It is not unusual to tailgate before football games, but some University students tailgated Monday night for doughnuts.
“We had doughnuts,” said political science senior Jay Ducote. “We had beer. Doughnuts and tailgating are a good thing.”
Ducote and his friends from the Third Row Tailgaters arrived at the Krispy Kreme on Siegen Lane at 6:30 p.m. Monday to be at the front of the line for the store’s grand opening. The Third Row Tailgaters are a group of friends who regularly tailgate before football games.
They were seventh, eighth, ninth and 12th in line for hot doughnuts 11 hours later when the store opened.
Caroline Hill, a graphic design senior, stayed up all night to taste her first Krispy Kreme doughnut.
She and Miranda Bass, an elementary education junior, arrived at 2:30 a.m. to get in line for doughnuts.
Finance junior Andres Vargas, mass communication junior Rebecca Regard and elementary education junior Tara Keller walked in at 5:30 a.m. for their doughnuts.
The students received free T-shirts, Krispy Kreme Mardi Gras beads and paper hats.
Besides doughnuts and T-shirts, the Third Row Tailgaters received free fund-raising cards because they were representing a student organization. The punch cards, worth $10 and 10 punches, give the buyer a dozen doughnuts free with the purchase of a dozen doughnuts.
The Third Row Tailgaters plan to use the cards to buy doughnuts, raise money to fund their tailgate parties and buy a new sound system, said Eric Ducote, an architecture senior.
Eric said his main reason for arriving at 11:30 p.m. Monday was for the fund-raising money.
“Doughnuts are doughnuts,” he said, shrugging. “Being one of the first people in line was fun.”
Demand for doughnuts was high, and the line wrapped around the front of the building when the store opened.
Franchise owner Joe Shell estimated 300 people had been served in the first 30 minutes. Shell hoped to see 3,000 people come through Krispy Kreme Tuesday.
All of Tuesday’s profits were donated to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, and customers who brought three cans of food for the food bank received one dozen doughnuts free.
Grand opening activities are continuing through Sunday, including Student Day on Thursday, when a student ID merits a free doughnut, and Sports Night on Friday between 5 and 7 p.m. Athletes, including present and past University standouts, and the LSU women’s basketball team will sign autographs.
Krispy dreams
January 29, 2003
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Krispy dreams