Sudbury Pride introduces speed-friending as an alternative to speed-dating

If you prefer to celebrate friendship rather than romance to mark Valentine's Day,Sudbury Pride has something for you.

The organizationis hosting an evening of Speed Friending in place of speed dating.

Instead of romanticmatch-making, Sudbury Pride is hoping to help people make new friends.

"I think that there is a lot of emphasis on romantic relationships both within and without the LGBT community, I think that having a Speed Friending event just kind of redirects the significanceof platonic, non-romantic relationships," said Lee Czechowski, the vice-chair of Sudbury Pride and an organizer of the event.

Speed Friending was createdbyHez Bird, the organization's Communications Chair, as a way for people in the LGBT community and people outsidethe LGBT community to come together,have fun and make some friends.

It's based on the experience that making friends as adults can be difficult, and finding the time to put yourself out there to find people with similar interests can sometimes be a challenge.

"We get older and we get busy, it's really tough to get out there and make friends in different scenarios that aren't justcentredaround bars or drinking," saidCzechowski.

At Speed Friending, there will be 12 different stations with various activities to help everyone get to know each other, whether it's playing Jenga or working on a puzzle, everyone will be meeting new people and hopefully making new friends.

The event is Friday, February 15, at Little Montreal Bar and Deli andopen to everyone, within or outside of the LGBT community.

"I think the idea that we're getting together, we're going toplay games and we're going todo fun things to get to know one another, I think thatemphasis that it doesn't have to be a romantic thing is really important for our community," saidCzechowski.

Another event that is celebratory without invoking romance, theWinter Formal, also hosted by Sudbury Pride, happensright after Speed Friending at Little Montreal.

These types of events are important to help people in the community meetand build friendships, theysaid.

Sudbury is a lot smaller than Toronto and Montreal, which can make meeting others in theLGBTcommunity a challenge, saidCzechowski.

"Sudbury doesn't have a gay village, for example, you know like Toronto or like Montreal does, so I think that having these kinds of events that bring us all out into one space to find one another is really important," they said.