The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

NINE months after the Davis administration pledged to stand with Arawak Cay vendors whose stalls were destroyed or damaged by fire, operators say they are still struggling to rebuild and have received none of the promised assistance.

The November 16, 2025 blaze destroyed six stalls and damaged two others at the popular Fish Fry, prompting Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and other officials to visit the scene and commit the government to urgent support.

But Arawak Cay Conch, Fish, Vegetable and Food Vendors Association president Lillian Laramore-Smith said affected vendors have instead faced repeated delays obtaining business licences, liquor licences and other approvals needed to resume operations. “The government hasn’t approached them,” Mrs Laramore-Smith said.  “Nothing, absolutely nothing.”

She said the Davis administration had committed to helping vendors navigate the approval process, but that assistance had not materialised.

Mrs Laramore-Smith said several operators had contacted her in recent months seeking updates as frustration mounted.

“I just spoke to one of the owners yesterday, and she is a total wreck,” she said. “They are upset.”

She said at least three or four vendors had called her over the past two months asking what progress had been made.

The fire devastated businesses whose owners and employees watched their stalls burn as firefighters battled the flames and bystanders threw buckets of water.

Rodney Russell, owner of Red Snapper, was among the six vendors who lost their stalls.

Mr Russell, a former association president who has been part of the Arawak Cay community for 33 years, said the situation had “gone sour” and that affected operators had received no government approvals or assistance since the fire.

He said vendors had instead been trying to revive their businesses with whatever resources they could find themselves.

Mr Russell said he had enclosed a section of his building that escaped the fire but remained unable to operate fully.

“I am trying to bounce back,” he said. “I have not gotten back.”

Mr Russell said he still had no electricity and was forced to close when night fell. “I’m just struggling every day,” he said, “and then when night comes, I close down.”

He said no government official had reached out to the affected vendors. “All the talk and the fluff of making promises,” Mr Russell said, “those promises didn't come true.”

Another affected vendor, who asked not to be named, also criticised the lack of assistance.The vendor recalled a widely publicised meeting between operators and government officials after the fire which, they said, resulted in no help. Some vendors had previously described the meeting as “more like a photo op.”

In a Facebook post following that meeting in November, Mr Davis said he had listened as vendors described their concerns about businesses into which they had poured their savings. “I assured them that my government will stand with them,” Mr Davis wrote. “We will walk every step of this journey alongside the vendors who helped make the Fish Fry what it is today.”

Mrs Laramore-Smith said the reality nine months later had fallen far short of that pledge.The Tribune repeatedly sought an update from the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources on plans to assist the affected vendors. No response was received up to press time.