A night out with interesting & interested singles, 45 & up

Good morning, DMV! It’s Thursday, March 5.

I’ve been meeting with readers lately. Over coffee or lunch. For a hike. A museum outing. Birding. Knitting. It’s part of my grand plan to collaborate with others across the region to help build community.

I’ve heard from readers over the past few years a desire to get together and do interesting things, so I’m making it happen. I had hoping to do this for the Washington Post — I pitched it as “Post Local IRL” — but it didn’t happen, so here I am, bringing it to fruition here and now.

I believe the first reader I met was Wynette Yao, a filmmaker in her 60s who has lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, for the past 10 years. We got lunch in November 2024, and have since had a few dates.

I bring her up because she has an event this evening for “interesting and interested singles,” from Takoma Park, Silver Spring and Hyattsville, ages 45 and up. It's 7 to 9 p.m. at the Girl & the Vine in Takoma Park.

“I started this group because dating apps are very ineffective, and it’s clearly better to meet someone in person. Our immediate community has so many interesting people, but we don’t necessarily know who is single or interested in meeting. This group is meant to be a gathering place, ideally with the feel of a community living room,” Wynette told me.

She launched the monthly meetup in January; it’s held the first Thursday of each month. The first meetup had more than 20 people, and the second — “on a very cold, icy night,” she said — had six.

“I would love for people to see this as a coop, and each try to get the word out in the spaces they know—churches, neighborhood list serves or Facebook groups, yoga studios,” she said. “The success of the group rests on getting a vibrant mix of people. Right now we have more women than men, so I encourage men to come support us!”

I asked her if she’s keeping it geographically limited to Takoma Park and environs, and she responded: “I wanted to keep it very local. But nothing is set in stone. Like jazz. Like life!”

I’m not single, but I’ll swing by to say hello. It’s a last-minute invite, but be impulsive: Join us!

(And if you can’t make it tonight, jot it in your calendar for next month.)

D.C. resident Connie Ridgway, 70, snapped this photo during a Feb. 8 walk.

“My partner Jesse and I walk regularly on the Billy Goat Trails near the Potomac River, but on this day it was still icy, so we walked to a garden near the Westchester on Cathedral Ave NW, close to Glover Archbald Park but not on the trails,” Connie wrote.

“On the way back to my house Jesse looked back and saw the bright smoke coming from a building, lit from behind by the setting sun. (He is often my scout for getting good pictures.)”

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