Grappling with sagging participation, the Mercer Island Swingers Club announced this week that they are lowering the minimum age for membership to 55 “years young.”
“Too many of our members are recovering from hip replacement surgery, to repair injuries brought on by decades of vigorous swinging,” said club president Hughes C. Alice. “Others have become totally preoccupied with protecting Mercer Island’s parks.”
Observed Swingers Club member Rhonda Jeremy: “It’s much harder to have key parties these days. These Tesla keys all look the same,” adding, “It’s gotten so bad that some nights, I end up in bed with my own husband.”
The Swingers Club is one of the longest continually active social organizations on Mercer Island, dating back to the early 1970s. The club was founded by members of the Mercer Island High School Class of 1960, and has always limited membership to those born in 1949 or earlier. Effective immediately, the club is introducing a new junior membership level, open to any Island resident born between 1950 and 1962.
The club also plans to “project a youthful vibe” by setting up an Instagram account.
Asked for comment, an unnamed 1995 graduate of Mercer Island High School said, “So that’s what our parents were doing all those times they sent us to the Mercerwood Shore Club by ourselves? Ew!”
The Mercer Island Swingers Club wants potential members to know that it meets on the first Saturday night of every month at the Roanoke Inn. The password is “Mercerdale.”