The second annual Leprechaun-a-Thon and a major regional tourism conference took center stage Friday at the February Downtown Coffee Break for local business leaders at Swift and Finch.

Kristi Kent and Will Pennscott with the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Authority detailed plans for the Leprechaun-a-Thon, March 16. The event features a 5K run and a two-mile health walk.

“We have partnered with downtown businesses to make it a full-day celebration,” Kent said.

Instead of the typical morning start, the event will get under way at 1 p.m. It follows the Ginger Pride Walk for redheads at 11 a.m. and the St. Petrick’s Day Pet Parade at noon. More information about the events will be released in the near future, but the activities all will be centered downtown.

“We hope to make this a bigger day each year,” Kent said.

Ann Hortman with the Greater Rome Convention and Visitors Bureau told the merchants group about the 2013 Winter Chautauqua regional tourism conference set for March 3-4.

Attendees will visit Oak Hill at Berry College on March 3, then come downtown to tour several loft apartments and have dinner at Harvest Moon.

We’re getting a chance to really highlight everything that we’ve done right with downtown,” Hortman said. “It’s all about Southern hospitality.”

Speakers will talk about the massive Lakepoint Sporting Community now being developed in southern Bartow County, and Hortman said a new app for the historic Myrtle Hill Cemetery will be unveiled during the conference.

Paula Conaway, owner of Paula’s Boutique on Broad, also told the merchants she is working with the Rome Police Department to develop an anti-shoplifting network to help pass the word quickly when shoplifters are detected.

Conaway said shoplifters getting more sophisticated and that merchants need to be aware of the problem.