Ron “Ronzo” Shapiro is Oxford’s Favorite Townie

Feature image credit: Gaetano Catelli

Ron Shapiro, better known as Ronzo, was voted Oxford’s favorite Townie, continuing his undefeated streak. We reached out to ask him about his favorite moments in Oxford and he sent us quite the love letter.

Living in Otown for over 40 years has been a joyful experience that I was lucky to become part of. I could never do it justice in a few words. What I like is I ride my bike to almost everywhere which reminds me of being a kid. Now that I drive many authors that come to town I have accidentally become well-read and I love great literature.

The respect for the written word is one of the greatest things about Oxford. Almost all my close friends are artists, writers, musicians, cooks, booksellers, creative, music store owners, teachers, and truthfully are interesting, bright, kind, many are hilarious, happy and truly believe in helping folks.

The people I worked with at the Hoka and Main Squeeze juice bar added so much to my life and were friendly, honest, dependable and really a joy to be around, except that one guy that is still in Parchman penitentiary. In truth, the folks that walked into my places of business were the real pleasure as I never knew who would walk in and almost all were friendly, glad to be alive, and helped create a mellow vibe.

Is this too mushy? Well, I have had a special, remarkable happy time in Oxford. Oh, though there were those wild times when the Tangents or Beanland or the Cooters bands would play till dawn and I would get arrested. That wasn’t fun.