Popular Street Performers Get a New Gig as Tourism Dries Up

(Bloomberg) -- (Editor’s note: This is the seventh in our “Stories of Summer.” For more, see this link on the Bloomberg terminal, visit @QuickTake on Twitter or see the YouTube playlist.)

For more than 30 years, street performers on Memphis, Tennessee’s Beale Street enthralled tourists with their back and front flips, twists and aerials. Covid-19 brought those shows — and their main source of income —  to a standstill.

Before the pandemic, the Beale Street Flippers performed 40 shows a year at events including National Basketball Association games, art festivals and other gatherings. Tourist tips added to their earnings. In 2019, more than 12 million tourists visited Memphis, each spending as much as $400 a night, according to data from Memphis Travel. Now, with the pandemic limiting air travel as well as large events, the flippers have had to find new sources of income. 

Railgarten, a diner and bar in Memphis with a large outdoor space, hired the Beale Street Flippers to bus tables, wash dishes, help with catering and, of course, entertain visitors on the back patio.

In this video, Rarecas Bonds, who founded the group in 1986, says he’s motivated to continue the street flipping tradition, both on Beale Street and at Railgarten.

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