It is that time of the year again, and I am not talking about Christmas or Halloween. I am talking about the annual football season. This also kicks off the fan favorite season of tailgating. That’s right, our very own Greenwood High School had their first home game of the season and that means that the teachers and staff had their annual tailgate before the game. But they are not the only ones. Students, parents, and fans of the games are all tailgating. So, are you one of them?
Tailgating is a hosted event with an informal meal normally served from the back of a parked car or in a sports stadium parking lot. Many fans tailgate before, during, or after the game and are often multiple hours long. But the real question is, where did it come from?
Tailgating originated back in the Civil War Era. People would pack up food and sit on the sidelines of skirmishes and watch. The First Battle of Bull Run marks the beginning of tailgating on American soil. An account from the Union Captain John Tidball shows that locals traveled to the Virginia countryside to watch the battle. People would pack food, while there were vendors pushing around a cart of pies and other treats. The long hours from Washington D.C. to Virginia required people to bring food with them.
In 1869, just eight years later, Rutgers and Princeton played the very first college football game. Newspaper reports show images of people sitting on the sidelines cheering and eating. While the food then was used as something to get them through, it now has become a tradition. Since concession stands and restaurants were not a thing, most people packed food in order for them to make it to the competition, through, and back.
The name tailgating has many different ideas of how it came to be. The word more than likely stemmed from the idea of serving food from the back of your car, or the tail.
No matter where it came from, the tailgating tradition is here to stay. Whether you are just starting out or you have done it all your life, there’s no limit to showing your team spirit with tailgating.
