Student Government will host a student-only tailgate near the Lyndon Baines Johnson Fountain for the first time Saturday for the Texas vs. University of Wyoming football game.

Student Body Vice President Wills Brown said students should expect a normal tailgate atmosphere that encourages different groups to mingle before games. Starting about three hours before football games, the tailgate will be set up at 23rd Street and Robert Dedman Drive. At 5 p.m., the buses carrying the Texas football team will arrive and the players will walk down 23rd Street into the Tom and Cinda Hicks gates at the north end of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

“The event will be on the east side of the football stadium under a 20-by-40-foot tent,” Brown said. “We will have a large table, chairs and games like corn hole.”

Brown said creating the event required communication and preparation.

“Tailgating began by meeting with the athletics department and preparing the student area,” Brown said. “The hardest part of the tailgating process has been getting the word out.”

Brown said he supports bringing in as many people as possible and hopes every person interested comes out to the tailgate.

“We want to bring everyone together. Come early. Stay late. We really want to bring an opportunity to students who aren’t already involved in student organizations,” Brown said.

Business freshman Evie Howard said the tailgate should help bring her friends from different groups together before games.

“The tailgating will help students who only know a few friends,” Howard said. “You meet one person here and there, but the event will help students mix different groups of friends.”

Many other student organizations host tailgates as social events. Kristin Dugie, Texas Lonestars alumni relations chair, said her group hosts a tailgate near the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum two or three times a year.

Dugie said, “You meet a lot of people that aren’t in your organization, which helps students branch out.”

Printed on Thursday, August 30, 2012 as: SG to host tailgate for students