Thursday night, while the big-screen TV in the front room at The 411 was turned to the baseball game between the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals, the Winston-Salem Jaycees set the stage in the club's back poolroom for a new take on The Dating Game - speed dating.
At 6 p.m. singles in their 20s and 30s started trickling in the doors at 411 E. Cherry St., where they were greeted by Eller and Angie Ferree. By the time the three-hour gathering was over, about 75 people had registered for the fifth Single Mingle since the organization had its first one a few years ago.
Club co-owner Nancy Daniels said that when Wake Wagner, the Jaycees membership director, called her looking for a place to hold the Single Mingle, she was happy to donate the space. Ms. Daniels viewed it as a "mutually beneficial opportunity" for her business and the organization.
Co-organizers Greg Fisher and Jennifer Rice and vice president Tami-Leigh Schwartz kept things running smoothly. Mr. Fisher, a 33-year-old, single math teacher at Mt. Tabor High School, said that he would participate in the speed dating if there was a shortage of men. By the second round, his services were no longer required, and men were jockeying for position in what looked like an adult version of musical chairs.
Also on hand, "if needed," was Alex Krstic, who has been a member of the Jaycees for two years and currently serves as financial director. He was prepared to introduce himself as a man who is busy with the Jaycees and his job as an assistant manager and customer representative for a car-rental company. But he also enjoys music and reading.
Carmen Brown, the midday DJ and host of The Déjà Vu Diner show for radio station HITZ-FM, was one of the first to arrive. She said that she always tries to support the Jaycees on the air and that she had promoted the Single Mingle all week.
Radio station WFDD-FM was well represented by two Jaycees members - Stephanie Martin, the local host of Morning Edition, and Marian Wilson, who works for the station "behind the scenes" as a technician. Ms. Wilson plays the viola with the Winston-Salem Symphony and stopped by The 411 to mingle before rehearsal. "There's always something to do in the Jaycees," she said, citing the educational, social and community-service opportunities it has provided her during the four years that she has been a member.
Lynda Schwan, a Jaycees member, invited Michelle McCullough and Julie Hawkins, her co-workers in city government. Ms. Hawkins said that as a student of sociology at Forsyth Technical Community College she came purely as an experiment; Ms. McCullough came so that sometime in the future she could tell her 5-year-old son that she had done "something cool in this century"; and Ms. Schwan came to support her club and "have something to do on Thursday night."
Mingling across the room were Mark Kovach, a 39-year-old metal display manufacturing project manager who works in High Point, Jim Young, a 40-something banker, and Darden Jones, a 35-year-old engineer from Kernersville.
Though they didn't connect through speed dating, several married Jaycees said that they did meet their wives through the organization. Mike Shipko said that he and his wife, Renee, the chapter's incoming president, met working on a Band Aid for Burn Victims concert in 2001. This year's president, Derrick Webb, met his wife two years ago while working on a project with the Durham chapter of the Jaycees. He said that the Single Mingles provide that same opportunity to fill "a void in meeting other singles."
Bryan Foriest, a 29-year-old single pharmaceutical salesman and a new Jaycee, said, "A lot of people don't understand what the Jaycees do. It's important that they see we're out here, and that we're a diverse organization."
The moment everyone had waited patiently for arrived shortly before 7 p.m.. The first group of seven men and seven women were ushered into the back room, armed with pencils and note cards. Women seated themselves on high stools at a bar railing that circled the room, and the men waited while Mr. Fisher explained the simple rules: each round lasts three minutes; don't ask for personal contact information; and turn in the pink sheet with names of people you want to meet.
Every three minutes, Mr. Fisher rang the green cowbell, and the men rotated until everybody had learned critical information about hobbies and travel preferences.
To make sure he was in front of the television screen when the baseball game started, Joe Stanlonis, one of the youngest bachelors at 26, whirled through the first two rounds of speed dating. Not only did he meet several potential dates, he also said that he was "more inclined to join the Jaycees" as a result of the Single Mingle.
And for those still looking for a date, the Jaycees will hold the 5th Annual Twin City Date Auction this Thursday night at The 411 from 7 to 9 p.m.
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