Past and Future Come Together for the 2015 Lamar Days Celebration

Area residents enjoyed a perfect day of sunshine and blue skies for the annual Lamar Days Parade this past Saturday, May 16.  Perhaps a first for the parade, two Lamar men, Oscar Noble and Scott Tidswell were declared parade royalty by the Lamar Zonta Club, with both men waving to the crowd from a chauffeured vintage convertible.  East Olive Street was packed with well-wishers all the way up to the Main Street intersection and beyond as float entries helped showcase this year’s theme for Lamar Days, “Honoring OUR Past, Building OUR Future.

The Lamar Lions Club was doing a brisk business prior to the parade with their traditional breakfast, served from the Masonic Lodge on South Main Street.  Those who wanted a little competition or exercise on their weekend, attended the annual 7:30am Spring Sprint-Walk and Run around Willow Creek Park, sponsored by Prowers Medical Center.  The Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors were also out early at the park, directing vendors to their booth locations for the day’s activities.

Visitors enjoyed the display of cars and motorcycles at the 20^th Annual Car Show and Rod Run, while old-time rock and roll played for the crowd who viewed the vendor displays, grabbed an ear of corn or a hot dog or other BBQ’s treats and watched the kids try their best to walk on water inside the floating bubbles display.  The Lamar Rotary was on hand with their inflatable mascot, “Quackers”, the site of their annual Ducky Dash, at 3pm the traditional Cook Car Blow Up took place, residents had a chance to watch horses and drivers navigate through their obstacle course on the west side of the creek and folks could stick around for the Ron Austin Memorial Cherry Pie Auction at the park pavilion.

The weather became breezy and cool with a few sprinkles from fast-paced clouds around 3pm, but they soon blew themselves out of the area, allowing residents to enjoy an ideal day in southeast Colorado.

By Russ Baldwin