As Flannery O’Connor once wrote, a good date activity is hard to find. Her famous statement still holds true today – in fact, it might be harder to pick a good date activity than it is to find a date in the first place. If you Google “first date ideas,” here are some of the suggestions:
“Dinner and a movie.” Snooze. Is this the 1930s?
“Go on a picnic!” Too Pinterest-y. Plus, what “going on a picnic” is your date’s way of taking you to a remote spot where nobody can hear you scream?
“Take a hike together.” Same, but worse. Ladies, are you listening? Hikes as a first date are DANGEROUS.
The real issue here is that the perfect first date is a genuinely difficult equation to solve. You need equal parts shared activity (so you have something to talk about) and excuse not to talk to them. After all, nothing kills a good date besides divulging too much information about yourself. You can’t tackle meaty subjects like your five-year plan or all your past traumas on dates 1-3 (unless you’re either a Capricorn or a certified psycho). It’s better to keep it light and flirty, and sharing an experience that doesn’t place too much pressure on the conversational part of the date is a good place to start.
What’s up with RADfest?
Enter: the music festival. The music festival is the PERFECT end-of-summer date activity because it provides an activity, an excuse not to talk to your date (or an excuse to find somewhere a little quieter…) and is also just very fun. Unfortunately, it’s too late to schedule a Coachella trip for your hot date next weekend, but we have something just as good…or maybe even better: RADFest.
RADFest is truly everything you could want in a festival: an all-ages weekend extravaganza that aims to highlight diversity and inclusion in music. AND a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Our VOICE. This is great for two reasons: first of all, we love a socially-conscious music festival that doesn’t just book straight men. Second, it’s literally the PERFECT way to screen your date. If they’re not into a music festival that supports women, nonprofits, people of color, and non-binary folks, then like, bye. It’s 2019, we’re not about that. And as an extra bonus, if you feel #uncomfortable with your date because they (or anyone else!) made a weird pass at you, there’s security at the festival for that. Volunteers will be present at all times to make sure festival-goers feel safe, and to kick out weirdos and creeps.
Ticket Giveaway
RADFest will take place next Saturday and Sunday (September 14-15) at The Grey Eagle. Tickets are available here, but we want to hook you up with a giveaway, too! Follow Asheville Date Night (@ashevilledatenight) and RADFest (@radfestavl) on Instagram, and tag a friend in Asheville Date Night’s most recent giveaway post, and two lucky winners will receive a weekend pass on us!
Feature image credit: Aubrey Denis
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