Attendance may have been low with the 90-degree heat and high humidity, but First Selectman Dan Rosenthal conducted his first “Walk and Talk” of the year Friday, August 13, on the Fairfield Hills campus. He plans to continue hosting the low-impact exercise and community engagement activity every other Friday through October.

Last Friday’s event attracted just two members of the public, Ed Schierloh and Louise Zierzow. The residents and the first selectman departed the municipal center, took in a brief visit and tour of NewSylum Brewing Company, and proceeded to the Fruit Trail and through the Victory Garden before heading back.

Bottles of water were provided to fortify against the heat, while the conversation turned to topics that included the year-old microbrewery, plans for other buildings at Fairfield Hills, the plantings at the Victory Garden, and various window and door paintings on the campus created by Paula Brinkman.

The trio’s first stop, at NewSylum, led to a tour by co-owner David Kingsley. Kingsley mentioned the brewery’s recent addition of a nitro-brewed coffee that is “particularly good when mixed with” the brewery’s Cattle Call oat milk stout.

Kingsley also shared how the brewery’s business model changed due to COVID-19.

“We have far more servers than we originally intended,” said Kingsley. “We originally thought we were going to have people go up to the bar and order a beer. But COVID changed everything.”

Kingsley also said the brewery also didn’t originally plan to have as many food options, but they were needed to get around restrictions aimed at bars. He said the brewery intends to keep its current business model and its servers, as it has “worked out, maybe for the better.”

Regarding other buildings on campus, Rosenthal discussed the options the town is weighing. He noted that the Shelton and Kent buildings were 300,000 square feet. It would cost the town $2 million to demolish Shelton and $4 million to demolish Kent. While the town could afford to fit the demolitions into the capital improvement plan, there is an “opportunity cost” to doing so, as that would take up money that could be used for a more pressing need, said Rosenthal.

The town is seeking historic credits to aid in preserving the buildings, similar to what New Haven did with its old high school. He said that some of the buildings may be preserved using historic credits and used as senior housing. He said that right now, there aren’t many options for older residents who may not need or be able to afford an entire home any longer but who would like to stay in town.

“I do worry about residents who have aged out of here,” said Rosenthal. “Their support structure is here, but they have to move out because there is nothing to downsize to.”

When the Walk and Talk reached the Victory Garden, Zierzow pointed out the five rows of plantings done by the Garden Club of Newtown. She said people in the garden are planting a wide variety of plants, including herbs, eggplant, kale, corn, cabbage, and amaranth.

The Walk and Talk ended going past the part of the campus that currently houses the Newtown Parent Connection, when Rosenthal noted the doors and windows of the buildings, painted by Paula Brinkman, to be colorful and eye-catching.

Brinkman was recently asked to paint some of the windows of the Stamford Hall by the owners of NewSylum; Rosenthal said he provided permission so long as the painting was limited to a few windows.

Reporter Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.