Mel Chandler of Miss Mel’s Bakery shared some of her custom confections at Downtown Lima’s Summer Kickoff event on Friday night.
Photo courtesy of Miss Mel’s Bakery
LIMA — Downtown Lima, Inc. hosted its first annual “Summer Kickoff” with six vendors and nine local nonprofit organizations participating.
The four-hour event Friday lasted from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the parking lot of Hofeller, Hiatt & Clark, 237 N. Main St. in Lima.
A live broadcast with FUN 107, along with children’s activities from Westgate Entertainment Center, were joined by food trucks from Rick’s Shack Outback, A Taste of Paradise and Taco Movil to add a summer flair to the tents set up for local vendors to share their wares and for nonprofit organizations to inform he public about their services.
Commercial vendors that signed up to participate included Miss Mel’s Bakery, Mary Kay, Joy’s Snaps, Natural Bath & Body and the nonprofits included the Lima Public Library and WOCAP.
“We had typically done First Fridays downtown during the day, but with the construction this year we decided to try an evening event just to kickoff the summer and let people know things are happening downtown,” said Betsy Billingsley, Executive Director.
Next year Billingsley would like to see some live entertainment joining the Summer Kickoff event and hopes that this first year will inspire more vendors to participate. Members of Downtown Lima, Inc. may participate for free as vendors in any of the organization’s activities year round, but other businesses and nonprofits may also participate by paying a vendor fee for each event.
“Betsy’s love for the community and Lima is inspiring,” said Mel Chandler, owner of Miss Mel’s Bakery, one of the vendors at the Summer Kickoff. Chandler said approximately 50 people stopped by her tent to sample her gourmet French macarons, gourmet and decorated cookies and cakes.
”Downtown Lima Inc. is here to promote and bring in people to the downtown area to discover the local businesses and restaurants. We are membership based, so a lot of our local businesses today are members. The MET offered frozen adult drinks as a theme for our night. Purple Feet offered tropical cheesecake. Alter Ego Comics stayed open late and Artspace did some kids crafts at their locations.”
