Evan Dalian
Managing Editor
Photos by Ally Davis
One young man bravely embarks on a journey to find love and goes on multiple blind dates to hopefully make a connection and form a romantic relationship with a woman.
Many viewers are familiar with “The Bachelor” franchise where one man dates about 30 different women and pursues them as love interests. After the dating period of the show is over, he chooses one woman to be his one and only. The Butler Lantern is bringing this well-known reality show to Butler college students. The Bachelor volunteered, and the contestants are those who reached out and showed interest in the flyer posted. Welcome to Season 1: Episode 1 of “The Bachelor at Butler.”
The date began with the two meeting downtown at The Keeper of the Plains, which stands at the junction of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers and neighbors the Mid-America All-Indian Center in Wichita, KS. Contestant No. 1 was Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President and sophomore Sophia Dawson. Neither Dawson nor the Bachelor knew who their date would be ahead of time. Dawson arrived before the Bachelor, and patiently waited for his arrival. Shortly after he arrived, Dawson met the long-awaited Bachelor, sophomore Elijah Meyers.
“My initial thought when I saw my date was really positive,” Dawson said. “I have met him previously as we are both involved in vocal music, so it was great that we had a prior connection.”
The two said their greetings and began to walk towards the bridge that led to the Keeper of the Plains. They seemed to immediately have things to talk about and had no problem striking up a conversation.
“I was honestly really happy that it was somebody that I sort of knew,” Meyers said. “There was no chance for it to be awkward at all.”
While walking around the Keeper they spoke about how many times they had been there and how cool it would be to see it lit up at night. They quickly decided it was time for some food. The original plan was to go to Picasso’s Pizzeria in the Delano District of downtown Wichita. After arriving, the two quickly realized that the desired pizza joint was closed for the day. After looking at the surrounding restaurants, the two decided to walk about 50 feet down the street to Yokohama Ramen Joint.
“My favorite part was probably the food,” Meyers said. “I have never had food from Yokohama, so it was something new for me.”
After finishing dinner at Yokohama, the two decided to finish off the evening with some dessert at the nearby Milkfloat. They both really enjoyed the date, even though there were some hiccups along the way.
“Every aspect of the day went really well, and we had no trouble making conversation,” Dawson said. “We got to eat some bomb food and dessert at Milkfloat. It can’t get much better that that!”
As date No. 1 ended, Meyers is excited about the dates to come. The date was smooth and successful and both parties had an enjoyable time.
“It was a very good first date to start the Bachelor to help me calm some nerves,” Meyers said. “I could see myself going on a date at some point again with her, but I’m really excited to see who else I get to meet!”
Photos by Ally Davis
Butler Lantern 