Caption: Bags of garbage wait to be collected on the outskirts of the Flava Village on Ash Wednesday morning. AZP News/Alicia Chamely

Summary

• Flava Village appeared clean and orderly on Ash Wednesday, and a year-round vendor described the initiative and sales as a success.
• Seasonal vendors outside NCC’s Flava Village say they were disadvantaged this Carnival due to poor placement, sanitation and security concerns.
• Vendors near the Savannah/NAPA area reported garbage buildup and claimed trash was not collected for two days.
• Vendors said route changes kept bands away from their booths, shifting most customer traffic and sales toward Flava Village and prime Savannah stage areas.
• NCC Chairman Peter Kanhai says bands dictated their own routes

 

By Alicia Chamely

SEASONAL vendors placed outside the National Carnival Commission’s (NCC) Flava Village at the Queen’s Park Savannah say they were put at a disadvantage this year, citing poor sanitation and inadequate security at their location.

Early on Ash Wednesday morning, Flava Village was spotless—aside from a rogue bead here and there. There was little evidence that, less than 12 hours earlier, the facility had hosted hundreds—if not thousands—of patrons over the last week.

Vendor Peter Fausten of Betty’s Soups and Catering Services was one of 60 year-round Savannah food vendors who moved into Flava Village for the Carnival season.

Speaking with AZP News, Fausten described the facility and its impact on the Carnival food trade as “tremendously great.”

Asked about the amenities, Fausten praised the clean, organised space. He described business at Flava as a “success” and commended the initiative.

However, seasonal vendors who secured booths around the Savannah—outside Flava Village and opposite the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA)—told a very different story.

Vendor Keisha Burke pointed to heaps of garbage at the back of the booths. Burke claimed the garbage was not collected on either Monday or Tuesday and was still there on Wednesday morning.

Pointing to rows of garbage bags lined up along the fence separating the street vendors from Flava Village, Burke said: “Even though they had bins, those were full right through. Even if they clean up the streets in front, the bins stay full right through. You could see for yourself—this is two days of garbage.”

Asked about business, Burke said this year was disappointing for seasonal vendors. She believed they were placed at a disadvantage because of the Flava Village setup.

Another seasonal vendor, who asked to remain anonymous, said she had operated a booth selling food and drinks for many years, but this year was particularly disappointing.

She said route changes meant no bands passed in front of the booths, and as a result most business from both players and spectators was captured by Flava Village and the few vendors who received spots near the Savannah stage’s entrances and exits.

The vendor said concerns about booth placement were raised in a meeting with authorities before the season, but were met with what she described as “attitude.”

She said when booth operators asked which customers they would be expected to serve given the band routes and the Flava Village setup, they were bluntly told: “The joggers.”

She further alleged that the few seasonal vendors who secured spots inside Flava Village were placed toward the back or off to the side, with limited visibility to patrons.

The vendor said space preference was given to year-round Savannah food vendors, and she felt seasonal vendors were not given a fair chance.

On sanitation, she said garbage was previously collected daily, but this did not happen this year. She added that the lack of regular cleaning and insufficient bathroom and shower facilities affected vendors who needed to maintain food-safety standards.

While she said she understood the reasoning behind Flava Village, she believed a more equitable system should have been put in place to give seasonal vendors a fair opportunity.

Another vendor, also speaking anonymously, who was located on St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, said business was slow but attributed it to fluctuating crowds, noting sales vary from year to year.

Asked about cleanup efforts, the vendor said there was a visible presence of street sweepers who did their best to keep roadways clean between waves of crowds.

NCC chairman responds

AZP News contacted NCC Chairman Peter Kanhai to get his response to the vendor’s complaints.

Addressing the issue of band routes, Kanhai said the NCC did not dictate the routes of the bands, noting “there are some bands who don’t even come near the Savannah.”

Kanhai said the seasonal vendors in the booths located on the Savannah, like the vendors in Flava Village and the others around the area, would have seen a drop in sales due to the simple fact that many bands offer an all-inclusive package.

He said therefore masqueraders did not have to leave the band to go buy a drink or food from a vendor, so all vendors would have felt that pinch.

Kanhai said Flava Village should not have had any impact on the booths, noting the vendors within the Village were long-time Savannah vendors that had simply been moved for the Carnival season.

He did, however, have some concerns over the booth vendors’ claims of trash not being collected and the areas not being cleaned.

Kanhai said, “I can’t confirm what you’re saying there, so I wouldn’t want to comment on that, because I can’t confirm that. I’ll have to talk to people at NCC who monitor those things. But I know that there are a number of different cleaning crews working around the clock every day, and particularly over the carnival weekend.”

He said while he would investigate the concerns of the seasonal vendors in regard to the collection of trash, Flava Village should not have impacted their sales nor was it designed to give one group an advantage over the other.