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Come Together
MeetinDC's Mikey Herd founded the social group four years ago to "create an environment where everyone's invited," he says. An anniversary party at his Alexandria home drew about 200 members, including Maria Robertson, from left, Charann White and Annette Delallana, shown with Herd.
(Mark Finkenstaedt Ftwp - Mark Finkenstaedt)
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"There are so many things that I would not have done in D.C. if I hadn't known about [the group]," Punsal says. "Somebody will bring us out to bars that I would never think of going to.
"D.C.'s not such a big city, but it's socially the type of place where you can become demoralized. . . . It's so easy to get cloistered into your office," he says. "But it's also really welcoming if you can find a group."
* * *
On a thick, gray Washington evening, there's a line outside the Embassy of Madagascar.
The people in the line have nothing more in common than having read the same Web posting and having decided it was worth their $50 to spend a Saturday night getting dressed up, drinking Madagascan sangria and, presumably, hanging out with one another.
"The word that means 'hi' or 'hello' is 'salama,' " the bandleader says. "Can you repeat after me? Salama."
"Salama," they echo.
It's awkward, at least at first, as the guests -- mostly in pairs or trios, but some on their own -- move quickly to occupy themselves with plates of fried bananas, yucca in coconut milk, puff pastry appetizers, looking busy and looking hesitantly at one another. It's an elegant house party where no one knows the host.
"We wanted to find some things to do here in D.C., to get us into the culture of the city, the atmosphere," says Allen Deneve, a 21-year-old who attends the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., but is in town visiting his girlfriend, Erinn Woodside, a fellow cadet interning here for the summer.
"Things to do in D.C." is probably what they Googled and how they came across Things to Do DC, the group hosting the Madagascan soiree. Like MeetinDC, Things to Do is an organization for generalists. People pick and choose, pop in and out and pay for only the events they attend. Unlike MeetinDC, it's a money-making venture for its proprietors.
"We come up with a different array of activities to facilitate meeting like-minded young professionals," explains Greg Bland, chief executive of Things to Do. He's a fast talker who rattles off his group's events, and the characteristics of his patrons, like a car dealer running through the inventory on his lot.
Kayaking. Pub crawls. Cooking classes. Scavenger hunts. Vineyard tours.
