‘Champs used to be like Christmas’

WHILE THE ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) continues to attract a large number of track and field fans from home and abroad, vendors at the National Stadium have stated they are seeing a decrease in sales.

One of the most vocal of the vendors surrounding the topic is Milton Richards, the self-described ‘best jerk man from Portland’.

Richards, who has been working at Champs since 1999, said he has seen a stark difference in sales over the years.

He believes the change is because many of the Champs patrons today are making less money compared to those in past, and are unable to spend extra money on food from vendors.

“Champs used to be like Christmas for us,” Richards told The Gleaner.

“The young people dem now, they have no money. Mi see four of them come here yesterday and I’m selling a piece of jerk chicken for $1,500, and I gave them for $1,200, and four of them had to come together and pay for it.”

Richards said in the past, he would often be able to sell his entire supply of chicken and pork in short order.

However, he fears he will be left with a lot of food left over, leaving him to find other ways of making a profit.

“I’m telling you, mi a the only man up here with jerk pork and mi a struggle to sell the jerk pork. Believe you me, back in the day at Champs, mi used to come and by time mi reach, mi done. I don’t know what is the difference,” he explained.

“You can stand up now and watch the crowd, none of them are stopping to buy anything. Them not even stopping to ask you about the price. The crowd not buying anything,” he pointed to the waves of patron walking past the vendors at their stalls.

“Every year it look like it a cut down more and more.”

Another vendor who noticed the decline in customers is Cedric Scarlet, who has been a vendor at Champs for half a decade.

Scarlet said it is simply a sign of the changing times and said he is grateful he is still able to sustain a livelihood from the championships.

“I’ve been doing jerk chicken and food and soup at Champs for like four or five years now. You have to remember that the things and times change. It’s not like back then when it explosive and people a come out and buy,” he said.

“But today is Saturday and the Saturday looks better than every other day of the week, so mi nah go say I’m not selling anything because we have to give God thanks and be grateful for the money I’m making right now.”

gregory.bryce@gleanerjm.com