By Glenda Anderson, Freelance WriterYOU MAY not realize it but there are actually three large markets downtown Kingston. There is the Queens or meat market across from March's drug store along West Queen Street; the Jubilee or Chigga Foot market; and finally the more popular Coronation market.
You may be asking what's so hot about Coronation Market. Well, for a place that has moved from being the local burial ground to being the largest market in Jamaica, it sure has come a long way.
Before 1944 when a formal fee structure was introduced, vendors sold on the streets. They operated on a kind of internal 'partner' system where wholesale merchants and vendors used it to purchase and clear goods. Regular business developed into a kind of chain where farmers found retailers and operated on a double-layer selling as well to individual customers. Back in the day selling spots were on a first-come-first-serve basis with people sometimes sleeping outside with their goods. The only persons who actually got preference for permanent spots were the 'old-timers' or elderly vendors.
Former Markets Manager Michael Webb, notes that the market was reconstructed and re-opened in 1953 as a state-of-the-art centre. It was complete with a unique control entrance and marshall end area where goods were taken off trucks inspected, assessed, charges levied and paid then taken inside for sale. At the marshall end area there was a manager's office and an entrance for trucks with a scale for weighing goods, says Mr. Webb. More bulky cargo was transported by train to the station at the bottom of Darling, Pechon and West Streets, a section called Spur Line where trains could actually back into the market.
Back then the market was regulated and sections marked specially by parishes. Trelawny stood out for its yams, St. Andrew for escallion and thyme while St. Elizabeth and Manchester ruled for melons and vegetable. Bordered by volatile West Kingston, an early morning trek through its intertwined passages is not for the fainthearted, neither is the atmosphere filled with aggressive exchanges.
