St Elizabeth ‘hat lady’ continues mom’s legacy

Following in the footsteps of her now-deceased mother, Althea Heath is taking up the mantle as the 'Grosmond district hat lady'.

For several years, Heath's mother, who everyone referred to as Miss Norma, was a vendor on the Negril hip strip in Westmoreland. Even after her retirement a few years ago, Miss Norma continued to flex her creative muscles not only making different craft items but also selling her hats. Among Miss Norma's creations were bathing suits, dresses, handbags and small statues. Though famous on the West End in Negril for those items, she quickly gained a reputation for her hats.

"She sold in Negril you see but chu the COVID, people come here [Grosmond] to buy hats from her and she just start it as a business. She died last year November and people still come. Even this morning I sold hats. People say dem still want di hats dem," she said.

The straw hats made by a local artiste in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, come in a variety of sizes with a number of different woven patterns using both light and dark woods. Heath says her prices range from $500 to $1,500. Persons would also swarm to Grosmond to buy her craft as well.

"When the COVID set in, she start sell it from home here. But she left a lot of stuff," she said. Now Heath and her sister have made it their goal to keep selling from their late mother's usual spot in Westmoreland's popular resort town. Though Miss Norma did not make the hats, people have not stopped asking for Heath to supply them.

"Mi just start because di people dem did a ask for it. People a come from all over to get her hats. So I bought some whenever time di stock go dung and continue," she said. "She died left a lot of stuff and there is a need for it. My sister now start go to Negril to sell off some of her stuff, crafts and dresses, bath suits, handbags, every type of stuff."

Having become the new Grosmond district hat lady, Heath explained that she isn't taking up the mantle just for herself.

"Mi nah really do it fi me. A just really fi har customers and mi feel close to har anyway," she said.