Friday nights before home football games will continue to be home to “tailgate parties” on Hillsborough Street, but proposed pep rallies will now be held Thursday nights, according to Student Body President Jay Dawkins.
Last week’s Hillsborough Street tailgate party, in which the street’s venues have specials and theme music Friday nights before home football games, was a success even with looming storms, according to Dawkins.
“We saw a little pickup last Friday,” he said. “But with the hurricane it was difficult.”
Alan Lovette, owner of Melvin’s Hamburgers and and the Five O’Clock sports bar, is leading the tailgating parties and said he anticipates that in time, attendance will grow. Business has already increased for them, he said.
“Mitch’s Tavern said they had a 40 percent increase,” he said.
Many students are unaware of the events on Friday nights, according to Lovette.
“I don’t think enough students know about it yet,” he said.
Nick Tesh, a freshman in mechanical engineering, said he agreed.
“I think they need to advertise what exactly is going on so that everyone knows about it,” he said.
Few people have opposed to the idea of tailgate parties, but Lovette said members of the Raleigh Police Department had said they wanted to discontinue the tailgate parties and the Haunted Hillsborough Hike, which he also helped organize.
“The Hillsborough Street Partnership emphatically asked [the police] not to do that,” he said. “We’re trying to get Hillsborough Street back on track again.”
One of the reasons for their disapproval, he said, was that Halloween events in Chapel Hill were a “disaster,” but Lovette said he thinks Chapel Hill just does not want holiday competition.
The Hillsborough Street Partnership comprises business operators, the city of Raleigh and local residents, Lovette said.
While the parties’ organizers hope students will come out, Dawkins said there is a larger goal to aid struggling businesses on Hillsborough Street.
“A lot of their history is N.C. State’s history,” he said.
The new Thursday night pep rallies will be in Harris Field beginning this week, instead of the original proposed location, the Brickyard, and Dawkins said the Alumni Association will be handling the logistical aspects of the events.
The football team and the band have committed to come, he said, and the Alumni Association has the proper resources to put on the event, which is aimed to be similar to a Ram Roast pep rally.
