Welcome back tailgaters! How many of you just heard the voice from Cedar Point (welcome back riders)

For the first game of the season we welcome the Fresno State Bulldogs for a night game.

Wait, what?  A night game Labor Day weekend?  Against Fresno State?  What?  Are you serious?

If you remember, a night game means that we can enter the parking lot at noon.  Every night game is a giant game of musical chairs in terms of the entrance to the lot and when they might start letting us line up.  So if you have a free hour from like 11:30-12:30 on Saturday we could use the help to have people go in to our sites on foot prior to letting the cars enter right at noon (or a bit before if traffic jams prompt the police to open early) and stand in our two spots until we can drive in to setup.  As usual the location is always up for grabs, but we will do our best to get our usual spots

NOTE:  For the first time in recent history the tailgate will be shutting down at the beginning of the game.  So that means we will not be there to hold items during the game or hosting postgame activities. For those who stay out we hope to be packed up and out by halftime.

We are going to keep things simple with our traditional opening tailgate menu of burgers and dogs. Side dishes and desserts are up to all of you, so be sure to add what you are bringing to the signup.  Let’s try and make the first game this year one where we do not run out of side dishes and desserts.  😉

With this “BIG” game being on Labor Day Weekend we know many of you may select to not go to the game.  Please do us the favor of letting us know by taking a quick moment to RSVP no.

For the first game we are doing our best to keep costs low. We have started reviewing costs of the food items and as we can all guess, they are up a bit this year.  Right now it is a wait and see if we can keep our low cost game at $15 contribution per person. Sorry folks, but the days of a $10 game are gone with the costs of food.   It is our goal to welcome everyone so if costs are an issue let one of the hosts know as we always want to see you..

Other tailgate notes:

• We know there are various dietary restrictions and preferences so the grill can be available if you need to cook your own food.  
• We do not plan on having post game this week 
• S There is an option to sign up for keg beer from Atwater Brewing Company at the tailgate again this year.   We hope to have Dirty Blonde and a Seltzer, but might be other varieties based on availability.  For this game we are trying to hold to $10 per person for beer/seltzer but prices are higher for everything so we will see if we can stick to that amount. Be sure to get a wristband.  
• Tailgate is BYOB other than the community items in the white cooler.  If you add to the community beer supply then you are welcome to take from it. 
• There are not any bottles in the booze stash for the start of the season so bring whatever you want.
• Items listed are just suggestions – surprise us!
• The cooking can start sometime after 3.  Just let us know when you are hungry.

Here is the signup for the Fresno State Game (if you remember the password from last year you should be able to figure out the password this year….) For those who need help, please drop a note to one of the hosts.