Police clear Reggae Sumfest roadside sellers from Plantation Cove no-vending area

Reggae Sumfest means more than nightlife and stage time for plenty of Jamaicans — it is also a chance to make money. That chance faded for a number of sellers on Saturday evening when police told them to break down their setups just outside the entrance to Plantation Cove in St Ann, where organisers had put a no-vending zone in place for the festival.

Several traders looked shaken as they took apart temporary cookshops and packed up soup, jerk chicken and other meals they had spent hours, and sometimes days, getting ready. One seller, speaking to Observer Online, said: “I know the police are only doing their job.” He added: “But a wi a hustle too. We have children to feed.”

Others shared the same frustration. Many said they had come from different parts of the island hoping to do business at one of Jamaica’s biggest entertainment gatherings. When officers reached them, they said the food was already done, the coal was burning, and they expected sales as crowds headed into the grounds. Instead, they had to pack everything away.

Melissa Green said: “We set up early this morning, after 6:00 am and we were on the side where there were no signs saying we can’t sell there. Everything was going good until an officer got a call from a commissioner I believe, telling us we have to move from this side as well so a lot of vendors have left.”

For people who rely on big events to earn, the blow was not only unsold food. It meant loans taken, savings used up, and plans that ended abruptly.

Organisers had already set out how selling would work. Anyone who wanted to trade at Reggae Sumfest was asked beforehand to book approved spots inside the venue, pay the fees, and use the stalls assigned to them. Limits on selling outside the property were part of the festival’s operating arrangements, alongside tighter traffic control and safety steps meant to keep walkways open and allow emergency vehicles through if required.

That explanation offered little comfort to those loading coolers, collapsing tables and hauling cookware back onto trucks.