Ask any group of young single people how they feel about dating apps, and you’re likely to be met with a collective groan. I know this, because it’s exactly the reaction I heard when I walked into the Fairfield last Monday night for my very first speed dating event, and chatted with other attendees about the current slate of dating options offered by companies like Bumble and Hinge. “The apps are terrible.” “The worst.” So that’s how over 100 of us wound up in one of Fort Wayne’s newest venues, ready to meet our soulmates, or at least have drinks and get some good stories.
The event, hosted by the Indianapolis-based company FIND, offered speed dating for hetero adults ages 21 to 45. When we arrived, we had the chance to check in, grab drinks, and meet the other attendees before the speed dating rounds started. In a sea of largely unfamiliar faces, I made some friends, and even recognized someone I had curled with last fall. Many of us were there on our own, just trying to meet other people. Which meant that regardless of how the dating portion of the evening went, we were probably going to leave with at least a few new friends.
All this was organized by the bubbly, happily-married Bo Turner, who started FIND roughly six months ago, because she wanted “a way to support [her] single friends who were sick of the dating apps.” FIND has already hosted numerous events in Indy and Bloomington, with many more on the horizon, including volunteering gatherings, swing dancing, and speed friending…