For some, tailgating is as much of a tradition as football itself. Students, alumni and Auburn fans from around the globe stake their spots and sometimes have to hold on to them for dear life for hours and sometimes days.

Although tailgating is not technically allowed on Auburn’s campus until 4 p.m. on Friday, as early as Thursday night, tailgaters are keeping an eye on their weekly tailgating spots making sure no one else is looking to acquire their tailgating haven.

Some view tailgating as a time to share good food with friends and family before the game, while others view it as a party that starts as early as Thursday night and sometimes doesn’t end until Sunday.

Some of these hardcore partiers take it more seriously than others, forming tailgating groups whose main goal is to party.

Marcus May, 22, is one such tailgater. May has been tailgating on Wire Road for around six years and believes that beer is the main ingredient in a good tailgate. May has even created a tailgating group called the Wire Road Tailgaters Association.

“I initially started just for all of the people that I tailgate with at my spot, and other people started joining from different spots down Wire Road,” May said. “A lot of the people have been tailgating with us for a while and some of the people have just been tailgating around us and have kinda moved over to our spot.”

May even created a Facebook group for the Wire Road Tailgaters, which now has 111 members.

The Facebook page proclaims that the Wire Road Tailgaters: “have the greatest section of tailgating on Auburn University’s campus. We are the best Auburn tailgaters. This is for everyone who tailgates on Wire Road or was a member at one time.”

May said that about 30 to 40 people tailgate in their spot each week, usually starting on Thursday night, and that the spot on Wire Road where they tailgate has even been nicknamed “The Gauntlet.”

“A lot of people on Wire Road call it ‘The Gauntlet’ because of the way people kinda line up down Wire Road yelling when people walk through,” May said. “If you walk up and down Wire Road there are a lot of fans close to the road and a lot of fans will line up next to the curb and cheer Auburn fans as they go by and give the other fans hell. It’s kinda like a gauntlet.”

May said that the group has had to move their tailgate to several spots on Wire Road due to the university banning tailgating in some spots, but will always remain on Wire Road because it has the best tailgating.

“Wire Road is definitely more of a rowdy side of tailgating compared to some of the other places in Auburn,” May added.

Although May said that they are mostly just for fun, The Wire Road Tailgaters Association even has officers. May is the unofficial president, while others have titles that include trustee, secretary and Gauntlet legacy.

Jessi Lauren Lanier, 21, is one such legacy and has been tailgating with the Wire Road Tailgaters for about four years. Lanier said that she enjoys tailgating with the group because of the people she tailgates with.

“It’s the same people every year and we’ve gotten to know the people that tailgate around us,” she said. “Everyone seems pretty respectful about their spots.”

Lanier added that the group is the most fun and wildest she’s ever seen.

“They’re crazy,” she added with a laugh. “They shave their heads into mohawks and paint the side of their heads. They’re nuts - very, very passionate about it.”

But the Wire Road Tailgaters Association aren’t the only ones that take tailgating on Wire Road seriously. There is also another group of Auburn tailgaters who have dubbed themselves the Wire Road Mafia.

The Wire Road Mafia, who also has a Facebook page with 51 members, are mostly tailgaters from Etowah County. The group’s Facebook page claims that the group is: “For those Etowah County peoples who live in Auburn (or Migrate to Auburn) and tailgate on the Corner of WIRE and SAMFORD! .... ALL OTHERS ... BEWARE!!”

Wire Road Mafia member Katie Estes, 20, said that the same people have been tailgating together on Wire Road for several years, but just recently named the group. She said that since there were so many of them, they decided that they needed a name.

“We were just like ‘we need a name’ when we started claiming our tailgate spot with big signs,” Estes said. “We were like ‘what could we be’ and my friend Zac said ‘we’re kinda like a mafia.’ ”

Estes said there are around 15 in the group that attend Auburn, but that more come from their hometown to join.

Estes said that the group plays drinking games like beer pong and usually hold up signs that read “You Honk, We Drink.” The group is even working on getting Wire Road Mafia T-shirts.

While most of the tailgaters are from Etowah County, Estes said that the Facebook group and their tailgating spot is open to everybody.

“Anybody who wants to join can as long as they are Auburn fans,” Estes said.
While some believe tailgating is a time to party, some rather more of a subdued atmosphere.

Brooke Daniels, 27, and her family, which consists of two children and her husband, travel from Birmingham to attend every Auburn home game. They wake up around 3:30 a.m. so that they can make it to Auburn and claim their tailgating spot on the quad.

Daniels said that her tailgating consists of shopping for Auburn merchandise, grilling out, playing Cornhole and more. But drinking is not a part of her tailgating festivities.

“The main difference from what we do and what the drunk ones do is that we have a good time and actually remember what we did,” Daniels said. “Being at Auburn should be about good, clean fun and when you’ve got so many families there with their kids, we shouldn’t have to be around such heavy partying.”

For some, it’s beer guzzling and opposing team trashing, for others it’s good food and friends and family. However you may view tailgating, it is and will always be an Auburn football tradition.

“I think it just adds more to the game,” Estes said. “When you tailgate you get more pumped up for the game. It just gives you a reason to celebrate and support Auburn.”