Christopher's cafe owners bringing arts and music to Fall River's South Main Street

FALL RIVER — For a little more than a year, the owners of Christopher’s on South Main Street have been feeding customers with their from-scratch fare, now they hope to feed the hearts and souls of the neighborhood, particularly the children — with music.

On June 1, owners Christopher and Nathan Silvia will host Fall River violinist Peter Rosa Janeiro for a sidewalk concert, with the hopes that it will inspire all generations to embrace arts and culture.

“Instead of drugs and negativity and violence and beyond the loud noises of South Main Street, just something different,” said Christopher Silvia. “And maybe they’ll laugh at it, but they’ll get the experience.”

“I think we deserve something nice,” he said regarding the South End neighborhood.

The outdoor concert by Janeiro, who'll be accompanied by his ever-present dog Lilo, will begin at 11 a.m. and go on until “whenever,” said Silvia.

Silvia said on the Saturday of the concert, they will be closing the cafe, but their hot dog cart will be available.

Janeiro, a busker who writes his own music, said he approached Silvia with the idea to bring music to South Main Street.

"We talked about it for like two minutes, and he said, 'ya, OK,'" said Janeiro. Next thing he knew, Janeiro said, Silvia sent him a copy of the flyer of the June 1 event.

"I've been involved in Fall River, I've been born and raised here," said Janeiro. "I'm just infatuated with the efforts that Chris has made in Fall River, especially South Main Street."

Janeiro said everyone has seen how few events, especially free events, have occurred in Fall River, especially in the South End.

"How cool would it be to get that area bumping again?" said Janeiro.

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Community-minded business owners

Since opening their cafe at 1816 South Main St. and recently a shop on New Boston Road, the Silvias have been active champions of the South End neighborhood and an inspiration to other South Main Street businesses and city residents and businesses.

During the holidays, they held a highly successful toy drive and held a Christmas party for kids, even carving out a special time for children with sensory issues, an event that they later repeated.

And last summer, worrying about struggling families and children who often relied on school meals as their prime nutrition, offered free pizza for any child under 16 on a daily basis.

More recently, the Silvias put out a tiered box filled with fresh fruit available for anyone, but mostly for local children who may not have access to fresh produce and as an alternative to fast food.

Christopher Silvia said that sometimes people will get off the bus at the nearby bus stop just to grab some fruit.

“They’ll get off the bus, take one apple, just one, give us a wave and get back on the bus,” said Silvia.

They recently had a cereal drive where they collected 2,100 boxes that were donated to the Bristol County Veterans’ Association, the Good Shepherd food pantry and the volunteer organization, Angels Anonymous. 

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When Christopher does a shout out, people respond

Silvia has a huge social media presence on Facebook, where he posts the cafe’s daily changing menu.

Silvia uses the platform to promote other restaurants and businesses and their beautification projects that have spread beyond the South End.

He also uses the medium to announce the different community initiatives, and boy, does it get a response from folks looking to help.

Like his shout out for volunteers to help with a dinner the Silvias are organizing to feed and serve 120 people who are homeless at the Fall River Baptist Church.

He said 200 people contacted him to volunteer and the business and faith communities also came out.

“It’s crazy, it's so crazy, but I’m going to utilize everyone. And Good Shepherd Church said I could us their kitchen, Millenium Pizza is giving five turkeys, Nasif offered free vegetables and Seabra is also donating,” said Silvia.

And to put a point on how the community is responding, a staff member at Mitchell Apartments recently reached out to the Silvias interested in their beautification efforts and wanted to bring some of that to the South Main Street high-rise.

Silvia put it out on Facebook looking for donations to help the residents on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning he had two truckloads of plants, soil and shovels, “about a $1,000 worth of stuff,” were donated for the residents' beautification project.

“I think that everyone wants to help,” said Silvia about the responses he’s received from the public. “They just don’t have a platform or know how to help. They want to help they just don’t know how to help. But if you tell them the direction, they’ll take it.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Christopher's cafe owners spreading the love for Fall River's South End