Singles join together to have fun

After moving 2,000 miles across the country from Maryland to Salt Lake City, Tom Robey needed something to do.

Robey had decided to move out West, never having been there before and not knowing a soul, in order to check it out. He found himself as a single person in a new city wanting to get out and do things but without someone to do them with.

He started hunting around trying to find things to do and stumbled upon an advertisement for a group called the Salt Lake Activities Group (SLAG). He contacted the group and went out with them for the first time in September — and has found himself a network of friends.

The premise behind the group is to provide a place for singles age 30ish to 50ish, especially those new to the area, to have the opportunity to participate in activities. Tyler Meadows, one of the founders of the Salt Lake Activities Group, said it's not intended to be a dating service.

"Our premise is not to be a dating service. That doesn't stop people who want to, but we don't force them to," he said. "We want to keep the environment safe. We don't want to see people hitting on somebody and making someone else uncomfortable."

The group has a wide range of activities from hiking to snowshoeing to going out to dinner together to having parties at a group member's home.

Boredom drove Meadows and friend Doug Alderman to form the group in the summer of 2004.

"Basically I was bored. I had been married for 14 years and divorced for two years. I needed a way to make friends. I wasn't so much into the dating scene," he said. "I wanted a way to meet people . . . (to do) mutual activities and make it a non-threatening thing."

Through a speed-dating event the year before, Meadows met Cristina Lyon. The two became friends immediately. Meadows told Lyon about the group, and she has since become the "chief SLAGette" or the one to offer the female perspective on SLAG activities, she said.

Meadows says many SLAG members are people who, like Robey and Lyon, have moved to the Salt Lake Valley and don't know anybody. Lyon emigrated to the United States from Milano, Italy. She came to Utah as a tourist in 1974 and ended up getting married to a local and later divorced. The group has been good to help her get to know people in the city.

"SLAG gave me a chance to connect and to find friends, who are older professionals," she said. "I felt SLAG was the best and safest environment to meet young singles my age."

Lyon said she and Meadows both enjoy making new pizzas or discovering a new pizza place. One weekend a group of SLAG members drove to Draper to try out a new pizza place. Or they buy a $5 pizza from Little Caesar's and add new toppings.