A local celebrity once banned from dancing at Carrboro’s Weaver Street Market is once more forbidden from the co-op — or its parking lot, at least.
Bruce Thomas clashed once again with Carr Mill Mall authority when mall manager Nathan Milian asked him to stop parking in its lot earlier this week.
Milian requested Thomas park in the lot by the Armadillo Grill across the street, where mall employees park.
In 2006, Thomas began frequenting the Weaver Street Market, performing yoga and interpretive dance to the live music performed on the lawn on Thursdays.
Milian banned Thomas from dancing at the co-op, initiating a three-month controversy that led Carrboro residents to sign petitions and dance on the lawn in protest.
Thomas was allowed to dance again when the mall’s owner and representatives from Carrboro government met with Milian and created an open space policy for the mall.
“It really bothers me as … one who really values what Carrboro stands for: an inclusive, liberal, open place to live,” friend Caryl Feldacker said.
But lately, Milian said Thomas has spent more time hanging around the co-op than anything else.
“I haven’t seen him dance in a long time,” he said. “It’s at the point that he’s loitering.”
Alderman Dan Coleman said he doesn’t expect board members to get involved.
“It’s private property. It’s up to their discretion how they manage their lot,” he said.
Thomas’s struggle for the right to dance earned him the nickname “Footloose Bruce.” He said the voice of God told him to face his fear of embarrassment and start dancing.
It was the same voice he said he heard about 30 years ago before attempting to rob a bank as a part of a radical Muslim group in Newark, N.J.
Thomas said he spent 17 years in prison, where he studied religion, philosophy, yoga and bread-making.
Now he lives in Chapel Hill and works at the Chestnut Ridge Camp and Retreat Center in Efland.
But Carrboro is his favorite place, and after the conversation with Milian, Thomas is finding it harder to visit Carr Mill Mall.
“First it was ‘Let Bruce dance,’ now it’s ‘Let Bruce park.’ What next?” Thomas said. “It’s a shame I have to come up here and wonder.”
Still, Milian said that he did not single out or discriminate against Thomas.
“It’s the point at which you’re no longer conducting business,” Milian said. “When he stays here all day, he’s not a customer.”
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
‘Footloose Bruce’ steps on toes at Weaver Street
Dancer’s presence at Carr Mill bothers some
Bruce Thomas was recently asked to park elsewhere when visiting Weaver Street Market in Carrboro.
