Get a Taste of 02908

By Riley Londraville

We walk up to the Taste of 02908 in Davis Park on Chalkstone Ave. The event is hosted by the Merchant’s Collective, dedicated to supporting small businesses and non-profits in the 02908 zip code of Providence, RI. It’s a Saturday morning and the weather is beautiful. I don’t have to worry about homework yet, the sun is shining down on my face, and I’m with Kat and Daleth, two of my best friends and fellow members of NERLab. I think it can’t get any better until I spot Wole Akinbi, a Smith Hill community leader and key partner to NERLab. He’s helping direct parking, and leans down and through people’s car windows in order to give better hugs. If I wasn’t happy before, I sure am smiling now.

The NERLab Team at Taste of 02908 (September 2025).

We’ve barely stepped into the event, and our attention is already pulled in every direction. Tents are stretched across the park, and the smell of savory Dominican chicken from Paris Bistro Cafe & Lounge wafts through the air, making my stomach rumble. I haven’t eaten breakfast. I didn’t think I was hungry before, but now everything looks good. Kids walk by with jugs of fresh lemonade and popsicles made with real fruit, strawberry, mango, and coconut, and sprinkled with Tajín. My mouth is practically watering. By the time I come back to reality, I’m ten steps behind Kat and Daleth, who’ve already gotten plates of truffle pasta from Strive’s tent. It smells delicious, as do the thick slices of pizza they serve, and the people who have half-eaten slices on their plates sure aren’t complaining. 

I’ve got to catch up, so I look around. There’s a plethora of options, but I’m still craving something sweet. I’m stuck on breakfast, and so my mission begins. However, the first obstacle is staying on track, as each of these tents has so much to offer that I find myself stopping at almost every one. 

There’s a tent for screen printing place called Teeth Like Swords Printing, and I fell into conversation with the owner, a nice man with a passion for what he does. I tell him about my small business, Totes Promotes, and how my co-founder and I create meaningful tote bag designs to raise funds for charitable organizations. I explain the struggles I have with pricing due to outsourcing our operations, and how screenprinting ourselves would save us both the hassle and a lot of money. He hands me his card, and before I walk away, I’m filled with a sense of appreciation for this city and the way I learn more and more about what it has to offer each day. Like, I never knew that Full Radiance Yoga, the studio right down the street, offers yoga at a come as you are…pay what you can rate. Isn’t that incredible? Or that there’s a pub right down the street, Gilligan’s Pub—also known as the Galley for its food—that has incredible empanadas and even hosts fun events like karaoke nights, comedy shows, and watch parties.

I make my way down the line of tents, smelling the flowers from Frey Florist, admiring the many different safety features offered by The Keychain Connect, and looking through the mounds of PVD merchandise ranging from hoodies to purses. I smile watching the children run around popping the giant bubbles that drift off the wands that an elderly couple—a couple that has lived here for many years—continue to dip in their buckets of soapy solution.

Eventually, after wandering long enough, I find what I’ve been looking for. The tent for Green Goods sits proudly on the walkway, and the woman in charge of serving food slices bananas and wears a smile. She crafts me an acai bowl, perfectly sweet, with bananas and strawberries, and the freshest acai base. I make it disappear in seconds, and this is only the first push down the slippery slopes of visiting tents and shoving my face full of anything they had to offer, and boy, did they offer. By the end of my time at the Taste of 02908, my stomach is full, and the 02908 Merchant Collective tote bag I received upon entering is just as full. Inside, I have around 20 business cards. There’s a pamphlet for the 02908 Merchant’s Collective, a koozie from Original Rhode Dog Company, and even a copy of the latest issue of Street Sights, a forum centered around unhoused and formerly unhoused people in Providence, handed out by the president of the forum, Janice Luongo. 

Wole Akinbi directing event traffic.

I didn’t know it yet, but in the coming weeks, these business cards and interactions with local business owners would influence my actions, leading me to support these organizations in many different capacities. I would soon head down to Frey Florist to buy my sister a small vase of pink and white petals in celebration of her senior night volleyball game. I would soon have to plan my first event as a member of Providence College's Board of Programmers. I would purchase food from the Bodega and the Galley, and the students who attended my event—Community Made—would say this food was the best they’ve ever had at an on-campus event. I would soon book a haircut at the Salon on Smith, a place I wouldn’t have known about if it weren’t for this lovely event, and the business card I went home with.

As I walk out of Davis Park, the world looks a bit brighter, the colors more vivid; a fact that could be thanks to the sunlight shining through the oil-spilled surface of the bubbles that float overhead, but I know that the vibrance is truly a result of the good vibes, good food, good weather, and great people of today.

To my fellow Friars who haven’t gotten the chance to traverse all that our 02908 neighborhoods have to offer, I encourage you to explore. Start by using NERLab's new 02908 Small Business Map to find a new study spot, a coffee shop, or a creamery. Check out the Community-Campus Calendar to see what’s happening in local neighborhoods, both events and politics. Step beyond the campus walls, get out in the city, and take a good look around. There’s so much to offer, and I promise that you'll love what you find. 

Riley Londraville is an undergraduate student in the Class of 2027 at Providence College, double-majoring in Creative Writing and Public and Community Service Studies, with a minor in Political Science. She is a Research Fellow in the Neighborly Engagement Research Lab (NERLab) at Providence College.