BOOTH BLUES

Vendors disappointed with Crop Over spaces

By Sheria Brathwaite 

Several vendors have expressed dissatisfaction with the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) over how the allocated spaces along the Mighty Grynner Highway for the last lap of Crop Over were organized.

Many of them told Barbados TODAY that they were upset and suggested that better measures be taken to properly accommodate the vending community next year.

On Thursday, while setting up tents and tables in preparation for the upcoming events this weekend, they said they were not pleased with the spaces they paid for.

“You are supposed to have at least three feet between each stall, but the stalls are really close, and everybody is up in one. There is no walking space between the stalls,” said a vendor of 20-plus years, who did not want to be identified.

Another vendor said: “We went and paid for the spaces on the first Monday of July, and I slept down there the Sunday because they said first come first served. When I turned up the day before to set up my stall-C 89- there was no space for me, so I went down there yesterday and sat down for hours then they made a space for me. I wanted to be opposite Mount Gay wall, but the space they put me in is facing Cou Cou Village. So I am very upset because I slept down there [NCF] a whole night. If you go in and you are given a map and you choose where you are going, you have a particular thing in mind. So when you come and you don’t get what you thought you would have gotten it is really offsetting,” she said.

Andrea Gooding also complained that she was not satisfied with how the vendors were treated and wanted a vendor representative to be on the organizing committee next year.

“We have fallen back into a system that we got out of at least eight or nine years ago. We should be at the stage where we get an appointment to come to buy our space and not this first come first serve that they went back to this year because it was a mad scramble and a whole lot of confusion. It should be in place that the older vendors get the first option,” she said. “A lot of things need to be looked into where the vendors are concerned because the vendors are shown little or no respect when it comes to operating at events, not only the NCF but a lot of the other coordinators for events do it too. But the problem that I have with the NCF is that they do not listen to the vendors. As far as I know, there’s no vendor representation on any of these organizing committees, which makes no sense because without the vendors there’s no event.

“When we get to voice our opinion, the programme is already set. So the NCF and the other organizations hosting events need to look into that. So far, every proposal for vendor representation on any of these committees has not been looked at or heard or acted on.”

Lindsay Babb also expressed similar sentiments, adding that he wanted to see the area marketed better and more micro businesses given the opportunity to take part in this scale of activity.

“If this is a national festival, this should be a week-long thing, not a weekend thing, so that tourists could come by as everybody won’t be here for the jump up [Grand Kadooment],” he said. “I am here through Export Barbados, which is good, but what will happen next year? There are other entities like YES [Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme] and the Trust Loans Fund, where are they? A lot of the big companies have too much say; I understand that we have to protect their interest but understand that micro and small businesses are part and parcel of this economy as well; we are part of the culture too.”

Barbados TODAY has reached out to the NCF for comment.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb