08-16-2009 - Announcing the first 1971 BHS tailgate party..!!
This is primarily happening so that we can hopefully get some more of our LOCAL classmates involved in some of the fun we have been having. Of course, ALL classmates are welcome and invited to join in. So here is a run down of the plans as they now stand. The time and place will be Friday, August 28th, a couple of hours or so before that start of the Beaver/Graham football game. ( so... let's say 5:00 - 7:00 pm) The place will be in the parking area along the grassy area in front of the tennis courts. I am purposly trying to get as far away as possible from the main gates, so that we won't have "everybody" walking right by our tent. I will go down to the parking lot (at Mitchell Staduim, now know as June Shott memorial field) and set up a "portable garage" type of tent as our "home base". Everyone attending is asked to bring their own folding chairs or other seating, and the beverage of their own choice. I am going to fix a couple of large pots of home-made chili and home-made "Taco soup". I will supply the plastic bowls and spoons, and I have one long folding table I will set up under the tent. I "might" have a cooler full of canned soda, and I might just have a cooler of ice, so be sure you bring your own drinks. I am not sure about any "open container" laws or "drinking in public" laws, so just be aware that you are on your own on that matter. I "think" that as long as you are not "flaunting it", you should be OK, but don't take my word on that.
A few more things, I am not sure what would be fair to charge, so we are just going to put a "donations jar" somewhere in plain sight, and ask you to put in as much as you like..!! Any funds left over from the cost of the food will go toward the annual server fee and up-keep for our website. As most of you know, at this year's get together at the Elk's Club, we didn't ask for any donations, so now might be a good time to "ask". After much consideration on what should be on the menu, I decided that it would be easier to just make a couple of large pots of chili, rather than try to figure out how many hot dogs and hamburgers we should get, how many buns, how much condiments, etc, etc, and a lot of that stuff always ends up going to waste. However, if you want to bring along your own grill, and cook some stuff yourself, PLEASE FEEL FREE to do so..!! You can cook your own food, or you can bring steaks and lobster tail for everyone and show off your cheffing skills..!!
If you have family and friends that usually go to the game with you, they are welcome to attend as well, but it would be nice if I had AT LEAST some idea of how many to expect. And the big and most important thing I can ask you is.... PLEASE spread the word around, especially to our local classmates, and lets try to get a real crowd here..!! A lot of our classmates from Bluefield will be attending the Beaver/Graham game anyway, but we need to be sure they know about the tailgate party before the game. Call your local friends and ask them to join us.
As of right now, I have not been able to go to the school and talk to whoever is in charge of such things, and see if we can get a section of seats partitioned off for us all to set together. I did talk to the city dept of parks and recreation, and they are fine with it. But, the school is officially in charge of the seating arrangements, so we don't want to just expect that we can have some place right in the middle of everything all to ourselves. I do think we can have one of us to go in early and put some reserved signs on a row or two of seats with no problems, especially if we get them around the 20-30 yard lines. I was also told we could give the announcer a note about us being there, and they will announce it over the loud speakers.
Right now this has been a one-man-show as far as the planning goes, so any of you locals that have better ideas, and/or want to pitch in and help out, get in touch please. Of course, it has been a two-man-show with Alan helping out with the advertising and notifications and such. Couldn't do it without him..!! Now let's all p;itch in and get our reluctant locals to join us this time..!!
At this time, we have no plans on what to do after the game. If everyone wants to head off to a lounge or club somewhere, and spend the wee hours chatting and mingling, we can plan that at the tailgate party.
