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Businesses get linked at Hoosier Park

A first-time effort to link businesses across the region packed Hoosier Park’s racing area on Thursday.

The Get Linked Expo, an event hosted by the Madison County Chamber, drew 87 businesses from the counties surrounding Madison County, according to Chamber leader Kyle Morey.

The event featured information booths and demonstrations from local businesses and those from the doughnut counties.

For one Ingalls company, the event was an unofficial launch party.

Frank Wellin, of Magna-Dynamics, LLC., said the company launched on Thursday, using the expo for its debut.

The company produces the Aqua-Guardian, a metal tube that replaces traditional water softeners’ need for salt by using magnetic technology to soften water.

Rocky Walls of 12 Stars Media Production used the event to promote his video media company that aims to help businesses use video to expand their social networking abilities.

As Walls explained his company’s business to others, he stapled business cards to a paper chain made from phone book pages.

The chain was a symbolic representation of the expo’s Get Linked motto.

Katy Harrison-Troxell of Community Hospital said the event gave the hospital a chance to promote its latest advancement in technology, the da Vinci Surgical Suite robotic system. The robot performs surgery through small incisions in the patient’s abdomen, minimizing the invasive nature of common procedures.

Morey said the event will likely lead to further business connections and predicted that the expo will lead to $300,000 to $500,000 in business for those who participated based on experiences gained from the expo.

Contact Brandi Watters 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com