MEBANE - Last weekend, Kingsdown, a mattress maker in Mebane, shut down. Now, that wouldn't be at all exceptional -- this being North Carolina and idle factories being as common as kudzu -- except for the reason it closed: Kingsdown was having a party.

The company, based about 50 miles west of Raleigh, flew and bused employees from Muskogee, Okla.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Winchester, Va.; Lakeland, Fla.; and places as far-flung as Australia, Thailand and Japan. They were feted at a Western-themed celebration Friday; golf, shopping and soccer Saturday; and a fancy dinner at Greensboro's Grandover Resort that night.

About 750 workers, retirees and their guests came for the festivities, which cost more than $500,000.

"It doesn't matter. It's not about the money," said Eric Hinshaw, the CEO. "It builds a camaraderie. It builds a trust. If you want to be a global company, then you have to show your people how small the world is, not how large it is."

In an age of satellites, cell phones and instant connections across lightning-fast cables, there's little need for employees to get together. They can swap files and perspectives across time zones, sometimes as easily as they can pass them across a desk.

But technology can obscure meaning.

"We can blast messages back and forth all day and all night long," said Bill Catlette, co-author of the workplace management book "Contented Cows Moove Faster." "But that doesn't mean we're communicating with one another."

People at times need to get "eyeball to eyeball, belly to belly," he said.

And not just colleagues separated by continents or oceans. Bridging the distance across the office can be just as important.

Bronto, an e-mail marketing firm in Durham with about 30 employees, has a social committee that plans activities to get engineers mixing with sales people and other mingling that sets aside job titles.

"While on first pass it looks like there's no business reason for it, it really helps," said Joe Colopy, CEO and company co-founder. "These little cultures form, and it's very valuable to get everyone together on the same page."

Among the more unconventional events was a company camping trip in May. About 20 employees and their significant others went to Jordan Lake, pitched tents and spent the night. They snacked on chips, made s'mores and played cards.

The company spent about $100 on the event, Colopy said, proving that it doesn't have to cost a lot to bring people together.

But it can.

Howdy, pardner

For Kingsdown's Western-themed party, the Mebane Arts Center was transformed. Employees were welcomed by the recorded sounds of an old-time piano, music that could have been the soundtrack of a Hollywood flick. They walked through a fence-lined corridor decorated to look like a scene from a Western town.

A band from Nashville, Tenn. played covers of songs, including Alan Jackson's "It's 5 O'clock Somewhere," and Kenny Chesney's "Back Where I Come From." Employees and guests wore big hats and boots and dined on a buffet that included barbeque and chicken at tables draped with gingham cloths.

Before dinner, they were treated to line-dancing instructions. Afterward, they were able to challenge a mechanical bull. They posed for commemorative pictures in front of the "Kingsdown Express," a stagecoach with mannequin drivers.

"It's awesome, man," said Chris Maltby, 30, who joined Kingsdown in 2001 and sews sample beds in Mebane. "Not many places throw a shindig like this."

Kingsdown, which employs 450 people worldwide, makes luxury bedding, getting 60 percent of its sales from queen mattresses that retail for $2,000 or more.

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