Moontown – where the action is

John Anthony Husbands, Anthony Broomes and Randolph Husbands hauling in a catch. However, they said fish was scarce.

Randolph Husbands (right) teaching his nephews Ricardo Leacock and Shakiel Connell how to scale fish. (Pictures by Nigel Browne.)

By Carlos Atwell | Fri, February 10, 2012 - 11:04 AM

Moontown, St Lucy is a lively place that hardly sleeps.

“You can’t get a better place; it is no longer even Moontown, it is ‘everybody town’. There are only two places where you can get food late at night and they are Baxter’s Road and Moontown,” said unofficial ambassador Carlo Gibbons, who runs Mix Dance Studio.

He said Moontown was an “excellent” place, free of violence where “you can come and feel free”.

The proper name for the area is actually Half Moon Fort but it is popularly known as Moontown largely due to the supermarket in the area, St Elmo’s Supermarket at Moontown, which belongs to parliamentary representative Denis Kellman.

We saw a group of people playing dominoes, a common sight across Barbados. However, what was not so common was that a woman was among them, “slamming a dom” with the men. Angela Ifill said she did not live in Half Moon Fort but was a regular visitor.

“I come and lime and play dominoes, even though I work in Six Men’s. I love to play dominoes and do it whenever I get the chance, though I’m not so good at it,” she said.

Ifill said she loved the atmosphere in Moontown and had a lot of friends there so she would continue to frequent the area.

At 81 years old, Rudolph “Hector” Griffith is one of the oldest “limers” in Moontown.

He said he remembered the 1937 riots.

“I went to school at the old Half Moon Fort primary school during the riots. I was seven years old. I can remember hearing ‘send the children home, the people rioting’,” he said, adding in his day, children had to walk to school and wear one suit of clothes.

Watching the action, Randolph Husbands said he liked to visit Moontown to relax and watch (and play) dominoes. A fisherman, he said things were not so good at sea right now.

He soon sprang into action as a boat pulled up on the beach and his brother, John Anthony Husbands, came on shore carrying fish – though only a few – and spoke to Street Beat.

“The fish ain’t catching. They are migrating to warmer waters near Trinidad but I’m not going out there,” he said.

John Anthony said he grew up in nearby Checker Hall and called Moontown a “good fishing village” about which, despite some squabbles, he had nothing bad to say about the area. Still, he said some changes could be good.

“To be honest, I have no problems with change. We can get a few more shops here to help develop the place and bring more life,” he said.

His nephews, Ricardo Leacock and Shakiel Connell were nearby.

The two youth said they learned a lot from the older folk, such as how to fish, roast breadfruit and play dominoes. Connell said he had a problem with the minibuses, however.

“Some minibuses want to come through here too rough and they play a bunch of rubbish, they should play more gospel,” he said.

Finally, back to St Elmo’s where store manager Yvette Cozier had her hands full dealing with customers. She said it was usually very busy and spoke about the pros and cons of working there.

“We do have small cases of shoplifting, but it is not out of hand, we have a way of handling it. I like this community and I like the fact people know you by name, even visitors,” she said.

As for Kellman, she said he could no longer be found behind the register as often as he used to, but was almost always available via phone if needed.