The Top Gear Festival at Bushy Park, St Philip, yesterday was a bitter sweet experience for many residents.
While most of the people interviewed acknowledged the festival was good for tourism and the country by extension, as well as bringing much needed infrastructural improvements to the district, there were still a few issues raised.
Resident Welton Alleyne, who helps to run Raccoon’s Sports Bar with his mother Sylvia Alleyne, called the developments brought by the festival “fantastic” but did not like how his mother’s business had been treated.
“This is really the only business in Bushy Park and as such should have been treated differently. Yes, there are a lot of people out there but they are out there and what about my regular customers? They have challenges coming here because of the restrictions concerning the event – something I bet wouldn’t happen if I was a big conglomerate,” he said.
Alleyne said his mother was a pioneer in entrepreneurship and if Government was truly serious about the subject, then she should have been consulted as a resident and business owner.
As for the festival itself, he said it was “beautiful” as the roads would not have been fixed otherwise. He said he was glad to see the powers that be finally realise what the people in the area had known all along – that Bushy Park and its environs were a gem.
Some residents said the area had been struggling with public transport and water issues for a while but neither issue was present yesterday as the water was flowing fine and Transport Board buses could be seen passing through on a regular basis.
Bushy Park resident Allan Forde, said he would be surprised if there were any such issues with the festival going on.
“You done know the water or the current ain’t goin’ off with their million-dollar thing dey,” he said.
Forde said the festival was good for the country but “the dust killing we”.
“Since the building start and with all this increased traffic it kicking up. I still glad because it will bring money for the country, the only ting is I not getting work with them,” he said.
Despite living so close, Forde said he was not going to attend the festival as the price was too inhibitive.
“I not going because $75 hard to come by. I’m unemployed with three children, so I would rather buy rice and chicken for them than spend it to go Top Gear,” he said.
Unlike some of her neighbours, Victorine Grazette was happier than either a lark or a clam as she relaxed in her patio listening to the sounds of the festival.
“I am happy to see it here; the noise ain’t worrying me. We used to live in a jungle out here; it was bare bush in Bushy Park and I used to be scared to walk by the cemetery but by this up here is how we get it [the debushing and road repairs],” she said.
Grazette said they were having water woes due to the construction but things were okay now and admitted dust was an issue but she was willing to live with it. In addition, she commented on the frequent buses spotted passing by.
“We seeing a lot of buses now, we don’t get them too regular but now you seeing them, but when this thing over, they will disappear again,” she said.
Denise Doyle and Elinor Hinkson do not live right outside the race track but were selling food and drink products alongside the road. They were among the few doing so as most vendors were within the festival gates but they said this was not an option for them.
“It dead enough out here, you would have to be here early to get sales when there are lines going in or late when people leaving. There are vendors inside but I heard you have to pay $2 500 to sell inside and I am not paying that, but it is not working for vendors outside; I wish they could charge less. Plus, you can’t carry in coolers and I can’t agree with that,” said Doyle.
Hinkson said the festival was an “all-inclusive thing” and the real winners were the organisers.
