United Way Soiree at Blue 5

Last night my wife and I go to a get-together at Blue 5 downtown put on by the United Way, Roanoke division. We meet downstairs and catch the tail end of happy hour - enough time for two of the only beer on tap: Blue Moon. Not a bad choice, if you have only one.

My wife and I begin in the customary fashion: mingling without mingling and talking to each other like we’re absolute strangers. Two beers deep, we start to meet some of the United Way folks, who are no doubt partially attracted by the less gregarious in the group of about 40 people, the rest of which were mostly shirt and tie types who’ve come right from work and have a solid 3 or 4 people there to talk to.

We meet the CEO of Roanoke United Way, who also hails from Phoenix, swapping stories about urban development and what the current economic downturn (shall we say) means for Roanoke. Not to make it sound like deep, Larry King type of conversation or anything.

We talk to a couple of other very pleasant people before heading upstairs for dinner around 7 or so. A chalk sign reads: “Route 2 playing tonight” but also reads: “Happy New Year!” so I don’t really know how reliable the live band intel is. Around 8, though, Route 2 takes the stage - a base player, a guitarist who plays like that blind guy from Road House and a lady wailing on the violin.
The food is good: I have the catfish, and my wife has a few veggie sides.

And so, we leave around 830 with a reasonable tab, full bellies, and a few business cards to log into my address book. All of the United Way folks say that Roanokers are a generous lot, economic downturn or not (and sometimes in spite of such circumstances). So it’s a good night, with a place I’ve never been and many faces I’ve never seen - all of which seem to like it here in Roanoke, which says a lot in 18 degree, windy weather.