started helping out at the store and with farmers markets.
One day, Jennifer told Johnny and Tara she had been looking for someone to take over the store, but hadn’t found anyone she felt she could trust to uphold the standards and ideals of the business — until she met them. So, on Jan. 1, 2011, the couple was thrilled to officially take over ownership of the East Nashville location. They celebrated their grand reopening a few months later on March 19 and it was the first of what has come to be known as The Green Wagon Block Parties.
“In just one quick year, we have become known for these block parties,” Tara says. “We are tightly connected with many of the East Nashville nonprofit organizations through events like these as well as our Sustainable Community Days, where we donated five percent of every sale each Wednesday to four of East Nashville’s nonprofits: Friends of Shelby Park and Bottoms (environmental), East Nashville Cooperative Ministry (food security), Martha O’ Bryan (education), and East Nasty (personal sustainability/health/community involvement).”
The Shields firmly believe if we can learn to care about the well-being of our neighbor, we’ll learn to care about the well being of the environment, because the two are inherently linked. The couple has big plans for 2012, including the addition of several more educational workshops on topics including: making your own nontoxic cleaning products, brewing your own kombucha, brewing your own beer, healing yourself naturally, benefits of shea, and DIY basic vehicle maintenance.
“We are also constantly increasing the diversity of what we carry, always seeking to have anything that will make living more sustainably convenient for our customers,” Johnny says.
Johnny had previously worked for last year’s winner Alan Murdock at ArtHouse Gardens and through that experience, fell in love with the architecture of the houses, the great people and tight-knit community that is East Nashville.
“We were shocked to hear that we had been nominated, and eventually to learn that our business had been named East Nashvillian of the Year,” he says. “We can’t express how much this means to us and how honored we feel. We are also excited to build on the momentum of this year and do more and more to make East Nashville a safer, healthier, more beautiful, and quirkier place.”
