‘The Tailgate Guys’ set up hundreds of tents ahead of AU home opener

AUBURN, Ala. (WTVM) - Although kickoff isn’t until 7:30 p.m. EDT, 6:30 p.m. CDT tomorrow, many fans will arrive to Auburn early in the morning to begin their game day festivities.

And what’s a game day without a tailgate? Have you ever wanted to tailgate, but despised setting everything up under the sizzling heat? If so, you may want to look into ‘The Tailgate Guys.’

“We offer turn key tailgating,” Scott Summerlin, general manager of ‘The Tailgate Guys’ at Auburn, said. “So essentially our guests show up and have a good time, we take care of everything on the front end. We can help with catering, we can help with media packages through Dish Network. We’re pretty excited to get the season kicked off.”

Over the course of two days, this team is setting up more than 300 tailgate tents with chairs, televisions, fans and more.

“When ‘[The] Tailgate Guys’ started, I believe they served 53 groups that first season,” Summerlin said, "so it has grown like wildfire.”

Tailgating is a tradition before all home games, but the first one is always something special.

“You just carry on, play games," freshman Brandon Autry said, "have a good time with whoever’s there, it doesn’t matter if you know them or not.”

“It just comes to show you, like the culture here is real deep," sophomore Rodolf Torres said. "The Auburn culture will follow you for life. Once you go to Auburn, you will always be a part of Auburn.”

If you are coming out to Jordan-Hare Stadium, you will see the hundreds of white tents with names across the front come game day, ‘The Tailgate Guys’ said it is a tradition to name your tent.

“Some people will put their families names," Summerlin said, "some people will put ‘War Eagle.’”

Whether you are tailgating by the stadium, or across campus, students said the food, families and fans make every tailgate one to remember.

‘The Tailgate Guys’ will be out all night putting up tents all across Auburn University’s campus in advance for tomorrow’s game day for all of the families to enjoy before kickoff.

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