Meet Me where? Popular downtown Tucson event searching for new home

A popular downtown meet-up group is looking for a new gathering spot — and a new name — after parting ways with its only venue for the past 15 years.

Meet Me at Maynards has been holding casual running and walking events each Monday at the downtown restaurant or nearby Hotel Congress since 2009.

Recently, though, the owners of the host businesses decided it was time for a change.

Meet Me organizers said they were asked in August to start paying a fee of up to $1,500 a week to use the courtyard at Hotel Congress, but after some negotiations the nonprofit with limited funds opted to go elsewhere instead.

“It was a difficult decision, but it’s been well received,” said Daniela Diamente, executive director of Beyond, which organizes the weekly event as part of its health and wellness advocacy work in Tucson. “People seem to be excited about new opportunities.”

In the coming months, the group plans to test drive several new meet-up locations near downtown, each with its own set of unique walking and running routes.

Organizers are also discussing what to call themselves now that they’re no longer affiliated with Maynards. Meet Me Mondays is one possibility, Diamente said, but it’s a community event so Beyond is seeking community input on the new name. (They will also be looking for new sponsors to help promote whatever name they settle on, she said.)

The meet-up group was launched in 2009 by civic leader and fitness advocate Jannie Cox, former CEO of the Carondelet Foundation. Maynards and Hotel Congress were her partners from the start.

Richard Oseran, who owns the two businesses with his wife, Shana, said that when Cox first approached them, there was a lot less activity downtown, especially on weeknights. Meet Me at Maynards seemed like a good way to bring people together in a healthy way and show them what the city center had to offer at the same time, he said.

The idea turned out to be a winner.

The free event has been known to attract more than 700 people at a time, including a few devoted regulars who have scarcely missed a single meet-up since the first one on April 9, 2009.

“Our event did serve as part of the revitalization of downtown, at least on Mondays,” Diamente said. “There’s a lot more happening downtown than there used to be 15 years ago.”

It works like this: Meet Me participants typically start checking in at around 5 p.m., then depart on predetermined running or walking routes through downtown that range in length from 1 to 4 miles. Many bars, restaurants and other businesses along the way offer discounts or specials to the athletes.

Some people go off in their own small groups or join guided tours of the area. Others skip the exercise altogether in favor of dinner or drinks, Diamente said.

After an hour or so, the event ends up back where it started with a raffle, usually involving gift cards from local shops.

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Though the meet-up is a fitness-oriented community event first and foremost, Diamente said it also brings paying customers downtown at a time when traffic can be slow. “That’s not the primary function, but it’s a lovely perk for the business that hosts us,” she said.

As with other local events, Meet Me’s attendance has not returned to its pre-pandemic levels, when as many 400 people regularly turned out to run and walk through downtown. But even on a slow night, Diamente said, the event will draw at least 150 participants.

Oseran said Meet Me at Maynards has definitely brought in customers over the years, but it has also committed Hotel Congress to maintaining a certain level of staffing on Mondays and making its courtyard available to the group on a weekly basis.

Despite the name, it has been years since the meet-up was actually held at Maynards, which isn’t even open on Monday nights.

Oseran thinks that there are more than enough businesses operating downtown these days for someone else to take over the hosting duties.

“I hope it’s going to be a win-win for everyone,” he said.

Oseran added that Hotel Congress would be happy to serve as host on an occasional basis going forward, if the group decides to vary its meet-up locations. He said his business will also continue to offer incentives to runners and walkers, just as other downtown merchants do.

Diamente said losing their long-time meeting place is “bittersweet,” but she has no hard feelings for the folks at Hotel Congress. “Our intent is not to bash someone who’s hosted this event for 15 years,” she said.

Meet Me at Maynards held a farewell gathering in the hotel’s courtyard on Monday.

For the rest of September, the group will gather each Monday at MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento, across the Santa Cruz River from downtown.

On Mondays in October, the group will meet at Corbett’s, 340 N. Sixth Ave. And on Mondays in November, participants will meet at The Broadway Beer & Wine Bar, which is set to open next month on Broadway east of Tucson Boulevard in Tucson’s historic Sunshine Mile.

“We are very excited about what is next for Beyond’s Meet Me … as we are ‘on the move’ to try out new host locations for a long-standing Tucson tradition and well-beloved weekly event for health and wellness,” Diamente said.

Oseran is rooting for them.

“We were thrilled to host them for 15 years,” he said. “We wish them well.”