Hundreds of people and dozens of businesses came to the Visitor Center pavilion in downtown Suffolk Thursday night for the second annual Mingle on Main Street.

The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce presented the event, which featured nearly 40 exhibitors from Wakefield to Virginia Beach.

“This is our second year, and it’s grown,” said Dean McClain, director of municipal affairs for the chamber. “It takes marketing back to the grassroots. This is an opportunity, in the digital age, for people to put a face with a name.”

Exhibitors featured both large and small for-profit businesses, nonprofits, colleges and universities and others, including the city of Suffolk’s Economic Development Department.

“From what I’ve seen, there’s more people than last year,” said Darren Schultz of Copico. He said he had gotten several sales leads and, as a member of the chamber, also got to talk up Suffolk and the importance of supporting businesses.

Nonprofits in the community were also well represented.

“We’re trying to build awareness to get people to walk,” said Sarah Smith of the Alzheimer’s Association. The Walk to End Alzheimer’s will be held Sept. 21 at Constant’s Wharf.

Tiffany Vick with the Airfield 4-H Conference Center in Wakefield said she came to “get the word out there” about the conference center, which is available for all types of conferences, weddings, receptions and other events.

Amanda Elliott of the Chief Petty Officer Scholarship Fund said the organization came to the Mingle to bring attention to the organization, which provides scholarships to dependants of Navy chiefs, senior chiefs or master chief petty officers.

“We’re trying to get the word out to the public about what we do,” she said.

Shira Low Itzhak of Remedy Intelligent Staffing said the company wanted to show support for its clients in Suffolk.

“We want to thank them for giving people the opportunity to work here in Suffolk,” she said. “There’s been nice growth in Suffolk.”

McClain said the event is likely to continue coming back to Suffolk in the future.

More photos from the event can be found on the Suffolk News-Herald Facebook page.