Speed Dating Great For Quirkyalones
by Brandy Welvaert, Quad-City Times
February 14, 2004
Seven Minute Yenta's Valentine's Day Mixer will be held from 7 to 10 tonight at Coffee
Hound, 3374 Middle Road, Bettendorf. The speed-dating event is open to all Quad-Cities singles.
Cost is $10 at the door.
While television's "Will and Grace" represent a stereotypical pair of quirkyalones, Will and
Pattie Flesch of Bettendorf seem to be the traditional lucky-in-love match -- at first glance,
that is.
They actually met through the services of Susan Esser, matchmaker and founder of the Quad-Cities'
Seven Minute Yenta, a dating concept which allows singles to meet many other singles in a short
period of time.
Individuals call Ms. Esser and she holds their names until she develops a large enough pool of
men and women (within an age group) to hold a yenta event. Speed daters then meet in a public
place for a game of matchmaking musical chairs. Each participant gets seven one-on-one minutes
with every person of the opposite sex, and in that time they determine whether they want to
meet again.
"The good part is, you only have to spend seven minutes, and in that time you can kind of
tell, said Mr. Flesch.
Mr. Flesch re-entered the dating pool after his wife of 32 years died of breast cancer.
Mrs. Flesch had been divorced for a number of years, and had given up on dating before she
tried it speed-style.
"(Dating) is scary," Mrs. Flesch says. "There's not a lot of morals and values out there."
Will and Pattie each had participated in Seven Minute Yenta events before meeting at a dance
hosted by Ms. Esser called "Meet Me Under the Mistletoe" on Dec. 13, 2002. It was love at first
sight for Mr. Flesch. "All of a sudden, she came through the crowd. I said to myself, 'That's
her.'"
He wrote his wedding vows two days later and proposed just six months after that, on March 13,
2003. The couple married on May 13, 2003.
Mr. Flesch says 13 must be his lucky number. Lucky, indeed.
"I found my soul-mate -- again," he says.
Seven Minute Yenta boasts 15 married couples and 37 engagements in the Quad-Cities since
matchmaking began in April of 2001. For more information, call Ms. Esser at (563) 355-7644
or visit www.7minuteyenta.com.
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