Vendors worry about new Falmouth market

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

There is a stark difference on the sides of the fence separating the Falmouth pier project from the town - ordered activity on the side towards the sea and the teeming, near chaos of a cluttered small town towards land.

The difference is just as stark between the famous Falmouth 'Ben' Down' Market and the site to which it will be relocated.

The market, which peaks on Wednesdays, is just across from the pier but will have to be relocated as the present location is an area which cannot be congested with vehicular traffic.

Under the present plan, the market is to be moved to a location less than five minutes' drive from its current location.

But work on the new market seems well behind schedule leading to concern by some vendors.

When the Sunday Gleaner team visited the proposed site last Wednesday, there was no person or machine at area which has been cleared with a plateau of marl in the middle.

It is very quiet there, without even the drone of equipment to indicate progress apace with the pier.

If the relocation of Ben Down is to be a reality, a lot of work will have to be done in a short time to accommodate hordes of people and facilitate a high volume of commercial activity.

Bustling market

Last Wednesday, the poor man's market was teeming with vendors, buyers and window shoppers, all sweating under the well-worn blue tarpaulins which formed the roofing against the elements.

Yells of "$10 comb! Primary school shoes $600!" pull in willing shoppers looking for bargains in a setting known for low prices. Underwear matters are not private here, as one woman announces "we have brassiere, panty, underpants man an' bway!"

One woman uses technology to cut through the audio clutter. She hoists a megaphone to her lips and broadcasts, her dark lips open against her unnaturally light face, "Nike an' Gucci over here. What a bargain! What a sale! What did a sell for $4,000 an' $5,000 a sell fi two gran'! Bargain!"

Maurice Sewell, whose stall is in the last row of the market, does not shout anything about his goods. He does not have to. The colourful 'Gladiator' slippers pull in the women in droves.

Occasionally, he hurries off to get the required size for a potential customer, fitting done on a piece of cardboard placed on the earthen floor of the market.

One woman eyes a particular size and seems miffed when Sewell tells her it will not fit.

"Yu no see yu foot tall. Me wi go fi de size," he says. He does not get a chance to, as she moves along smartly. "She no see how har foot tall," Sewell mutters, watching his sale swish her hips away.

He has been coming to Falmouth to sell for about six years, shipping down his goods on a truck while he takes the bus. He is not alone on the trek, as he points out other people from Kingston around him. "You see Wednesday day in town slow. We jus' take Falmouth. Falmouth pon Wednesday come een like town pon Saturday," Sewell said.

He comes in from Tuesday night to sell his shoes, which he sources in Miami and Los Angeles in the USA.

"Jamaican people want suppen good fe put on all the while. We outdo all the American dem, because people don't come down from foreign looking good like we," he said.

And he also wants something good for his market space, as he says moving it is "good, good, good. Sometimes a little change make things better".

But he warns: "Them cyaa move we from here so an don't put us in a decent place. And them cyaa close down this an' leave we hanging."