Details about the Ute Tailgaters from Bryan Tippetts, one of the original members of the Ute Tailgaters:

“We began in 2000 with a group of about 5-6 which has now grown in 8 short years to a steady 25-30 each tailgate. We have had a few tailgates where we topped 60 tailgaters easy. Each summer, Landon Clark and I get together and decide on the tailgate menu for each tailgate for the upcoming season. We have a couple of menu items (BBQ pulled pork & meatball subs) that have become annual traditions that many tailgaters look forward to. In the 8 years we now have been consistent tailgaters, we have added quite a bit to enhance the tailgate experience: Utah Utes canopy (2), Camp Chef Grill/stove, custom ‘U’ Cornhole, custom painted tailgate trailer (for hauling all of our equipment), and DirecTV.

During this time I have started a hobby of collecting college football helmets (which I put together) to display at our tailgates. This adds just a bit I think to enhance whole tailgate experience!

Some of our tailgate traditions begin with our annual Salsa contest (which is scheduled for the opening tailgate of each season) and Chili contest (the last tailgate of each season). We typically average around 10 entries each to both the salsa & chili contests, which are judged by fellow tailgaters. The winners are then displayed on our ‘Utetailgaters.com’ banner. We also host an annual Utetailgaters.com Golf Tournament each June at Bountiful Ridge Golf Course. There are around 6-8 foursomes competing in a scramble format to which the winning foursome win plaques and get their names added to the banner as well.

Another great tradition is the annual road trip game. We have attended at least 1 away game (that is not BYU or Utah St) each season for the past 5 years. Among the games that have been attended are: Arizona (2003), San Diego St (2004), UCLA (2006), Louisville (2007), Michigan & Air Force (2008).

Some of our great memories are: 2005 Fiesta Bowl (Utah vs Pitt), a memorable 41-34 overtime thriller vs BYU (2005), an upset victory at Michigan’s Big House (2008), and a come from behind 31-28 win vs Oregon St (2008). Of course not all of our memories are football games but some are tailgate memories: such as the 2005 visit from the Commissioner of Tailgating (Joe Cahn) and a visit from Joe Connor (www.greenpowersportstour.com) this year.

Our tailgate is a very kid friendly (in Utah it needs to be) event and we have many who bring along their kids (infants to teenagers) to take in our tailgate. We feel it’s never too young (nor old) to experience tailgating!

While we don’t claim to be the official Ute tailgaters, we are a very dedicated group of Utah Utes tailgaters that put a lot of time (and money) into our tailgate experience. We get a lot of help from fellow tailgaters for everything from setup/clean up to those who bring along a food item to share or dessert. There are many others who tailgate next to us which just adds to the tailgate experience. Go Utes!!