By BRIAN WOODSON
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
—
BLUEFIELD — Andy Merriman understands the appeal of tailgating. He just feels that it should have its limits.
With the Beaver-Graham football game approaching in just over a week, Merriman has devised a “Fan Zone” at Mitchell Stadium, a small section of the parking lot where tailgaters will be limited for next Friday’s highly-anticipated game.
In the past, tailgaters have been located throughout the large lot, oftentimes taking up valuable parking spaces. While Merriman knows the changes won’t be popular, the Bluefield city manager felt they were needed.
“This is an effort to bring some equity to both groups of people, those folks that want to “tailgate” or “party” if you will, and the folks that show up half an hour before the game starts to watch the football game,” Merriman said.
“It’s going to be a little bit different, but I do hope it makes this thing run a little more smoothly, and helps to curtail some of the traffic issues that we see along Stadium Drive.”
The “Fan Zone” will be a 60-space or so portion of the parking lot located inside the barriers adjacent to the Bluefield City Auditorium. The area will stretch parallel to the first row of steps that lead from the lot to the hill near the Bluefield Rescue Squad.
“It is just going to be an area for folks that if they have a trailer or a tent they want to set up, this is where they are going to do it,” said Merriman, who added there would be some “wiggle” room if more space is needed. “It is going to be designated for them and them alone.
“We are not charging anything for it. The rest of the parking lot on both sides, we are not going to allow any of that kind of stuff. If it is a parking spot, it is going to be a parking spot, it is not going to be taken up by a trailer or a tent.”
Now in his second year in Bluefield, Merriman said the changes became necessary after witnessing and hearing about some of the problems last August, ranging from parking issues to problems with alcoholic beverages.
“What you have got are people parking up and down Stadium Drive, and it turns into just a logistical nightmare,” Merriman said. “Furthermore there are also folks that have probably done things they probably shouldn’t have been doing at these games, drinking or whatever, and it has really inflamed some passions and I think that is rightly so.”
Tailgaters usually begin gathering a day or two before the game, and Merriman said the enforcement would begin then. He added that once the designated area is full — possibly as early as noon on Friday — the area will be roped off, at least to any more vehicles, trailers or tents.
“We are going to move them on if there is no room and they want to come,” Merriman said. “We are not allowing tents to be set up, we are not allowing trailers to set up. We are not going to usurp any parking spaces from anybody else.”
Merriman emphasized that no other sections of the parking lot will be used for tailgating.
“That is not to say that folks can’t barbecue, can’t set up tents or can’t show up a day or two early and just hang out,” Merriman said. “That is just fine, but when you do that and it is scattered all over two parking lots you take up parking spaces and it just creates an area where there is no continuity in the flow of the parking.”
Merriman added that while cookouts are encouraged, the use of alcoholic beverages — which has been a problem in the past — is illegal, and violators are risking arrest.
“The important thing to stress is there is a no public display of alcohol law on both sides of the state line and that will be enforced, but there is no ‘cooking of a pig’ law on either side,” Merriman said. “What I am trying to do, if you want to barbecue, barbecue, if you want to have soft drinks and coolers, have soft drinks and coolers, but we are going to do it right here.”
Merriman isn’t anti-tailgating. He just wants to make sure the annual rivalry is a memorable evening for all, without the issues of the past.
“We are looking forward to a great game, and really in my estimation this is a minor change,” Merriman said. “All I am doing is taking people that are spread out all over the parking lot and putting them into one area.
“Really this is a positive thing, I think it meets everybody in the middle and it might even provide a safer more family-friendly environment for this game.”
Merriman is looking forward to Aug. 27 when the two teams take the field. He played football as a high schooler for crowds in excess of 25,000 in South Carolina, and also played at Tusculum College in Tennessee.
Yet, none had the tradition of Bluefield and Graham.
“I will say I didn’t play anywhere where there is as rich a tradition as far as a rivalry goes,” Merriman said. “We played in front of more people, but no one really appreciated it like they do here and that is what is magical about this event.
“The Beaver-Graham game is a great event for this area and it is the people’s football game. I am going to try to accommodate everybody the best I can.”
—Contact Brian Woodson
at bwoodson@bdtonline.com
