Eat, Chat, Network at Destination Newtown

Destination Newtown was billed as a business and networking event held to showcase the best of commercial Newtown Thursday evening, though it was clear from organizers and participants it was the free food that was the highlight.

"They have the best restaurants represented here," said Barbara Bowles, a Cornerstone Thirft Shop volunteer who first stumbled on the event last year.

The event, which hosted 46 booths at Newtown Congregational Church, is in its eighth year, featuring various restaurants, such as Sal e Pepe and Franco's Pizza, along with other businesses and organizations, such as Newtown Savings Bank and Newtown Youth Academy

Former First Selectman Joe Borst, 84, was at the booth for the youth academy extolling the virtues of his three-times-a-week, 16-machine exercise routine, which allowed him to lose nearly 20 pounds from his 5-foot-7 frame.

Steve Zvon, 58, was at the Ace Hardware booth, where he made sure people knew about the business-to-business aspect of the store, which can order virtually any equipment a customer requests and receives product shipments twice a week. He said he secured six to seven leads in the first half of the three-hour event.

Joy Brewster, owner of Cassio Pet Resort, had a simple way of drawing in people.

"Do you have a dog or cat?" she asked, and if the answer was in the affirmative, she would proceed to talk about the training and other services her Mount Pleasant facility offered.

Businesses that bought booth space at the event weren't the only ones trying to gather leads.

Kevin Doherty, 55, who runs a Networking Anonymous group in Brookfield and represents a printing business, had ready in his hand a stack of business cards and a small pad as he walked around the room. The key to networking was to meet people, talk to them about what line of work they are in and share information on your own business, he said.

"Everthing flows from that," Doherty said, giving as an example of when he walked into the doors to the church, he struck up a conversation with a woman who said she might need the services of a printing press. "I walked in and I got a lead."

And if there were no business leads to be had at Destination Newtown, at least the food was good and it was something to do on a Thursday evening, participants said.

"I love to walk around and chat with people in town," said Patty Powers, 43, of Newtown, who came with her children and mulled through the booths sampling dishes and talking to people.

Powers said the event was helpful in introducing residents to businesses they might have made assumptions about in the past, such as at the booth for the One Eyed Pig where she and her children sampled the pulled pork.

"I thought it was just a bar, I didn't know it also was a restaurant," Powers said of the establishment.