Lawn chair clubs combine social time and social distancing

JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) — As leaves spun down like blazing yellow confetti from the honey locust trees in the terrace of Uptown Janesville, six men unfolded Green Bay Packers lawn chairs under a cloudless Friday morning sky.

The men, most in their golden 80s, one just turned 90, sat under the crumbly awning of the mall’s former JCPenney store. In unison, they uncorked Thermoses of hot coffee, sending the smell of java into the 65-degree air.

The bright colors of the men’s standard-issue satin windbreakers and ball caps were reflected in the glass entry of the empty Penney’s, now marked in white adhesive lettering as “Building E."

The men make up one of several groups of mainly middle-aged and elderly men who have begun to meet and socialize in retail parking lots on Janesville’s northeast side. Residents say they’ve recently noticed small groups who meet daily for coffee klatches. The meetings are conspicuous because each man brings his own lawn chair, the Janesville Gazette reported.

The lawn chair clubs (if that’s what the groups can be called) seem to have developed organically—an outdoor, socially distanced reaction to months of isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

George Brunner, a retired Janesville police chief and one of the sentinels who hangs Fridays at the old JCPenney, said a few of the men walk around the mall parking lot to exercise. On Fridays, the whole group—six or seven, sometimes spouses, too—congregates on lawn chairs outside the mall for coffee and chat.

“We sit around spread out in chairs,” Brunner said. “It provides some…”

Mark Bennett, another member of the lawn chair club, cut Brunner off with a joke.

“It provides us time to BS,” Bennett said, chuckling.

Brunner smiled and continued.

“Everyone is looking...