Happy Hour Speed Dating brings back the good old days of dating 

Local speeding dating project is creating an inclusive space for dating and reconnecting community following the pandemic

Happy Hour Speeding Dating sets out to have people meet face-to-face before "swiping right". Their host events for different age groups and sexual and gender orientations with the aim of being a safe space for those who attend.  

Samantha Bendo, the creator, formulated this idea in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. While on maternity leave, she had found herself wanting to give space to people to meet in-person, after such a long period of isolation. 

“After COVID it was just very, very weird. I feel like people [were] disconnected [and] kind of scared of each other. So I just felt like it would be a nice thing to bring people together. Obviously, if people find love then that’s kind of an extra bonus but I just thought it would be a positive way to reconnect the community,” said Bendo.  

Bendo had worked part-time as a bartender at Side Door Bar and is friends with Jackie Lagos, one of the owners. Lagos was kind enough to help bring her idea into real life by providing space.  

The Side Door Bar themselves opened in 2019, just as the pandemic hit, and overcame the struggle of maintaining a business during lockdowns. The bar hosts many of events, such as vintage markets, pop-ups and trivia nights. Like many of these events, Happy Hour Speed Dating served as another way to reach out to more people for the bar. 

“[Side Door Bar] had been struggling throughout [COVID-19] to get people in the bar. They had to pivot; they did a lot of take-home cocktails and were really creative to keep the bar open during the pandemic. [Happy Hour Speed Dating] is a post-pandemic way of getting people to the bar—getting people to connect,” said Bendo. 

Bendo runs these speed dating events entirely on her own, as she does social media work, promotions and execution of the events. With  an undergraduate degree in English and Multimedia from McMaster and a marketing degree from Mohawk, Bendo has a strong background in the work she does and she enjoys herself while doing it. 

For each Happy Hour Speed Dating event, Bendo organizes the sign-ups and attempts to have a balanced distribution of genders. For instance, for heterosexual-oriented events, she aims to have around 10 men and 10 women-identifying attendees. Once this is confirmed, usually 48 hours before an event, instructions are sent on how the night itself will be conducted. 

“If you purchase a ticket the first thing that happens is I send you an email — like a feedback form. That’s just a little bit of information about you: your name, age, how you heard about us, location. . .and what events you’d like to see,” said Bendo.  

Over the summer they did patio events but have since transitioned to indoor events given the weather change. Outdoor events start with entering the Side Door Bar at 7:15 p.m. latest. Each ticket comes with a complimentary drink of choice. From there, attendees can purchase additional drinks at their happy hour rate.  

Bendo will then commence the night with a few words, announcing the start the speed dating portion of the night. Throughout the event, there are breaks and it’s concluded by a final portion of the night to meet with everyone. 

Bendo hopes to foster a safe space for people to talk while meeting. During her opening remarks, she highlights how it’s a night to meet people. Every event she’s hosted so far has had a zero-tolerance policy for any form of offensive behaviour towards others. Despite this, she shared how she’s not experienced any hostile people as everyone comes to the event with a common goal of friendly socialization and reconnection with others in the community.  

“I do make sure it is a safe space. Anyone that’s rude, you’re gone. We do have a no-tolerance policy. It’s not written [but enforced],” said Bendo. 

Happy Hour Speed Dating was born in the midst of the pandemic as an opportunity for folks to connect with people beyond their screens. Not every connection formed must be romantic, but it’s an open door to try.