Barbados showcased some of its best handicraft at the annual Mount Gay/Carib Beer Bridgetown Market on Spring Garden Highway yesterday, but sales appeared slow for a large part of the day.

Business was brisk for some food vendors, including Cou-Cou Village, but many stalls selling imported toys were struggling even though hundreds of Barbadians and quite a few tourists were on hand.

However, with its striking pendants, figurines and other products, the small glass-blowing company, Crystal Forms, managed to attract several buyers.

Businesswoman Janice Hunte, sitting at her spinning wheel working on a batch of Sea Island Cotton, admitted sales were slow, but there were many enquiries about her products, including sweaters, coats, bags and hats.

"It is really slow today, but a lot of people are interested in our work," she told the SUNDAY SUN.

Hunte is one of three women involved in the St Thomas-based company Cotton Inspirations, the others being Marcia Johnson and Sonia Rochester.

Wood-carver Randell Andrews, of White Hill, St Andrew, said he expected sales of what he called his "scenic carvings" would pick up later. Andrews is one of the artistes whose work, "put together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle", caught the attention of many visitors to the market.

Craftsman Olwin Bristol, who runs Whistworks, reported relatively good sales.

Whistworks, a St Peter operation, produces table mats, straw carpets, wine baskets, magazine racks, picnic baskets and hats.

Locally-made clothing, jewellery, shoes, souvenirs and works of art were among the items on display at Bridgetown Market.

But on a day when several stalls had at least one barbecue grill, food remained a dominant feature of the market.

"We didn't do too badly," admitted head of Cou-Cou Village, Archbishop Granville Williams. "We had some of the crowd from the Foreday Morning Jam in for breakfast this morning."

At the dozens of food stalls, pudding and souse, chicken, hot-dogs and hamburgers were in great demand.

Cow heel soup, Bajan sugar-cakes, cotton candy, ice-cream and popcorn were among the offerings as well.

Saxophonist Gerald "Seaman" Hunte and his tuk band brought some variety to the Culture Village on a day when calypso music boomed from banks of amplifiers.

Story-telling by Gregory Fitt, a puppet show by the National Library Service and a Barbados Landship display were among the programmes planned for the festival, as organisers seek to attract more families.

Co-ordinator AJA said this year's event promised to have greater appeal, with a return to the family event which Barbadians from all walks of life could once again come out and enjoy.

He complained that in the last few years the overall cultural value of the event had declined and the return of a true culture village with everything Barbadian would help take care of that.