A Barrie woman is getting the areas millennials to meet up and make connections the old-fashioned way, face-to-face and in person.
26-year-old Colayna noticed a need in the community for people between the ages of 22-33 to step out from behind the screen and meet new people in person, so she began the "Simcoe County Millennials Meetup."
The journey starts online with a Facebook group but eventually evolves into in-person events.
"People's comfort zone is online, so they can introduce themselves, see what we're all about, and then we'll bring people out to events. Hopefully, they can form genuine connections that a lot of us lack in this age group because we are all online. "
She says she has had the idea of holding get-togethers for a year and just recently put her plans in motion.
"I always hear people saying nothing is happening in Barrie and Simcoe County. 'What do we get out there and do? There's no singles events or mixers.'"
When it comes to stereotypical meetup places like bars, Colayna says they don't work.
"You can go to the bar, but honestly, these days, no one even talks at the bar besides the people you've come with. And if you go up to a random group of strangers, they will wonder why you're coming up to talk to them. "
She adds that dating apps can get frustrating and feels like a full-time job keeping up with them and always checking messages.
Colayna's thoughts about people wanting to get together is right, as her first event brought out many people, and they all had a great time.
The challenge now is finding activities for the groups to do.
She's begun reaching out to local venues to find new places to hold the meetups and hopes to see more businesses who would like to host them.
She has many ideas for activities she would love to do, like snow tubing at Snow Valley and Freaky Wizard Trivia Night.
However, Colayna stressed that there is no pressure to date in this group.
"You can come, even if you're not looking to date, you can be single, you can be not single, and just formulating those human connections again to get to know people in your community. This is not for hookups. This is not for superficial relationships. This is for genuine human connections, friendships, or more."
You can find out more information about the group at "Simcoe County Millennials Meetup"
or email colaynam@gmail.com
feature image courtesy of Pexels Kindel Media
