5 minute read
Christmas Trees
App State tailgating tradition
BY PATRICK MCCORMACK
Tailgating holds a unique role in college football. By turning fall Saturdays into widely celebrated days, college football itself is a tradition complete with its own folklore and adjacent activities. Tailgating is one key component of the college football landscape.
In the hours leading up to nearly every game, hundreds if not thousands, of fans gather in parking lots to set up events of their own. Laughter, raucous music, and the tantalizing smell of grilling food fills the air. Attendees open the backs of their vehicles and celebrate the day in parking lots and streets.
Nearly everywhere you look at these hence, you will see beer, grilled meats and standard Southern cuisine side dishes. Lawn games such as cornhole, beer pong, and ladder golf or set up anywhere that space can be found. These preliminary competitions excite and energize the sports fans who are hungry for the action that will occur later in the day.
On gamedays around Kidd Brewer Stadium during Appalachian State University football games, wave after wave of fans can be found with their vehicles and tents filling up parking lots around the Appalachian State University campus. Focus always builds to the excitement of the Mountaineers taking the field against their foes of the day.
Spaces open for tailgating include the Greenwood Lot on Bodenheimer Drive for Yosef Club Members and students with a permit (assigned spaces); the Raley/Duncan/Music lots on Rivers Street for students and Yosef Club members with the proper hang-tag; and Stadium and Justice lots, which are open to Yosef Club members with appropriate hang-tags. Additionally, the university offers the alcohol-free tailgate called the family fun zone.
Consumption of alcoholic beverages may take place in designated parking lots by fans of legal drinking age. Those participating in drinking alcoholic beverages must be able to present a valid driver’s license or photo ID to reflect their age upon request. Spirituous liquor, kegs, common containers and glass containers are not permitted in any location.
App State’s football tailgating policy states that propane and charcoal grills are the only permissible sources of heat for cooking. The university states that burned coals and/or residue from cooking is not allowed to make contact with the paved surface of the parking lot. Hot coals must be completely extinguished with water prior to leaving the tailgating site. Open flame fires are prohibited.
The university also recommends that fans use their vehicles to power any audio or video equipment. While generators are not prohibited, they are not recommended as they present safety hazards. Additionally, fans can use bathrooms that are available in Trivette Hall, the Plemmons Student Union and the Central Dining Hall; portable bathrooms are located in parking lots and tailgate locations throughout campus.
Tailgating attendees are able to dispose of trash in nearby dumpsters that have been placed in high-traffic tailgate areas. Representatives from a number of agencies pass out trash bags in various parking lots throughout the day to ensure all tailgating garbage is picked up.
This season, fans will have multiple opportunities to tailgate, as The Rock is
App Burgers are a common food at tailgating parties. FILE PHOTO
host to seven home games this season. Sept. 3 will feature in-state powerhouse UNC Chapel Hill coming to Boone, and Sept. 17 the Troy Trojans are visiting in the first conference game the Mountaineers engage in. Two more consecutive home games follow, with James Madison on Sept. 24 and The Citadel on Oct. 1. The Georgia State Panthers come to town on Oct. 19 —a Wednesday night game—, and Oct. 29 will see the arrival of Robert Morris University. The final home game of the regular season will see Old Dominion face off against App State on Nov. 19.
Tickets can be purchased at appstatesports.evenue.net, or by calling (828) 262-7733 (press 0 for a ticket representative, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.)
BY NATHAN HAM
The Christmas tree industry in the High Country is one of the biggest and most important economic drivers for the region. It is estimated that there are currently around 850 Fraser fir Christmas tree growers in North Carolina that plant trees on about 40,000 acres of farmland across Western North Carolina.
Farmers in Ashe, Alleghany, Avery and Watauga counties make up four of the top five Christmas tree growers in a state that ranks second in the number of trees harvested each year in the United States. Only Oregon harvests more Christmas trees each year. According to the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, which is headquartered in Boone, 26% of all of the real Christmas trees that are harvested in the United States come from North Carolina.
Fraser fir trees make up almost 95% of the Christmas trees grown in North Carolina, mainly because of how well they grow and adapt to colder temperatures and higher elevations. According to the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association, the tree’s resilience, needle retention, form, dark blue-green color, pleasant scent and outstanding shipping characteristics has led to the Fraser fir becoming one of the most popular Christmas tree species.
For the 14th time, the Christmas
SEE TREE ON PAGE 104
PHOTO BY CHANDA RICHARDSON Rusty and Beau Estes smile along with Dale Haney and previous North Carolina winners including Joe Freeman, Jessie Davis and Larry Smith.
TREE
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tree chosen for the Blue Room in the White House came from North Carolina. In 2021, the tree was picked at Peak Farms in Jefferson. Farm owners Rusty and Beau Estes were named the 2021 Grand Champion Growers in the National Christmas Tree Association’s National Christmas Tree Contest. The winner of that award each years gets to supply the Christmas tree to the White House. This was actually the third time that Peak Farms had the winning Christmas tree for the White House. It happened in 2008 and again in 2012. The National Christmas Tree Association has presented the official White House Christmas tree each year since 1966.
Growing Christmas trees takes a lot of time, effort and commitment to the product. On average, it takes up to 12 years for a Fraser fir tree to be planted and harvested at an average height of six to seven feet tall. The industry provides plenty of work, both full-time employment and seasonal employment, for workers that want to find their place on a Christmas tree farm.
For more information about North Carolina Christmas tree production visit ncchristmastrees.com/.
