Now on its fifth week the Fredonia Chamber of Commerce has been hosting an event known as Parking Lot BINGO; a weekly, free, open to the public game that runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at various parking lots around Fredonia. The goal, according to Chamber of Commerce President Michelle Joy, is to drive sales at local businesses around the area.

“We were trying to come up with different ideas to make sure the businesses stayed in business through this,” Joy stated.

“We wanted to do something in a parking lot at the very beginning, but we kept on getting more restrictions on everything as soon as we kind of opened up we wanted to do something to get people out of their houses, come down and still be able to social distance, but see different faces.”

And the turnout was fantastic as at least 30 people sat in their tailgates or chairs, enjoyed the sun and won some prizes including #myfredonia shirts, bags and stuff given away by participating businesses.

OBSERVER Photo by Jo Ward The Harrington family, Karen, Robert and Robert enjoy Parking Lot BINGO in Fredonia.

“This is our second time doing this,” Karen Harrington said. “The first time was very nice. My son actually won one of the paddle ball games and he really enjoyed it. It’s nice for the interaction, to get out and see people.”

“We saw it in the paper and we were looking for something to do,” Sue Muscato shared. “We wanted to get out of the house, be somewhat around other people.”

“It was really important for people when we first started this to see different people, to have a little bit of normalcy,” Joy added. “We encourage them to get dinner at whatever restaurants we’re by and sit in their cars and eat.”

Joy wants to inform all Fredonia businesses that if they’re interested in hosting a BINGO session all they have to do is call 785-5934 and she’ll be happy to work something out.