Joining the CT Main Street Center's Spotlight on Bethel

A walk in Bethel reveals the details of urban planning

Tyler Adams

1 min read · Sep. 13

Broken Symmetry co-owner Chris Sanzeni opening the event's meet and greet Photo by Irish Flair Photography

This past Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending a Spotlight on Main event in Bethel, hosted by the Connecticut Main Street Center. An event meant to act as a short tour of the Downtown area, one which highlighted the efforts to improve our community through the work of the Economic Development and Planning & Zoning departments as well as local businesses. The Connecticut Main Street Center runs two of these events a year as a learning experience for both interested residents and community leaders looking to improve their own local communities. For those unfamiliar with the Connecticut Main Street Center, it's Connecticut's primary Main Street organization for promoting local economic growth through investments and education aimed at improving experiences in downtown areas. There are many independently run Main Street programs throughout different communities in the United States. The national organization which helps connect these programs is Main Street America which has a framework for "downtown transformation" based on four aspects: Economic Vitality, Design, Promotion, and Organization (which you can read more about here). Connecticut Main Street Center works with communities to create and implement plans for improving these aspects, notably through their Main Street Accelerator program.

Janice Chrzescijanek, Bethel's Director of Economic Development for the past 13 years, speaking at the Spotlight on Main event Photo by Irish Flair Photography

Bethel participated in this newly available Main Street Accelerator program in 2025 (its second year). The Spotlight event came as a natural extension of this program. While Bethel has had ongoing initiatives for the past decade, the program ignited efforts to strengthen Bethel's brand identity as well as boost tourism, foot traffic, and local commerce. Notably, they sought to establish an organized group of local business owners, property owners, and community leaders to advocate for their shared interests in Bethel. The ongoing result of these efforts is the Experience Bethel project, meant to provide a digital hub that gathers these efforts into a single, accessible point of access for the town. The Spotlight on Main event helped convey exactly what kind of experience Bethel is hoping to provide for visitors to their downtown area. Our event started with some introductions of the CT Main Street hosts as well as a word of support from Bethel's own First Selectman, Dan Carter. Janice Chrzescijanek, Bethel's Director of Economic Development, then provided a brief presentation about the history and vision of Bethel's development initiatives starting all the way back in 2013, from improving streetscapes to defining a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy and even expanding their Clarke Business Park corporate center. From there we started the on-foot tour by looking at the role of art in the community.

The restored P.T. Barnum mural located at Bethel's Town Hall Photo by Irish Flair Photography

P.T. Barnum is a notable historical figure who was born in Bethel. His history speaks for itself, and he has a few notable dedications throughout the town, one of which is the mural pictured above. This mural acts as a foundational centerpiece for Bethel's Town Hall which helps establish its identity. We continued to the outside of the building which displays sculptures curated by Bethel Arts as part of an Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit. The exhibit is an annual effort by Bethel Arts to source sculptures from different Connecticut artists to place around Downtown Bethel for atmosphere. The arts are encouraged to revitalize vacant areas and improve the local economy through arts programming.

"Fiddlehead" by David Boyajian located outside Bethel's Town Hall

Afterwards, we visited the notable La Zingara Italian restaurant which has been in Bethel for over 22 years. They feature authentic Italian cuisine and are highly supportive of the arts. Notably, they feature weekly shows from Bethel Jazz from notable musicians and offer direct sales of the art pieces they hang. It's truly a fantastic example of a business which values local partnerships. Next up, we went to the recently purchased building previously used by Wells Fargo. Bethel has been looking to fill this location for some time and Community Shellfish has decided to occupy the space. It'll take some time to update the space from bank office to seafood market but it should open sometime next year. In the meantime, there's already a Community Shellfish located at the Clarke Business Park.

The intersection of Greenwood Ave and Depot Pl Photo by Irish Flair Photography

Our second-to-last stop came at the corner of Greenwood Ave and Depot Pl where Beth Cavagna, our previous Town Planner, provided some history about the architecture and the Bethel Opera House which now also houses the Better in Bethel restaurant. Beth is extremely knowledgeable about the Town of Bethel and its history. We finally ended up at Broken Symmetry, a unique brewery situated at Bethel's old train station location. Broken Symmetry has been at this location since 2018 and with Bethel's help, was able to revitalize the station into a fully realized restaurant. They feature some notable custom beers and are worth checking out.

The Spotlight on Main group approaching Broken Symmetry Photo by Irish Flair Photography

The Spotlight on Main event was a great opportunity to learn about what goes into economic development initiatives and designing downtown areas. It helped highlight the minute aspects of intentional municipal planning that we can take for granted as residents. This was my first Spotlight on Main event, but I'll be sure to attend more in the future to learn how Connecticut's towns and cities plan for their best future.