Every other Wednesday, members of Queer Poppies gather for an evening walk through a different Georgetown park.
Founded by partners Olivia Hayes and Dina Garcia, the group was created as a space for LGBTQ+ residents and allies to build community and feel welcome.
“I feel like us as a queer couple — don’t necessarily see Georgetown as a huge hub for queer like events and community,” Ms. Garcia said. “I think part of why the club came about. We wanted to build on it.”
“There’s a ton of events in Austin, but we wanted something more localized to Georgetown,” Ms. Hayes said. “To be completely honest, I wanted it to be a running club, but there were not a lot of queer people in Georgetown that wanted to run.”
Ms. Hayes posts about the group on Nextdoor, Reddit, Partiful and Instagram. Some weeks, there are only a couple of people, while other weeks the group can grow to 15. She said they have a lot of nice people through the group.
The walk is a nice social activity that allows people to relax and open up. Ms. Hayes said. Conversations can be light or serious, and can sometimes get pretty deeper.
People of all ages come to the group, and Ms. Garcia said it is really cool to see intergenerational connections.
“[We] have people who are entering college and people who have just retired,” Ms. Garcia said. “They're in different walks of life, but they just walk and talk.”
“Even if you're an introvert, even if you’re shy, there’s a lot of us in the group that are more introverted,” Ms. Hayes said. “We’re very welcoming, and we’d love to see new people.”
The Queer Poppies meet on alternating Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
