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Smiles, Fun Times At SHOP's St Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl

By Jenna Visca

Published: Mar 21, 2026 7:00 am

Saturday, March 14 was a special day for Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity (SHOP), as it presented its eighth annual St Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl in Sandy Hook Center.

Participating establishments this year included: Antoinette’s at Nouveau Monde, Cover Two Sandy Hook, Gino’s Parlor of Sandy Hook, Sandy Hook Wine & Liquor, HillTop Kitchen at the Village, tacobarn, and Mangia Mi East.

In addition to green beer and Irish margaritas, guests dined on shamrock green goddess dip with grilled pita, steak bites, bite-sized pizza varieties, mini fried provolone, caprese skewers, meatball sliders, and street corn croquets with Chipotle aioli.

Approximately 80 people signed up to participate in the event; more guests entered as walk-ins over time, with bagpiper Chad Goodhue entertaining people as they entered.

Many guests dressed up for the special occasion, donning their best Irish regalia.

Guests received tickets for a drink at each of the participating establishments, in addition to an appetizer and a goodie bag containing a green beaded necklace and a green plastic shot glass.

From left is Sharon Doherty, Katelynn Clark and Tess Gillette, who handled the registration/check-in of the approximately 80 people who participated in the eighth annual Sandy Hook Organization for Prosperity St Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl on Saturday, March 14. The three also served as members of the pub crawl’s organization team.—Bee Photos, Glass

Guests in this year’s pub crawl were divided into three groups of revelers. One group is seen heading toward its first stop, Mangia Mia East on Glen Road.

Bagpiper Chad Goodhue welcomed guests with traditional Irish music as they signed in for last weekend's holiday event.

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Hi Yolanda, you clearly are a supporter of Michelle Ku. I see that our letters about the recent decision by the Democratic Town Committee regarding how they/we will choose a nominee have been published on the same day. Last week the DTC voted to have a Caucus (where all Newtown registered Dems in the 106 get to vote instead of a DTC meeting where only 55 dems get to vote) to help determine which Dem will run for the 106 seat against Mitch Bolinsky. Your letter indicates you prefer the DTC meeting (55 votes) while I prefer the Caucus where it is open to thousands of democrats in town. I prefer a Caucus vote for either Ku or Moore (by the way you’re limited to 300 words in a LTE so first names take up words so I don’t use them) for the reasons I stated in my letter above - more people get to vote, more people are engaged, more turnout in November. About the divisiveness, there are many comments on social media before and since this decision by DTC that claim there should be no such contest these have been made by Ku supporters on her pages and they have in fact written what I mentioned above. In politics “Surrogates” and “Camp”are commonly used shorthand for supporters of a particular candidate - I’ve never heard it used offensively so I never thought anyone would interpret using such terms as an attack. I have seen nothing from the other campaign neither posts from the Candidate or his supporters, “surrogates”, or camp that make such negative comments and that’s the truth. People can have their beliefs about the process - I believe primaries are good , you may not - but to try to say one candidate is “divisive” because they choose to run and provide us a choice and a chance to promote the party at the same time is not good for any of us - citizens should not just be allowed but should be encouraged to step up and run. I stand by what I said- for one candidate’s team to say that they are or their people are so mad that they’ll vote for the opposing party is divisive.

All Democrats Should Embrace The Democratic Process

All is going well! Thank you for advancing critical initiatives and making such quick progress where it matters for our community. We are honored to have you as our First Selectman!

How’s It Going?

Congratulations on raising a wonderful Harvard grad who has served his country well. My son is a Harvard Law School graduate and that was not an easy accomplishment, as you know. He was Cornell before that. My brother was a paratrooper and my uncles served in the military, as well. In segregated troops, but they were also so proud to serve. I am so grateful to your beautiful and brilliant child. I am grateful to anyone that takes on the difficult task of representing an entire community. It is not at all an easy task. In my 64 years, I have worked with some incredible community leaders and elected officials, on so many levels. I was an administrative law judge, a judge's court attorney, a managing partner, a hospital administrator etc. Community record of service and loyalty and experience is so important at all levels. I know that with more years of experience in the Newtown community your Brandon hopes to represent, he will have enough experience under his belt that he will be a great advocate for Newtown. I also know that at this time, Michelle Ku has that experience, record and knowledge and she will be an incredible State Representative and any truly committed additional nominee will work with Michelle Ku to help her do what all need done. They would work very well together and many of us hope that is what happens. Congratulations again, on a job well done.

Brandon’s Story, From His Mom’s Perspective

This shocks me and I may be naïve to what can be done but I had a similar issue before moving to Newtown and I put it on the agenda for a town meeting and the Department of Transportation had to address the matter. Is this not an issue that Transportation can look into. Diverting traffic or slowing it down is not a way to address the fact that your enjoyment of your home is affected? Perhaps even the safety of your immediate community? If I were to drive through and witness what you have described, I would definitely not be interested in purchasing a home on your street. How is this not an assessment issue that you raise and they must investigate? Where is the accountability toward tax paying home owners?

Traffic On Schoolhouse Hill Road

Thank you for your service Brandon Moore. Thank you for the events you have participated in during the months that you have lived in Newtown. However, I am too old and wise to not realize, there are so many unanswered questions about the newcomer. So many issues the Republican Party raised about Mr. Moore’s brief employment in government that I’ve inquired about, but people won’t discuss. The Republican Party statement that Michelle Ku deserves better. It leads me to support Michelle Ku, without reservation. However, if there can be transparency about the allegations against Brandon Moore, I might consider him a worthy democratic candidate. On another note… why did I receive an email from you with the wrong DTC meeting dates? I missed the meetings I could have attended. Hmmmm. Ah, but me not overthink. Hope to be at the next exciting DTC meeting.

Thank You For Stepping Up, Brandon

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Smiles, Fun Times At SHOP's St Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl

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