They’ve been meeting online for more than 18 months, and as yet there is no road map for the Arlington Senior Democrats organization to get back to its traditional in-person gatherings.
But Bob Platt, who leads the informal organization, said it is somewhere on the horizon.
“We can continue to pursue the idea of returning” to lunch meetings, he said at the organization’s Nov. 9 meeting. “We’ll explore that for the new year. You guys love fellowship.”
In the “P.P.” (prior to the pandemic) world, the group met most months at Busboys & Poets in Shirlington, where they occupied a back room and heard remarks from elected officials, aspiring candidates and local-media potentates.
The last such gathering was in March 2020, when in a packed room (no “social-distancing” yet) contenders for the Democratic endorsement for School Board made their respective cases. A few days later, all hell broke loose across a country that soon was ducking for cover and locking down for the duration.
Platt said he has kept in contact with Busboys & Poets, which would welcome them back, although prices might be higher.
“It’s incredible the amount of inflation in just the past couple of months,” he said.
The organization started mulling the idea of returning to in-person gatherings over the summer and likely was on course to due so, but the delta variant of the COVID virus caused leaders to rethink the idea.
While not raising an objection to Busboys & Poets, participant Joe Pelton advocated for a wider array of locations for the meetings, to accommodate members from all geographic regions of the community.
“Maybe we could explore some options,” he said.
Fine by Platt. Rotation, he said, “is certainly an option.”