{"id":3390,"date":"2020-02-24T21:49:43","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T21:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=3390"},"modified":"2020-02-24T21:49:45","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T21:49:45","slug":"myrtles-undying-commitment-to-the-craft-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=3390","title":{"rendered":"Myrtle’s undying commitment to the craft business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


MGN\/Alan Lewin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will not leave the craft business for any other work,\neven if it\u2019s paying big money. I just love my craft business and the pleasure\nof meeting and greeting tourists,\u201d shared Myrtle Cargill \u2013 a craft trader with\nmore than 50 years of experience in that field. With the self-given moniker,\n\u2018Myrtle The Turtle\u2019, she recalled quite vividly to the Western Mirror <\/strong>how\nshe began that journey. \u201cMy uncle gave me 10 pounds in the early 60\u2019s to look\nat a shop to buy. I bought the shop at Strand Street behind the then Civic\nCentre where the old Craft Market was. From those same funds I got from my\nuncle, I was able to stock up the shop, and from then, it was pretty much\nsmooth sailing, as my business began to boom and I got to save a lot of money\nfrom my earnings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DISASTER STRUCK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all great stories of resilience, there are trials to be found, and for Cargill, no other moment proved more trying than when disaster unexpectedly struck. A fire of unknown origin swept through the area, damaging the old courthouse, and, unfortunately for Cargill, completely incinerating shop and her stocks in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bankro: These are some of the baskets that Myrtle has for sale.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Forced to start over, Cargill relocated to Creek Street, and\nfrom there, built her craft business from the ground up. Though a number of\nchallenges were expected \u2013 and even encountered, during that period, Cargill\nultimately saw her fortunes change rather swiftly. She reaped a lot of success,\nand was once again able to save a lot of her earnings as a number of tourists\nstill found and flocked to her shop for all the unique items she sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO THE HARBOUR STREET CRAFT VILLAGE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Harbour Street Craft Village soon came on stream\nfollowing a lengthy construction period, and proved to be next grounds Cargill\nwould set her sights on to continue her success. She relocated to the area \u2013\nand has been there since, to this day. The move, Cargill recalls, was only\nanother in her many business exploits across the city. Cargill shared that one\npoint, she rented a shop at the City Centre Plaza where she reaped just as much\nsuccess being the only black persons among the Indians selling souvenir items.\nBut that was not without its struggles. Cargill was held up and robbed by\ngunmen on three occasions, but remained undeterred. That resilience paid off.\nCargill soon had the privilege of selling items to former President of the\nUnited States of America, Ronald Reagan and his family, as well as legendary\nboxers Lennox Lewis and Sugar Ray Leonard, and international footballer, Roger\nMiller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the long-serving craft vendor, the challenges have been\nworth it. Just last year, she was recognized by Minister of Tourism, Ed\nBartlett, for her over 50 years serving the industry, receiving a plaque to\nmark the occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her vast catalogue of items \u2013 to include straw caps,\nbags, Bankro baskets, T-shirts, dresses, jewelry, and others, Cargill continues\nto be a trailblazer in the craft vending world. Considering that the industry\nhas been struggling in recent times, Cargill believes the Bottom Road Carnival\nshould be revived, and that restrictions should be stripped regarding craft\nvendors selling to a number of stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cargill has already done 50 years, and shows no sign of letting up now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TRAVELERS’ ROUNDUP<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI will not leave the craft business for any other work, even if it\u2019s paying big money. I just love my craft business and the pleasure of meeting and greeting tourists,\u201d shared Myrtle Cargill \u2013 a craft trader with more than 50 years of experience in that field<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[1769,1771,1770,30],"class_list":["post-3390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-feature","category-tourism","tag-craft-market","tag-craft-vendor","tag-myrtle","tag-western-jamaica"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3393,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3390\/revisions\/3393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}