The National Cultural Foundation’s final Arts & Artisanal Pop-Up for the season was a success, says senior business development officer Andre Hoyte.
That’s because not only was Barbadians’ support evident, but visitors also came out in their numbers, to patronise the 35 exhibitors and to witness the live entertainment at Golden Square Freedom Park in The City yesterday.
“After coming out of being shut down for about two years, this was another opportunity for the business owners to connect and reconnect with people and to showcase some of the creative products that they began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Thankfully there are still a lot of visitors in Barbados and we saw that today. A lot of them came through and made purchases as well as locals. So a lot of the vendors did well today. For some of them it was the first time they showcased their items outside of their stores and they got to attract new clients, and I think overall it was very successful,” Hoyte said.
The Arts & Artisanal Pop-Ups began during mid-July and overall 60 exhibitors displayed their products.
Some of the items sold included health and wellness products, home accents, locally made handbags, jewellery, clothing and other accessories.
The consumers shopped in a festive atmosphere thanks to the Israel Lovell Foundation Folk Troupe, Iz A Vybe band, stiltmen, dancers who masqueraded in costumes, and other live performances from calypso monarch Quon, Lil Rick, Peter Ram, Nikita, Mikey and Faith.
Hoyte said although Crop Over was technically over, they wanted to make sure the spirit of the festival was still felt.
“The spirit of Crop Over is still lingering with us so this was a great time to host an event like this,” he added. (TG)
