Dance makes dating less scary
Written by Brandi Barhite | Associate Editor | bbarhite@toledofreepress.comDating doesn’t have to be scary.
Glass City Singles offers a safe and fun environment for singles 35 and older to meet friends and possibly a mate, according to owner Jack Harris.
The upcoming Halloween dance is a highly anticipated event for local singles, he said. The dance will be from 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Oct. 31 at Gladieux Meadows, 4480 Heatherdowns Blvd., with entertainment by Jackpot Band. Costumes are optional with cash prizes awarded.
“We started 26 years at Asbury Church on Dorr Street, and it progressed from there,” Harris said of Glass City Singles. “We used to do three dances per week, but we are down to one per week because of the economy.
“Toledo is a hard place for singles, very difficult,” he said. “The only place you can find a single person is at a nightclub, and everybody is in their 20s. … When you are tired of nightclubs, you come in and see us.”
The weekly dances attract hundreds of people.
“It is a nice social event for a single who is looking for someplace to be rather than home alone,” Harris said, who was married when he started the group and has since become single. “If you know where the Stranahan is, you can find us.
“You would be surprised how many people come week after week,” he said. “It is like a home. It’s a ‘everybody knows your name place’, which makes it harder for somebody new to come in, so you have to come a couple of times to get around that.”
In addition to singles, couples who met through the group still attend the dances. Cindy and Don Carsten of Point Place met during the dance lessons taught before the Friday night dances.
“I was going for a quite awhile before that, and Don was going two years before that,” Cindy said of meeting her husband. “That hall is so big with so many people; we never saw each other until we started dance lessons.”
The Halloween dance is a big event for them.
“We go every Friday. In fact; we help Jack when we can as far as setting up,” she said. “We have lots of friends there.”
