After nearly two years of displacement amid a major redevelopment project at the historic City Centre Temple Yard in Barbados, displaced local artisans are still stuck in limbo, with conflicting timelines and a lack of official outreach leaving many legacy vendors uncertain about when they can return to their original trading space. The project, which is transforming the iconic craft hub, is on track to wrap up its first construction phase ahead of Barbados’ Independence Day, according to Minister of Housing Chris Gibbs, who confirmed the milestone timeline during comments Tuesday. However, for the original vendors that moved to temporary accommodation at Pelican Village, no concrete information about their relocation back to the redeveloped site has been shared since talks with local media last year. Craftswoman Sherry-Ann Knight, one of the displaced legacy vendors, says she has only seen the near-finished construction from a distance and heard unconfirmed rumours about the project, with no official consultations or organized meetings held for the relocated group since 2023. She described business conditions at the Pelican Village temporary site as catastrophic, with foot traffic nearly non-existent: “Zero plus zero equals zero; these folks ain’t come out, food man ain’t come out, only one leather man come out.” Visibly frustrated by the ongoing uncertainty, Knight said she can only watch the construction progress from afar with no clear next steps for her craft business. Vendors were first displaced from Temple Yard almost two years ago to make way for the redevelopment, splitting the community across temporary trading locations. While some vendors like Tyrone Howell, a veteran leather craftsman, remain cautiously optimistic about returning to the original site, he also confirmed that no official updates on a relocation timeline have been shared with vendors since the project kicked off. “When we first come there she talk to we but since that day we ain’t had no more meetings,” Howell explained, noting he has observed new stall infrastructure being added to the back of the redeveloped site, suggesting finishing work is still ongoing. Howell maintains that the original legacy vendors should be the first to move back into the completed space, a priority he hopes project officials will honour. He added that regular customers constantly ask when the group will return to their central Cheapside location opposite the General Post Office, as most shoppers do not travel to the remote Pelican Village site to patronize the artisans. “A lot of people can’t come on here. I missing customers. A lot of people don’t even know who on here,” Howell said, sharing his hope that the relocation will happen before the Christmas holiday rush, giving vendors time to rebuild their customer base ahead of the busiest trading period of the year. Officials with Barbados Tourism Investment Inc (BTII), the agency leading the redevelopment, say the relocation process is moving forward and that original Temple Yard artisans will be given priority access to the new stalls. BTII communications consultant and spokesperson Joy-Ann Haigh confirmed that the application process for new stall leases at the redeveloped site is now finalized, and will be shared first with the legacy vendors that were temporarily displaced. “We’ll continue to communicate with them, and we will be sharing the application process with them shortly,” Haigh said, noting that displaced legacy artisans will be screened and approved before the agency considers applications from any new vendors that align with Temple Yard’s mission as a local craft hub. The application package will include full details of lease agreements, as well as clear outlines of the responsibilities for both vendors and government stakeholders once the facility opens to the public, Haigh added. She confirmed that BTII plans to hold an in-person meeting with the original Temple Yard vendors first to share all relevant information, but declined to provide a specific date for that meeting, saying the vendors deserve to be informed directly before any details are released to the public. “It’s gonna be shortly because we don’t have a date yet, and I would rather tell them first than to tell you because they’re not supposed to read about it in the newspaper first,” Haigh said.