Blind Date: Financial adviser meets swim coach

Our pigeons sometimes turn into lovebirds! The Pigeon605 Blind Date series is what it sounds like: the chance to make a love connection with our team serving as matchmakers.

Businesses, would you like to sponsor the next Blind Date? Email [email protected]. And thanks to Escape 605 and The Treasury for sponsoring this one!

The couple

Mike wasn’t really looking to meet someone. But when a co-worker asked the 30-year-old financial adviser if he was interested in a blind date, and then asked again, he decided to say yes.

Cassie, a 24-year-old swimming coach, stumbled into the blind date in a similar way. She hesitated when her friend encouraged her to sign up for a Pigeon605 blind date, but she also agreed.

“I was like, ‘Oh, what the heck, I’ll give it a try,’” Cassie said. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

The two connected via text and arranged to meet for a Saturday evening date starting at The Treasury in downtown Sioux Falls.

It’s attached to Hotel on Phillips at Ninth Street and Phillips Avenue. You can enter off of Ninth, but we suggest using the former bank vault through the hotel lobby. Just because.

Food & drink

Mike and Cassie split the pork carnitas tacos and wontons at The Treasury. 

“Both were amazing!!” she said.

For drinks, he went with the Old Fashioned and she had a Santa Marta, which is St-Germain elderflower liqueur, Tattersall grapefruit crema liqueur, mint, lemon and soda.

“We each had a couple of those and really enjoyed those too,” she said.

The entertainment

After dinner and drinks, they moved on to try ax-throwing at Escape 605. Escape has two locations — the downtown one is at 119 W. 10th St.

It has ax-throwing, a bar and a social club in the back offering bocce, giant Jenga and more competitive, fun games galore.

They snacked on popcorn while he had a beer and she had a White Claw. They had a close match throwing axes.

Here’s what they had to say about their Blind Date.

What was your first impression?

Mike: Beautiful. She’s easy-going, and I could tell she was fun and motivated. It wasn’t awkward at all.

Cassie: He was just super friendly and nice and cute. I feel like we started to get along right away.

What was your experience at Treasury like?

Cassie: The staff was amazing and super friendly. It was a very classy place! I don’t think there was a bad choice on the menu!

Mike: It’s fun, nicer vibes. It’s not too intense, so you can actually communicate and have a conversation. Their service, food and drinks, everything they do, it’s top end.

How about at Escape 605? What did you think of that as a date spot?

Mike: I thought it was a cool place. It has a fun vibe where people can kind of loosen up.

Cassie: It was good – even though we were both really bad. It’s kind of like darts where there’s a few different games you can play. I thought it was really fun.

What was the most memorable moment during the date?

Cassie: Getting competitive at ax-throwing. We just were making fun of each other and getting competitive with the little game we were playing there, obviously like friends, but more than that.

Mike: Can I just go with the whole date? Probably when we were ax-throwing – we kind of competed a little bit. That was fun.

What has happened since? Will there be a second date?

Mike: That’s for you to wonder about.

Cassie: We did have dinner again the next night, so that was good. And yeah, we’ve still been chatting, and it’s going well.

What would you say to someone else considering going on one of our blind dates?

Cassie: I would say just try it because what’s the worst that could happen. You never know; you might have a lot of fun. It was just completely different, which was good and fun. You have a lot to talk about because you don’t know anything about this person.

Mike: If your co-workers pressure you into it, you might as well take them up and see what happens. I wasn’t necessarily looking for anything like this … but, if people are out there looking for something like this, why not?

Interested in going on a Pigeon605 Blind Date? Click here.

Want to re-create this date? The Treasury is open from 3 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Friday, 1 p.m. to midnight Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. It’s starting some amazing Mardi Gras features Feb. 16-21: Think a Treasury twist on a Hurricane, Sazarac, Pimm’s Cup and the Big Easy Margarita, paired with gumbo, an oyster po’boy or fried catfish nuggets with tartar sauce and lemons.

Escape 605 is open from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 10:30 p.m Friday through Sunday. And – appropriately – on Feb. 14 you can snag BOGO admission.