By Roy Sanford, Staff Reporter
Two men clean up a section of the burnt out Fantasy Craft Market on Tuesday. An early morning fire on Thursday caused millions of dollars in damages. - Patrick Campbell/Freelance Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
CRAFT VENDORS at the Fantasy Craft Market on Gloucester Avenue in Montego Bay whose goods were destroyed by fire last Thursday are making a desperate appeal for assistance and are complaining that the authorities are treating them shabbily since the tragedy.
"My craft shop was all I had to support my family," Dennis Cunningham told The Gleaner during a tour of the facility. "Right now I have no other way to support them and I don't know what to do."
Cunningham's shop was among 13 completely destroyed by fire in the early hours of Thursday morning at the 30-year-old market that housed a total of 45 shops. The fire is thought to have been caused by an electrical short circuit.
Cunningham, who has been a craft vendor for 15 years says the damage at his shop has exceeded $275,000 and he is appealing for assistance. "Right now I don't have any money," he said. "All the money I had I spent stocking up the shop for the winter season. So I am asking anyone to give me or all of us, a helping hand."
Patricia Gardner, whose shop was also completely destroyed by the fire and who suffered $200,000 in damages, echoed his sentiments. "Right now I have to beg to survive," she stated. "My shop was my only source of income and I have a family to feed." The vendors The Gleaner spoke with said the effects of the tragedy is going to be felt for a long time to come and to make matters worse, they said their shops were not insured and there are no way they are going to receive some form of compensation. "My shop was not insured because no one wants to insure craft shops," Jennies Williams, who said she suffered up to $1 million in damages, remarked. "So we need help and we need it bad."
Meanwhile Alethia Lawrence, president of the market, said that the authorities have treated the vendors shabbily. "Since the fire occurred no one in authority has come here to tell us they are going to offer assistance," she said. "The Parish Council (St. James) sent one truck here and it took away one load of debris and we haven't seen them since."
She expressed concern that the debris that has been piled up since the fire could attract rats and other pests. "So something should be done about this and I am appealing to all those in authority to help us," she noted.
Lawrence said that the National Association of Craft Vendors is hoping to meet Prime Minister P.J. Patterson as early as today in order to voice the concern of those who suffered damage at the market. "We hope that works out because we are in desperate need of help," she said.
