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About three months ago we launched Denverite Classifieds. The goal? Help Denverites make new friends.
We asked readers to put themselves out there, to submit blurbs about themselves and what they were looking for in new friends.
And Denverites really wrote in. So far, we’ve received more than 100 submissions and posted more than 40 of them.
I’ve been impressed by the wide range of interests in our city — runners and mountain bikers, musicians and artists, parents, transplants, chess players, nerds, self-described “yappers” and “golden retrievers.”
But then, we needed you all to respond.
At this point, I wasn’t sure how it would go. Would readers really reply to anonymous posts online? Would people who submitted the classifieds really make connections?
But responses to the classifieds quickly rolled in from fellow Denverites with shared interests and a mutual goal of making new friends.
And with those connections have come a few early success stories.
We interviewed two new friends — separately — to hear how it’s been going.
David Wright submitted to classifieds because he was looking for new friends after moving back to Denver in March.
He already had some friends from growing up in the city but wanted to meet new people.
“I saw Classifieds and I thought it was a hilariously great idea,” Wright said. “I just submitted something just for fun, basically just to see if anything would happen.”
We posted Wright’s classified on Aug. 12. It read: “RESERVED GOLDEN RETRIEVER IN SEARCH OF RIGHTEOUS PALS (31M, Cole) Looking to chase soccer balls, go on walks and hang out in the park, eat treats, create community, and bark about local and global happenings with.”
Four people responded, including Nathan Eagan. Wright reached out because it seemed like they had similar interests, and they met about a month ago at Our Mutual Friend for beers.
“We did kind of joke that it was friend dating when we met up,” Wright said. “We just had a very low stakes first meeting, sort of made fun of the whole thing, but also really loved it.”
Wright thought the two hit it off at the brewery and invited Eagan to play soccer the next day. They’ve continued hanging out — Wright considers it a success.
“We’re friends,” he said. “I hang out with him and his girlfriend, we've done a few activities together which has been great, so a new friend right there has been a fun little thing.”
Nathan Eagan had also recently moved back to Colorado when his girlfriend sent him Wright’s classified.
The couple agreed that the person behind the post seemed like someone Eagan would connect with, so he replied to the Google form associated with the classified.
Here’s what he wrote: “Hi Cole! I moved to Denver about a year and a half ago and am always up for making new friends. I play a lot of soccer, love dogs, beer, and being outside, and enjoy talking about meaningful things (politics (esp state & local), current events, philosophy, religion, Scrubs, etc.). Would love to meet up sometime!”
Eagan agreed that the meet-up felt a bit like going on a blind date.
And like a date, the two talked at the brewery about what they were looking for.
“He said something during that conversation that basically hit right on the head of what I'm looking for in friendship and community at this point, which is deep friendship and intentional community,” Eagan said.
Like Wright, he thought those first beers went well.
“I called my girlfriend right after and she was like, ‘You seem so giddy,’” Eagan said. “She kept teasing me about it, sounding like I had just gone on a perfect first date. We clicked really well.”
Since then they’ve watched soccer, gone on a Colfax bar crawl with some other friends and just kept hanging out.
“We went on a trail run. He billed it as a trail run, and then it turned out he tried to kill me by taking me up a mountain,” Eagan said. “That was a blast.”
Eagan also views the experience as a success.
"It's been really fun and a really great addition to my life so I'm really glad that I reached out,” he said.
Given the mutual success, I asked the pair for advice on making new friends.
Their first tip: Don’t sweat it too much.
Both Eagan and Wright said they view meeting someone new for a drink as pretty low stakes, a mindset that helped them decide to just go for it.
“I think it's fun to meet new people and try new things,” Wright said. “I think the worst thing that happens is that you just don't talk to them again.”
Eagan said he thought friend-dating was easier than actual dating, because he was less worried about the hit to his ego if it didn’t go well compared to a romantic rejection.
His advice?
“I would just say do it,” Eagan said. “I think there's an unmet need and an unmet desire out there for friendship and connection that everyone feels, but you don't know that everyone else is feeling it too.”
Going into it they both thought, worst case scenario, they waste an hour or two.
Best case, they make a new friend.
You can submit your own classified here and reply to recently posted classifieds here.
