CitCo Clarifies No Vending Rule for Carnival Day

The Belize City Council announced earlier today that vending on Marine Parade, Newtown Barracks and Princess Margaret Drive will be strictly prohibited on Carnival Day.  That is if you intend to set up stalls to sell food and drinks on the stretch of road to be used for the actual road march.  The announcement, however, may not have been clear to many who believed it to mean that vendors are prohibited from selling along the carnival route altogether.  Communications Manager Michelle Smith explains.

 

Michelle Smith, Communications Manager, CitCo

“After consulting with the Carnival Association, it was agreed that yes, no vending will be allowed on the street, on the carnival route, but you are allowed to vend on the shoulder of the street, meaning that you are allowed to vend on what we call the reserve space.  Or, if for instance, there is a private property and you get permission from the owner to vend on the property, you are allowed to vend.  But we are saying that you’re not allowed to vend on the street and the purpose behind that is just for safety reasons.  In the event that the police need to come out, we want to leave the street open so they have access to come out.  So basically, it’s not that you’re not allowed to vend, but not on the street of the carnival route.”

 

Isani Cayetano

“Does the street, just for the purpose of clarity, include both sidewalks?”

 

Michelle Smith

“Yes, both sides of the street.  Yes, we know the carnival is coming from Memorial Park to Marion Jones Stadium, so we have to leave the other half open for safety precaution. and I just want to add that we have vendors who are vending on Rock Park.  You have the Sandlighter’s Promenade by Moe’s Pizza where you have people vending and it’s bars and people who are selling food. When it comes to DigiPark, as you may know, we have an agreement with the DigiPark vendors whereby only the vendors in DigiPark can vend.  This is nothing new, and so, if we allow vendors to go in the park, it will impact the vendors that are in there and we only find it fair that only the vendors at DigiPark can vend.”