File photo Many people and businesses made last year's Buy Local Business Expo a success.

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The Richmond County Chamber of Commerce will hold the 10th annual Buy Local Business Expo on April 16 from 5 to 8 p.m. in the Cole Auditorium at Richmond Community College in Hamlet.

This free event is an opportunity for local merchants to showcase their products with potential customers. Miranda Chavis, museum manager of Hamlet Depot & Museums, said this event is a great way to become aware of what Richmond County has to offer. “It’s just a really wonderful way to encourage people to buy local,” Chavis said.

“When you buy local, a greater percentage of that money stays in the local community,” she said.

Emily Tucker, president of the Chamber, said that more than 30 vendors have already signed up for the event. Some of those include FirstHealth Richmond Memorial Hospital, Pee Dee Electric and Smithfield’s Chicken N Bar-B-Q.

Tucker said that this event also provides the perfect opportunity to someone who is looking for a caterer to come out and sample food from local restaurants. Chavis said there also will be a cake decorating exhibit.

According to Tucker, for businesses, it’s an opportunity to market products or services to the community and for the general public, it’s an opportunity to find out what’s available from the community.

There will also be a business panel discussion before the event, from 4 to 5 p.m., at the Cole Auditorium. According to Tucker, there will be business experts to give business advice to small business owners and entrepreneurs. In addition to the business panel discussion, this year’s event will be held in conjunction with Business After Hours, sponsored by RCC.

Door prizes can be won at the business expo, but the winner must be present to collect the prize.

The expo is filling up quickly and because of space limitations, there can only be 40 business booths at this year’s event. To get an application, call the chamber for a registration form. The deadline for business to register is April 1 and costs $50 for Chamber members and $100 for non-chamber members.

The Cole Auditorium is located at 1042 W. Hamlet Ave., Hamlet. For more information about the event or to get a registration form to showcase products, call the Chamber at 910-895-9058.

— Staff Writer Laura Edington can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 18, or by email at ledington@civitasmedia.com.