Imagine speed dating 20 of your neighbors at the same time. On a rainy Tuesday, the Little Flower Neighborhood Association invited locals to J. Clyde’s Pub to do just that.
As each person stepped into the eastside bar, Little Flower board members passed out comic-book style nametags and bingo boards. In each space was a challenge: Find someone who lives on the same street as you; meet someone new; or connect with a person who speaks more than one language.
“You can show up and maybe you meet your backyard neighbor that you never knew before. Maybe you can meet somebody who can mow your lawn if you need help with that,” said Eavan Shaw Rodriguez, who planned the event. She’s an at-large member of the Little Flower Neighborhood Association’s board.
To kick off the fourth annual version of the event, neighborhood association vice president Bethany Baugh shouted a few times above the neighborly chatter that had already started. She was standing in front of a table where neighbors could grab free nachos, rice and beans from The Mini Posada, a new restaurant around the corner.
She explained the bingo board concept of the game.
“The idea is not to talk to just one person and have their name all over here. The idea is to roam, mingle, have people come up to you,” Baugh said. The grand prize was a Little Flower tote bag.
More than 20 folks sat at booths and stood in circles in J. Clyde’s side room, introducing themselves to each other with their names, and often, the street they lived on. Dona Armstrong, a woman in a shirt that said “Feminist is my second favorite F word,” wrote her address on her name tag.
Kevin Young, who was wearing a hat from the Snug, an Irish bar in Irvington, stuck a pint glass full of beer in his shirt pocket to have enough hands to cross off a bingo space.
Laura Salas, who has lived in the small Near Eastside neighborhood for nine years, said it was her first time coming to the annual speed neighboring event.
“I knew there would be some people that I already know that I haven’t seen in a while, and also some new people,” she said. “And I love J. Clyde’s. It’s such a good neighborhood institution.”
Jackie Palmer, 48, runs the pub. If you peeked through the side room’s archway, you’d see her sitting at the bar, chatting with regulars. The whole place is decorated with posters, stickers and a picture of Jo Ann Able, the woman who founded the bar. “SpongeBob SquarePants” is playing on mute on the TV.
After everyone cheered for the woman who called “Bingo” and the event was officially over, five people arranged their chairs in a circle, laughing and chatting. Walking out of the loud bar, you could see a few friends who came to speed neighboring sitting on the porch across the street.
Shaw Rodriguez sat in a plastic chair on the sidewalk that had dried off after the flash of rain, with a Miller High Life on the table in front of her.
“I think it was a resounding success,” she said. “We had a lot of people who had never been to a neighborhood event before. People are still in there talking to new faces, new friends.”
Want to host your own speed neighboring event? Here’s some advice
Shaw Rodriguez, who planned Little Flower’s event, had three suggestions:
- “Find a really cool community hub.” Look for a small business in your neighborhood that’s already a natural gathering place.
- Promote it early. Rodriguez said she wished she had posted it on Facebook and shared the event information further ahead of time, so more people could have known about it.
- “Find creative ways to use the resources in your neighborhood.” For example, they ordered food from The Mini Posada, which was a way to support a new business. She suggested reaching out to businesses, schools or other partners who can share their resources.
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Mirror Indy reporter Sophie Young covers services and resources. Contact her at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.
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