The Horseshoes Under Gainesville's Streatery Were Put There to Do the Same Job

Around 1900, C.C. Pedrick had a problem that any downtown business owner today would recognize. His horse and buggy shop sat off the main thoroughfare, on the block bounded by SW 1st Street and SW 2nd Avenue, and customers had to find their way to a door halfway down a side street. As the Gainesville Sun reported in 2005, his fix was to sink a trail of horse and mule shoes into the sidewalk. It started on the 100 and 200 blocks of W. University Avenue and curved around onto SW 1st Avenue toward his entrance.

About 125 years later, the City of Gainesville approved a construction contract of up to $4.5 million for the same two blocks to solve much the same problem. On Friday, Nov. 6 at 5 p.m., the city holds the official ribbon-cutting for The Streatery, the pedestrian-only stretch of SW First Avenue between South Main Street and SW Second Street. The street has been open since Sept. 4. The ceremony is for the version of it the city designed for evenings, game weekends and the holidays. The city's plan also calls for Pedrick's horseshoes to be salvaged and set back into the rebuilt street.

A Side Block That Has to Earn Its Foot Traffic

The Streatery started out as a stopgap. In September 2020, the city closed SW First Avenue so restaurants could spread tables into the street during the pandemic. In August 2022 the City Commission voted 4-2 to keep the two blocks pedestrian-only for good, according to The Alligator.

The cost of making it permanent kept rising. A city architect estimated about $1 million per block in 2022. The full two-block estimate was $2.4 million by October 2024 and $3.2 million by March 2025. In March 2026 the commission approved a construction contract with D.E. Scorpio Corp. capped at $4.5 million, paid for with Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area money and gas tax dollars. The city's project page puts the total budget, including planning and design, at $4.95 million.

The case for spending that money comes down to one comparison. This spring, a city count found 28 vacant storefronts across roughly 20 core downtown blocks, a 22% vacancy rate. Once the fences came down, every storefront along The Streatery was leased and open, according to The Alligator. Mayor Harvey Ward told Mainstreet Daily News that the block had more businesses open than it did when construction started.

Here is who you'll find on and right around the corridor:

Two of these are new to a fixed address. Brewing Thoughts began as a student-owned coffee truck, and The Alligator reported that owners Titan Wojciak and Sofia Ortiz timed their move into a storefront to match the corridor's completion. Its website announced a grand opening for Friday, Sept. 18, and mentions homemade syrups and new pastries. Nest + Nibble, which started as a mobile charcuterie business, held its cafe soft-opening party on Sept. 4, the same night the fences came down.

The street itself mattered to these businesses before the rebuild, too. Jacob Larson, who owns The Bull, has estimated that about a third of the bar's income came from free events held on the street, and he predicted the new corridor could raise sales by as much as 25%, as The Alligator reported. For a block like this one, the pavement is part of how people find the door, much as it was for Pedrick.

The Ribbon-Cutting Is for the After-Dark Version

At the Sept. 4 press conference, Ward drew a clear line between opening the street and finishing it. "This is not a grand opening. We have a ways to go," he said, pointing to the overhead lights and street furniture still to come, according to The Alligator.

As of the city's Sept. 1 update, temporary lighting was in place while the manufacturer had yet to confirm a delivery date for the light poles. The poles, fixtures, overhead string lights and tree uplights were all still waiting. Furnishings, edge planters and bike racks were scheduled for mid-September. WUFT reported on Oct. 5 that some features, lighting among them, were still unfinished when the fencing came down.

The lighting is the part of the design aimed at evenings and events. The city's project page lists:

• Pedestrian-scale lights that can be dimmed during events and turned up after hours
• Programmable tree uplighting and overhead string lighting that can be adjusted for holidays and special awareness events
• Power outlets on both sides of the street for events and programming
• Retractable bollards at the intersections, so the street can be opened for maintenance and event access
• Non-beveled brick pavers, for ADA accessibility and for people walking in heels
• Existing live oaks kept, with new trees planted where there was no canopy

The city describes the corridor as a gathering space for markets, festivals, concerts and community events. Most of the work that matters for a rainy evening is underground. Some of the infrastructure crews replaced was more than a century old, and two hours after a downpour on Sept. 4, Ward pointed to the lack of standing water in the street.

The city has not published an installation date for the permanent lights, so whether they're on for the ribbon-cutting or the holidays is still an open question. The City of Gainesville's Holiday Parade is Saturday, Dec. 5, with a noon procession on University Avenue followed by a lights celebration at City Hall Plaza.

Game Weekend Gets the First Look

The ribbon-cutting falls the night before Florida hosts Oklahoma on Nov. 7. Daniel Hughes, one of the owners of Loosey's Downtown, told WUFT that "the first game is almost always the second-best game of the year for business," and he picked this one as the season's standout: "There's always one big standout, which I think this year is going to be Oklahoma."

The businesses have been building toward weekends like this one. The city now allows tables, chairs, fencing and flower beds up to 27 feet out from a building. Johnny Conti of Capone's told The Alligator he plans an outdoor seating area with a large TV for game days. The city has also set up a Streatery Improvement Grant for nearby businesses. It's a $500,000 fund for storefronts, signage, awnings and outdoor dining furniture, and applications are due Dec. 4.

If you're driving in for the 5 p.m. ceremony, the city lists more than 2,000 parking spaces near the corridor. The traffic setup around the block has changed. The rebuild moved the exits from the state attorney parking lot and city Lot 13 off SW First Avenue and onto SW First Street, and added raised crossings at SW Second Street and SW First Street.

Following Pedrick's Trail

The horseshoes have outlasted every rebuild of these sidewalks so far. When the city reconstructed the downtown sidewalks in the mid-1970s, workers saved the shoes and reset them in the new concrete in their original spots. "Every time they've done maintenance work, they've put them back," Public Works Director Teresa Scott told the Gainesville Sun in 2005.

Not every shoe is one Pedrick laid. Over the years some came loose and were lost, and the city doesn't know exactly how many. The ones that remain are held in place with fasteners that, fittingly, are called "stirrups." Historic preservation expert Melanie Barr told the Sun she used to get asked about the shoes so often that she wrote a report on them, though the report has since been lost. The 2026 project continues the habit. The city's scope includes salvaging and reincorporating the "historic horseshoe hardscape," along with reusing historic bricks in the new raised intersections.

To walk the route Pedrick laid out, based on the Sun's description:

1. Start on the 100 or 200 block of W. University Avenue and look down at the sidewalk.
2. Follow the line as it curves around onto SW 1st Avenue, where The Streatery now runs.
3. Turn onto SW 1st Street, where the trail once led to the shop's entrance, halfway down the block.

The trail is made up of shoes for both horses and mules. Pedrick's shop is long gone. On the block today you'll find bars, a nightclub with a new kitchen, a charcuterie cafe and a coffee shop that started out as a truck.

I've spent most of my life around horses, so a line of mule shoes set into a downtown sidewalk is the kind of detail I notice. If you go to the Nov. 6 ribbon-cutting and want to talk about Gainesville's horse history, or about property anywhere in North Central Florida where horses are still part of daily life, reach out to Dean Graham. Let's Connect.