Monalisa Lopez, left, Sky Molina, left middle, and Ashley Rodriguez, right, give a presentation about their friend Jazzmine Lopez during a Pitch-a-Pal dating event March 5 at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.
In the modern world of dating apps and remote work, young people looking for social and romantic connections are increasingly searching for in-person opportunities to meet new friends or partners.
The newest trend among young singles are pitch-a-friend events, where people pitch their available friends to potential partners, via slideshow presentation, because who better to talk you up than the people who know you best?
On Thursday evening, March 5, Club Congress was packed with dozens of people hoping to find their match at a “Pitch-a-Pal” event. Tickets were $10 to attend or $12 to pitch your friend.
Crowds watch presentations during the Pitch-a-Pal dating event at Club Congress.
The scene was something like a mix between a retro dating show and a stand-up comedy sketch, with the 12 chosen singles each sitting on the stage in front of the audience while their friends talked through slides full of playful jokes about the eligible singles’ dating histories, desired types, or unusual interests.
Jazzmine Lopez's friends talked about her love of Star Wars, and said she was looking for someone she can talk sports with, who likes dogs, and who doesn't have any "baby mama drama."
Danie, another participant, was pitched as "a Miami girl" who is a former rugby player and a huge fan of women's sports.
The first presentation started the night off like a scene out of a romcom, when one of the attendees stood up to confess they had been crushing on Danie since meeting her at a different event.
The crowd was lively, enthusiastic, and brought an overwhelmingly positive energy — laughing along with the presenters, and at times loudly agreeing or disagreeing with the opinions and preferences of the pitchees.
Marycarmen Salazar Rubio reacts to the slides created about her by her friend Dulce Oleta during the March 5 Pitch-a-Pal dating event at Club Congress.
It was a point of heated contention when one of the presenters proclaimed her friend was looking for someone “medium ugly, like Pedro Pascal." The crowd disagreed with that description of the movie star and the outrage was deafening.
Another humorous moment was when a group of presenters pleaded for a partner for their friend who could also be a buddy for one of their boyfriends, who needed another guy in their friend group.
Anyone interested in the participants was encouraged to either talk with them after their pitch, or connect with them over Instagram, with QR codes or pitchees' Instagram handles included on many of the slides.
Paulina Luna laughs as her friend Grace Leito gives a presentation about her at the Pitch-a-Pal dating event.
Nikkie Iglar, 25, was one of 12 brave singles who were there to be pitched to potential suitors.
She said she saw a post advertising the event on social media, and embraced the opportunity to try to meet someone in real life.
“I've been wanting to do this type of event for so long, and it just happened to come up on my feed, so it was perfect,” Iglar said.
Iglar, who has been single for a year and a half, said she was trying to move away from using dating apps, but a lack of "third spaces" — regular places to go outside of work and home — has made it hard to meet people.
“I think we all started on the apps around COVID, and it just progressively got worse,” she said. “I told myself I wasn't gonna go on the apps, lied to myself, went back, got disappointed.”
Having a singles event like Pitch-a-Pal was a welcome change, and a sign of the culture shifting, she hopes.
Contact cards are available for people who want to get to know each other after attending a Pitch-a-Pal dating event.
Chris Romain, 25, also learned about the event on social media, and wanted to see what it was about.
“I saw one that happened in February, and that looked fun, so I was like, ‘might as well give this one a try,’” she said.
Her hope for the night was just to meet new people. “Being from out of state, it's harder to meet people,” she said.
Unlike Iglar, Romain said she has never been on dating apps. “I've heard my friends' horror stories, and I'm so good,” Romain said.
She’d rather meet someone in person.
That is exactly what Emiliya Dale, an organizer behind the Pitch-a-Pal event, had in mind when she created Picnic Palz to help people in Tucson create meaningful connections offline.
Dale said the idea started after she went on a date nearly two years ago.
“I went on a picnic date, and I planned the whole thing, and we had a great time. Things didn't work out with him, but I was thinking ‘that was so fun, I want to have a picnic all the time,’” she said. “‘What if I made it a club? Or made a singles club — because I was single at the time — where everybody just kind of sits around and has a picnic? We could call it Picnic Palz.’”
She brought the idea to her friends, then to social media, and Picnic Palz was born.
Emiliya Dale, creator of the social group Picnic Palz, which puts on the Pitch-a-Pal dating events.
“Forty to 50 people came to the first one, and I was like, ‘oh, this might be a need,’” Dale said. “A club where you can sit around and hang out and there's not really big expectations other than just meeting new people and connecting.”
Over the last year and a half, she has organized several community events from casual picnics to craft clubs and dating events like Pitch-a-Pal.
“I usually try to have an event at least once a month, ideally twice a month. It's just me running it. I have a few friends and my boyfriend that helps me organize, but it's mainly just me,” Dale said. “We've done a lot of picnics — obviously — integrating crafting."
"I love being outside, so outdoor activities, hikes, and then I do stand-up comedy in town ... so I really like to produce interactive comedy shows where we bring in the audience. It’s another way for people to connect and we have a good laugh. We've done different dating shows that have been really successful.”
Emiliya Dale, and Picnic Palz attendees on a group outing.
While attendance varies, Dale said picnics usually have a turnout of about 20 people, while other events often have larger crowds of anywhere from 50 to 100 people.
“Picnics are usually a little bit more of a smaller group, which is really great for people that maybe have some social anxiety or just want to craft,” she said. “Pitch-a-Pal was the biggest turnout this month, with 140 tickets sold.”
For Dale, Picnic Palz is about giving people the space to build relationships with each other, and meet new people outside of work or school.
“Plenty of Gen Z and millennials, we don't really own houses yet, so having people come over to your house and offering that third place — it doesn't exist as much, as much as it did in previous generations, so having a club where people are able to come together in a common space and be a part of a community, I think is really important,” she said.
And Dale has seen how much of a difference those human connections can make.
“I have one guy that has consistently come to Picnic Palz and has been an integral part of the community, and — it was very, very sweet — this Christmas, he gave me this card that said ‘Picnic Palz has been such a light in my life,’” she said. “He felt more hopeful being in a community that Picnic Palz created for him, so that was really, really cool to receive that."
“I know that there's a group of friends that go on rock climbing trips all the time,” she said. “People have met through Pitch a Pal. I remember speaking with one guy that had met somebody mingling, and I've heard a couple of stories with that.”
In the coming months, Dale hopes to host several more Picnic Palz events, including another Pitch-a-Pal tentatively planned for May.
Attendees at one of Picnic Palz picnic events.
“We might plan a picnic of some sort in April, and then, like a craft club or something,” she said. “We're in talks of doing a dunk tank comedy show that would be like a fundraiser for back to school.”
She is also planning on bringing back what she calls “Show and Tell” to Pitch-a-Pal, which involves each person in the audience bringing some odd trinket they own to the event.
“Essentially, we have local comics that interact with the audience and try to find the weirdest thing that they bring.”
Most importantly, though, Dale said she wants everyone to feel welcome at Picnic Palz.
“I try to create a space where people don't feel weird to come for the first time. Because I think that's the biggest thing, that the biggest hurdle is, ‘I don't want to go to something alone.’ And once you get past that, you realize that there are spaces like Picnic Palz that support you in that.”
“The main mission of Picnic Palz is positivity,” Dale said. “There's that colloquialism that's ‘life's not a picnic,' right? It's like, why not? If we strip away the blankets and the picnic baskets, it's just about connecting with people."
If you're looking to join future Picnic Palz events, you can keep up to date on Instagram at picnic.palz.
