Jane LaGolden sits at a high-top table in the corner of Open Flame restaurant in Hales Corners. She’s got a couple helpers with her who are checking people in for their senior happy hour. Each person gets a name tag, pitches in a few bucks to keep the group going and then moseys on over to the bar.
This 65+ happy hour group has been meeting for 10 years, once a month, through thick and thin — bad weather, loss of loved ones — and even showing up with broken bones. For some, this is the only time they get out of the house to socialize.
“I didn’t want to do a group where I had to read a book, knit a blanket, make something, I just wanted to meet people,” LaGolden says. “Thus the happy hour. And it certainly isn’t because we come here for the drinking or anything like that, it’s to meet the people.”…