Yellowknife (Feb 10/06) - After 10 years of socializing, the YK Mingles group is still going strong.

The group was originally named the "Singles" group, but changed the name in 2005 when they realized they were attracting the wrong crowd.

Dave Ritchie and his wife of three years Karan Spoelder met through the YK Mingles group. They continue to socialize with the group. -

"We're a group of friends who socialize," said founding member Rob Thom. "We are not a meat market."

Thom is one of the half-dozen original members who still attend regularly.

The group meets every Saturday for breakfast at the Explorer Hotel.

"We meet for breakfast because it's a nice time of day," said Thom. "Our first meeting was on Feb 5, 1996."

The group met at the library for the first few months, but in April 1996 decided to move the weekly meetings to Saturday breakfast.

Currently, the group of friends have seen seven couples get married. All of them met through the club. One of those couples is still around and very active with the group.

Dave Ritchie met Karan Spoelder in 2003 and they started dating.

"We were together for about a year before we got married," said Spoelder.

Ritchie also has another reason behind the name change.

"Too many people were getting married and wanted to stay in the club," said Ritchie.

Spoelder said the best way to keep a social group like this going is seeing fresh new faces.

"Anyone is welcome to come in and talk with us," said Spoelder.

Rosalie Smith is another founding member who still make time to enjoy breakfast with the group.

"I was finding it harder and harder to meet other single people," said Smith.

"We saw a need for a social group and did something about it."

For people who are new to the city, the Mingles group could be a perfect way to break out on the social scene.

Dennis Monsigneur moved to the city just before Christmas and almost immediately joined up with the friendly group.

"I saw their ad in the paper and decided to try something new," said Monsigneur.

While he isn't a regular visitor of the breakfast bunch, he still enjoys catching up with the rest of the "minglers" and having a nice cup of coffee.

For other people like Mersini Bastas, joining the group happened later than most.

Bastas has lived in the city for the last 10 years, but has only been with the group for the past six weeks.

"I love it. It's really nice talking with these people," said Bastas.