Lamar Merchants Group Plan Active Spring

The Lamar Merchants group met Tuesday, April 12^th to review planned activities for this spring, including the Spring Fling set for April 29^th.  The meeting was held at Diana Lynn Fashion at 211 South Main Street with representatives from the Lamar Chamber and Lamar City Council attending.

More vendors are needed for the Spring Fling Event on the final Friday of April. The City of Lamar approved closing a portion of West Olive Street between Main and 5^th Streets.

A new event has been included to coincide with Lamar Days this May. A Lamar Days ‘Selfie’ Contest will run from May 2^nd to May 21^st and prizes will be awarded during Lamar Days activities.  Designated items will be hidden in participating stores and contestants will search out the stores for the item and take a selfie picture displaying the item.

If a local business owner wants to make sure they receive a Google Map listing, the chamber is hosting an event to make sure you’re correctly listed. Meet at the chamber offices from 2pm to 5pm on Monday, April 18^th to check the listing.  It should take only a few minutes for the free service and snacks and some giveaways will be offered.  This will be an opportunity to make any needed corrections in your Google Map listing.

Lamar Police Chief, Kyle Miller, addressed the gathering on shoplifting practices and prevention for store owners. He detailed ways for owners and managers to report a case of shoplifting, described the latest trends being used and how owners can track the ways they can be robbed. Chief Miller suggested developing a call tree which can give an almost immediate warning to neighboring businesses when an incident has occurred.  He suggested installing at least one camera in a store which can give an accurate ID of a suspect.  One area discussed was nighttime security measures for the outside of a business.  He replied that officers would be available for either a drive-by or an escort if an owner or employee believed one was warranted.  When asked about the number of transients around Lamar, the chief replied that he was not able to speculate about their presence.  A similar question of panhandling was presented several months ago to the chief during a city council meeting.  He stated that as long as a panhandler wasn’t aggressive in their manner, they were not outside the law for those activities.  They could not be positioned as to push a pedestrian off the sidewalk, nor could they be in the way of vehicle traffic.

The Chamber Merchant’s meetings are held on rotation each month. The next meeting will be at 5:45pm at the Lamar Eagles clubroom.  The Wash Spott will host the June meeting on the 14^th and July 12^th is currently open for a volunteer host.

By Russ Baldwin