MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – A Middleburg woman is selling peanuts as a final tribute to her father.
Nicholas Tshanakas was hit by an SUV and killed in January on County Road 2018 by Orchid Avenue.
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His daughter, Tessa Tshanakas, said her father was known as the “Peanut Man.” Her father was running a peanut business for nearly 18 years along the side of a road in Middleburg.
“He was an amazing man,” his daughter said.
This weekend, Tessa took over the reins to give her father’s customers one last chance to buy what made him so popular in the community, but also so they could pay their respects.
“We could always count on him usually for being out here on the weekends sometimes even Fridays. It just depended. So, it’s heartbreaking,” customer Lisa Grolla said.
Tessa said although this was her way of letting customers say goodbye to her dad, it was her way of honoring the man she loved so much -- and a way of learning more about him.
“It definitely made me see that he was more than loved. He was a friend, a staple in the community. It helps you get past the whole tragedy of it all,” she said.
One customer remembered him as a “real good dude,” who was outside “every day sweating his butt off.”
Tessa described Sunday as a great way to end her father’s career.
Tessa has set up a GoFundMe to help her mother since her father was killed suddenly and so soon.