In every nook and cranny of Jamaica there are Familiar Faces who have become an integral part of a community, but some of us don’t even know their names. In fact, some of their stories remain untold. Who are they? Where are they from? And how did they get there? The Sunday Observer Familiar Faces series explores these and more!

WHEN he decided to call it quits as a mason, Dwight Blake went to Coronation Market in downtown Kingston, bought some apples, and started selling on the roadside.

Now, more than 20 years later, he has his own fruit stand just outside Lee’s Food Fair on Red Hills Road in St Andrew.

But, he insists he did not do it alone.

A strong believer in the adage, ‘No man is an island,’ Blake shared that his fruit stand would not have been possible without the unity that exists among his brothers.

He shared that when he first started out, his brothers rallied around him. Together, they journeyed to the market to stock up on produce, then hired a motor vehicle to travel across Jamaica selling fruits.

“It’s not a one man thing; fi unite is really the strength,” Blake told the Jamaica Observer.

When the business started to gain momentum, he and his brothers got a vehicle of their own and continued to ply their trade across the island.

While he is located on Red Hills Road, he shared that his brothers are in Ocho Rios, St Ann and Mandeville, Manchester, where they have made names for themselves as fruit vendors.

Check out these five things about this Familiar Face and watch his video chat with Sunday Observer reporter Tamoy Ashman at www.jamaicaobserver.com.

1) A father of three, Blake also has a stepson and shared that he enjoys spending time with them and sharing jokes.

2) When he is not preparing fruits at his stand for customers Blake can be found at a table playing dominoes. In one hand he’ll be holding the domino pieces for the game while in the other there’ll be a nice drink of rum, as he shares a laugh with friends.

3) He’s a fruit vendor so we had to ask him if he has a favourite. Turns out he does, and it’s jackfruit.

4) Blake was a mason for more than five years, and worked on multiple construction sites. Although he’s left that life in his past, he sometimes misses it and often thinks about practising his skills as a hobby.

5) The first fruit he sold was apples. He eventually branched off and started to sell watermelons, grapes and oranges. Now, you can get quite the variety at his Red Hills Road location.

Fruit vendor Dwight Blake is located just outside Lee’s Food Fair on Red Hills Road in St Andrew. (Photos: Karl Mclarty)

Blake shares that he started out selling apples, then branched off into other fruits. (Photos: Karl Mclarty)