It was the first networking party of the new year for the MetroHartford Alliance, held Thursday at Morton's The Steak House, and there were about 125 people who braved the cold to attend.

"Scot Haney kept saying it was the coldest day on record," said the clearly annoyed general manager Laura Mahon about the WFSB, Channel 3 meteorologist. "So we had a lot of cancellations."

But the business crowd was a plucky one and saved the night.

"I'm amazed how many people are here," said Jan Pell, from the Bernheimer Lincoln Insurance Group Inc. in West Hartford. "And I'm amazed how many people I don't know."

Pell is a serious networker who belongs to several chambers of commerce.

"I'm out there, baby," she said. "I remember my boss told me one of the most important things in life is showing up."

"This is absolutely fabulous," John Huggins, a Hartford lawyer, said about the turnout.

JoAnne Leventhal, who worked in communications for the Phoenix Home Life Insurance Co. for almost 30 years where she had to do plenty of schmoozing, is now development director for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and said that "it's almost more important now being in a nonprofit to get the word out."

It was fun seeing Kathleen Goffa, except - whoops - since last we saw her she turned 40, got married, bought a house, and Goffa doesn't do anything halfway. Oh, no.

She married Courant reporter Dwight Blint on Sept. 18, and didn't just change her last name, but also her first.

May we proudly present: Katie Blint, communications director for the Connecticut Convention Center. She is psyched about the opening day, June 2, when she said 6,000 people are expected for the Connecticut Business Expo.

"We have 190 events planned for the first year alone," she said.

But she also wanted to put in a plug for her husband.

He plays guitar and writes songs for a band called "Poor Freddy," and as his bride put it: "He needs gigs."

Marilyn Alverio was at the party, having just opened an office three weeks ago of her 2-year-old business, Ethnic Marketing Solutions, on Park Street in Hartford.

She and Michael Jones were promoting the appearance of inspirational speaker and author Les Brown at the First Cathedral in Bloomfield tonight.

"It's a good way to bring communities together," Alverio said, "and start the year off with inspiration."

Mid-party, former Hartford City Councilman Mike McGarry leaped on a chair to say that the lease to convert the Society for Savings building on Pratt Street into a super Irish pub was signed that day.

"This night the pub is being made in Ireland to be shipped here," he said.

Katie Terricciano was one of the few there under 25 years old.

She's director of special events for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and was talking up a couple new events the foundation has planned, here and in Greenwich. She is working to get more young professionals in Hartford together for events. On Friday, she planned to go to a party before the Jon Stewart show that the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts was hosting for people in their 20s.

Terricciano said she would love to start a networking group for young women, and has talked with friends like Heather Majewski and Jen Healy, both actuaries in their 30s, who recently launched a spa website (Letsgospa.com).

"Even at an event like this," Terricciano said, "how many young and trendy women do you see?"

(Present company excluded, of course.)

Brandy Kolmer, 30, a free-lance writer from Waterford, agreed that it's "a tough age to be, especially in southeastern Connecticut."

But she said she moved here five years ago from California, has lived in the Midwest, and stays here because "this is a very special place."

"Neighbors bring me tomatoes in the summer," Kolmer said, "and shovel my walk in the winter."

Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant