Wherefore art thou, Romeos?

Strictly social men's group gets together for food, laughs

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They may wear red hats and dine out en masse, but no one would mistake this group for a chapter of the Red Hat Society.

They are, they will tell you proudly, ROMEOs — Retired Old Men Eating Out.

Ranging in age from 59 to 86, these residents of River Forest in Fort Myers Shores began their monthly lunch excursions in January.

"It started as the popularity of the Red Hat Society took hold with the women," says co-founder Pat Darga. "Bob Beals and I were sitting around talking and he says, 'we ought to start a group of guys. We ought to call ourselves the ROMEOs.' "

And so the group was born in much the same way as the Red Hat Society, a loosely knit network of women-only groups whose members don red hats and purple dresses for their strictly social public forays.

The Red Hats now number some 1 million worldwide, but they, too, began as a small group of friends who did lunch.

"We do it for the comradeship," Mike Pastuch says. "Men are pretty much loners. We have a few ha-has, a few drinks. It works out nice."

Darga says they keep things simple.

"We have one rule: there are no rules," he says. "We don't have any officers. We don't have any meetings. We don't have any dues. We just sit around and say 'what do you want to do?' "

Their only required uniform is the red baseball cap emblazoned with "ROMEO," although "we're thinking of getting purple dresses for a few of the guys," says member Dick Foster.

Last Thursday, when their wives headed off to the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre for a matinee of "Gypsy," 14 ROMEO members carpooled to Hooters in Fort Myers.

"We're old, but we're not dead," says Mike Edmondson as a server in tiny, tight orange shorts and an equally abbreviated T-shirt hoisted a pitcher of beer and handed full glasses out around the table.

The men's conversation flowed as freely as the brews.

Over plates filled with chicken wings, onion rings, Philly cheese steaks and other manly dishes, they engaged in some good-natured ribbing and discussed real estate, boating, upcoming trips, TV and even "American Idol."

(Local finalist Vonzell Solomon filled in for the regular River Forest carrier a while back.)

The men in their red ROMEO caps drew some curious glances from around the room. No one was bold enough to approach the group to find out who they were, but it's happened at previous gatherings, Darga says.

After one lunch, Darga noticed a man looking at them with a puzzled look.

"I walked up to him and explained that we were Retired Old Men Eating Out," Darga says. "He busted out laughing and offered to buy the hat right off my head."

It turned out the man was retiring and had no idea what he'd do with his free time. He told Darga he now plans to start a ROMEO chapter.

Four of Darga's golf buddies from Bonita Springs attended the February lunch and joined up, while Darga's brother took a hat north to Muskegon, Mich., with the intention of starting a ROMEO group there.

Counting them and the members who have headed north for the summer, they figure there are about 27 members so far.

Darga and Beals think it's possible the group will take off like the Red Hat Society. They are working to register the name and have created a Web site for other mature males who want to do what they're doing.

"We could sit at home and do nothing or gather around and exchange lies," Darga says.

For details, check out the group's Web site, romeoguys.com. Hats are $10, including shipping.

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