Inside Tailgating Magazine: Spring / Summer 2019

GRILLS & GEAR - FOOD & DRINK - FANS & THRILLS
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TAILGATE NATION
OLE SMOKY
MOONSHINE
Spring 2019
5
COOL
NEW
PRODUCTS
YOU NEED!
THE TAILGATERS’
TAILGATE
GMC SIERRA
+TASTE
OF THE
NFL
TAILGATE FEST
NEW MUSIC FEST KEEPS TAILGATE GOING
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We Are Loungin’
W
ho doesn’t love to go loungin’? Want proof? I just
performed a quick lyric search for the word “loungin,”
looking for a lyric to inspire me for this letter and found
167 lyrics that used that term. I expected 100% of them to be in
rap songs. I was wrong. I didn’t find a lyric to inspire me either.
Sorry Bruno Mars. “I’ll be loungin’ on the couch just chillin’ in my
snuggie —Flip to MTV so they can teach me how to Dougie” came
close but not quite (insert your own joke or image here.)
What did end up inspiring me was how diverse the results of my search were, whether
the lyric showed up in rock, country, pop, jazz or something else. I don’t think the search
automatically translated for K-Pop, but I assume there is a loungin’ lyric somewhere in
that genre to keep it real with my daughter’s generation. However you rap it or sing it,
loungin’ is a versatile word that is always relatable no matter the context of its use.
You can enjoy loungin at any event, from the Tailgate Fest music festival to our new
Inside Tailgating Lounge coming to American Cornhole League’s national events this
spring and summer, and you will know what I mean.
Tailgate Fest is a country music festival where you never have to leave your tailgate. I
am sold on that concept no matter what the music lineup is. The main question I have is,
what if I want to be loungin’ on a pool deck in August? Fortunately, the founder, Melissa
Cabone, has created packages to suit any tailgate lifestyle, and a Super VIP pass will
get me on that pool deck beside the stage. Make sure you read our cover story about
Tailgate Fest and check it out this August in Los Angeles if you can.
Another place where you can be loungin’ all day is at the new Inside Tailgating
Lounge at the ACL National Cornhole events coming to St. Louis, Harrah’s Ak-Chin
Hotel and Casino, Mohegan Sun Casino and Valley Forge Casino. Enjoy cold beer,
check out some cool tailgating products and socialize with Inside Tailgating staff,
along with the cornhole players coming to compete from around the U.S. Pick up
some bags and throw with them or go gamble in the casino...the tailgating and
loungin’ choice is yours. Get more information at www.InsideTailgating.com and at
www.iplayacl.com.
Meanwhile, more from the loungin’ lyric search: “I smell sex and candy here—Who’s
that loungin’ in my chair?” courtesy of Maroon 5’s cover of Marcy Playground. A toast to
you finding “devious stares” in your direction at your next tailgate. Inspirational. CHEERS!
ON THE COVER
23 Tailgate Fest
New Music Fest Keeps
Tailgate Going
GRILLS & GEAR
5 GMC Sierra
“The Tailgate To
End All Tailgates”
8 5 Cool New Products
In Sports Merchandise
12 Portable High Chairs
Great for Tailgating
FOOD & DRINK
13 Ole Smoky
Setting The Pace
For Moonshine
16 “Baseball Steak”
Take A Swing At Grilling
For Opening Day
18 Taste Of The NFL
FANS & THRILLS
30 Tailgate Nation
New App Helps
Tailgaters Connect
8
13
W. Stacey Moore
Founder and Publisher, Inside Tailgating
30
INSIDE TAILGATING IS PRODUCED BY
TAILGATING VENTURES, LLC:
W. STACEY MOORE III: Managing Director
smoore@insidetailgating.com
704-595-7603
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Content Director
carroll@insidetailgating.com
FOR MARKETING AND ADVERTISING
INQUIRIES, CONTACT:
W. STACEY MOORE III: Managing Director
smoore@insidetailgating.com
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ryan@insidetailgating.com
DESIGN & PRODUCTION BY
Fiddlehead Studio & Press:
JOANNA BUONO: Art Director
joannambuono@gmail.com
For information about distribution, newsstand sales or investment and franchise opportunities, please contact Stacey Moore at smoore@insidetailgating.com.
Inside Tailgating Spring 2019, Copyright© 2019 by Tailgating Ventures, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.
Inside Tailgating is the trademark of Tailgating Ventures, LLC. Printed in the United States of America.
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Grills&Gear
GMC
By Carroll R. Walton, carroll@insidetailgating.com
“THE TAILGATE TO END ALL TAILGATES”
Pickup trucks and tailgating
were already meant for each other,
but General Motors Company
has taken the relationship to the
next level.
When a team of GMC engineers
designed the new 2019 GMC
Sierra with a MultiPro tailgate—the
most versatile of its
kind—it was like a marriage
made in heaven. They were
playing right into the hands of
people who love to take their
truck, literally, tailgating!
The MultiPro tailgate can
transform into six different
configurations, which give
owners not only easier and
better access to what they’re
hauling but creative and useful
ways to use their tailgate at
the next NASCAR race, music
festival or football game.
Two of the configurations
help the most. 1. The tailgate
folds down into a step that is
nearly as wide as the bed of
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GRILLS&GEAR
the truck bed, which means owners
can climb up for easy access to gear
or just fold it down to use the tailgate
panel as a bench for sitting and
socializing. The step can support up
to 375 pounds and the “bench” is
spacious enough for two adults to
sit comfortably.
2. The tailgate also folds down
into a ready-made work or serving
surface in the configuration GMC calls
“Inner Gate with Load Stop.” In that
form, the tailgate panel is resting
horizontally about bar height, which
means it’s great for holding drinks
and a tray of burgers.
Another bonus is the MultiPro
tailgate comes standard with a 120-
volt power outlet, which is great for
setting up a TV for the pregame show.
The GMC Sierra also features a cool
new tailgating-friendly accessory: a
Kicker Audio system, which is
available at an additional cost. The
100-watt system can be installed in
the inner gate panel and includes
water proof speakers, two four-inch
coaxial drivers, a compact amplifier
and Bluetooth connectivity.
The speakers run on a low-energy
draw that is independent of the
truck’s audio system, so owners can
play music for hours without leaving
the motor running.
“When our team identified the
possibility of the MultiPro tailgate, we
seized on the opportunity to bring
more purposeful innovation to our
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GRILLS&GEAR
owner experience,” said GMC
spokesman Fred Ligouri.
It’s like the purpose was tailgating!
So what better way to launch its
new GMC Sierra ad campaign than
during the NFL playoffs? GMC’s
“The Anthem” ad features competing
truck owners dismantling and
carrying their tailgates toward
a mountain where a GMC Sierra
owner is standing tall in the back
of his truck, having climbed up
its convenient MultiPro step.
“The tailgate to end all
tailgates,” is the slogan.
No arguments here.
The MultiPro tailgate
comes standard in the
2019 GMC Sierra whether it’s
with Denali, AT4 or SLT trims
and in both the light and heavy
duty models.
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GRILLS&GEAR
5
By Carroll R. Walton, carroll@insidetailgating.com
COOL
NEW PRODUCTS
IN SPORTS MERCHANDISE
More than 380 exhibits were on display
at the Sports Licensing and Tailgate Show
in Las Vegas in January, featuring
the latest in sports and tailgating
merchandise. Salespeople were peddling
everything from slippers that look like NBA high tops to
peel-and-stick cheek tattoos, hair ribbons in coordinating
team colors to RV covers touting your favorite school.
We at Inside Tailgating had the audacity to narrow the field
to five of our favorite new products from first-time exhibitors
at this year’s event. These “Fave Five” will provide a sneak
preview of new products you’ll find on the market soon.
1: CUP CAPS
In honor of the start of baseball season, we had to include these. Just when
you thought eating ice cream out of mini batting helmets was cool (and a
collector’s item) here come souvenir cups with ball cap-shaped lids that snap
onto a reusable 32-ounce cup. They’re new on the scene in Major League
Baseball, the NFL, the NHL and elsewhere. A cool and refreshing keepsake.
www.cupcapnation.com
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GRILLS&GEAR
2: PLAYBOOK PRODUCTS
You can get blurry-eyed looking at all the sports apparel and gear on the
market these days, but Playbook Products are totally fresh and new. And
they’re fantastic. These innovators have diagrammed plays from the biggest
moments in the history of your favorite franchises and put them on everything
from coasters to a gym bag. Coaches
are never big on opening up their
playbooks but these guys figured it
out anyway and we love it. The range
of plays they feature is impressive,
especially to a Dallas Cowboys fan who
was 7 when Robert Newhouse threw a
29-yard touchdown pass on the halfback
option to receiver Golden Richards to
beat Denver in Super Bowl XII. And
it’s not just football, they’ve got
basketball, baseball, soccer and
hockey too. Beyond cool.
www.playbookproducts.com
3: SLICKER SEATS
When it comes to toting gear both to tailgates and into the bleachers,
dual-purpose is the way to go. That’s what you have with these seat
cushions that double as rain slickers. The creators came up with the idea
after getting caught in a rain shower at a NASCAR race on an otherwise
sunny day. Pack one of these slicker seats and you’ll never have to try to guess at the weather or get a case of
bleacher butt! They’re available in a wide variety of colors, as well as camouflage, and can be customized with a
school logo. You can buy them online or find them at select Academy Sports & Outdoors.
www.slickerseat.com
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9

GRILLS&GEAR
4: PRIME TIME BABIES
DISPOSABLE DIAPERS
Now that is dedication, outfitting your baby in diapers with your favorite
school’s logo stamped on the fanny. But we can respect it, especially as the
warm months approach and it’s fun to let your little one toddle about freestyle.
The diapers cost $2 a pop, so you’ll probably want to save them for tailgate
weekends or big sports events, but you just know they’ll be a show stopper or
maybe just a good luck charm. Right now Prime Time Babies is offering diapers
for a select few specific teams, like Ohio State, Baylor, Wichita State and Kansas
State, but more will follow. In the meantime they have cute diapers for generic
sports (‘lil slugger for baseball, for example). Diapers come in sizes newborn up
to 5. www.primetimebabies.com
5: FANnoodles
Just when you thought they’d
thought of everything to adorn with
school logos and sell! Wrong. Check
out these swim “noodles” which make
floating in a pool or at the lake cause
for celebration. The business is based
in Mount Pleasant, S.C. so University
of South Carolina and Clemson fans
have yet another way to express their
fierce rivalry. But we can also foresee
these noodles taking off in places
like Knoxville, TN and Seattle, WA
where fans tailgate on boats—also
dubbed sailgating, boatgating and
sterngating—is the way to go.
www.fannoodleus.com
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GRILLS&GEAR
Portable High Chairs...
Great For
Tailgating
By Carroll R. Walton
carroll@insidetailgating.com
Isaw a recent social media post about a portable
high chair and it got me to thinking: bringing
portable high chairs to a tailgate is a great idea!
We tailgated with our oldest son (now 3)
when he was seven months old without
a high chair. That meant Mom or Dad
had to be holding him at all times. Good
luck trying to enjoy a plate of barbecue,
while holding a wiggly baby! Worth it,
but there’s another way!
The high chair I saw posted was the
ciao! baby Portable high chair which
retails for $59.99. It looks like a regular
canvas camping chair, only it comes
with a five-point harness and a plastic
food tray. Like a camping chair, it folds
easily and fits into a carrying case with
a shoulder strap which makes getting it
back to the car a snap.
The only issue that might arise,
according to some reviews I read, is
that the plastic tray isn’t especially
sturdy so food tends to slide off. One
mom worked around this by bringing
a silicone plate which gripped to the
plastic tray. (Way
to go, Mama.)
I’m also a fan of
plastic snack holders
babies can hold
themselves, using
their own little
fingers to reach
in between
the rubbery
grooves to grab small portions
of finger food. Another option is to feed
the baby just a little bit at a time. It’s still
easier than holding him or her.
Another great high chair option for
tailgating, one that I should have
thought of earlier, is the IKEA Antilop
high chair. First of all, they retail for
$22.99, which is a total bargain. They are
not meant to be portable, necessarily,
but they might as well be. We bought
two of them to use as everyday high
chairs when we had twins. With twins,
not only did we need something affordable
but something super easy to clean.
Who has time for cracks and crevices
when you have two babies to clean up
after, or a tailgate to pack up?
These high chairs are portable in
their own right. You can take the trays
off and stack them and go so far as
to remove the legs too. We take one
tray off, stack them and throw them
in the back of our minivan to take to
relatives’ houses and will probably do
the same on road trips this summer too.
So why not take them to a tailgate?
(Our twins are pictured in their IKEA
high chairs at my sister’s house where
we celebrated their first birthday with a
pool party. Blue cupcakes for all!)
Sometimes as parents, especially of
multiple little ones, you wonder why
go to all the trouble to bring children
to tailgates anyway. It’s not like their
attention spans are good for much of
the game anyway. But having an easier
way to take kids to a tailgate—even if
one of the parents heads home with the
little ones before the tailgate or game is
over—you still get to go and join the fun
rather than staying home and missing out.
You can even do what we did when
we took our oldest son to his first
college football game. He got scared by
crowd noise after an early touchdown
so my husband took him back out to
our tailgate and just hung out there for
the rest of the game. It was a beautiful
afternoon anyway and not a bad way to
spend it. (Plus it was a great way for our
son to catch a nap!)
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Food&Drink
By Carroll R. Walton, carroll@insidetailgating.com
OLE SMOKY
Setting The Pace For Moonshine
It’s been 10 years since Tennessee legalized the
production and sale of moonshine and a little
less than that since Ole Smoky Moonshine
Distillery opened its doors—officially anyway.
One of the nation’s biggest moonshine distributors
traces its roots to the early settlers of the Smoky Mountains
and a group of families who have been making and running
“the hooch” for more than 100 years. Now they’re just
paying taxes on it!
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13

FOOD&DRINK
“This isn’t just moonshine, it’s moonshine
made with authenticity and enduring
pride from the people of the Appalachians,”
Ole Smoky boasts on its
website. (https://olesmoky.com/)
Lucky for us “white lightning” is
easy to get now and Ole Smoky is
leading the way. Ole Smoky Moonshine
is available in 49 states and
sold at stores like Walmart
and Sam’s Club. It is served
in cocktails at neighborhood
bars and restaurants around
the country.
Like the old days, Ole
Smoky Moonshine is still sold
in mason jars, but now it
comes in 20 different flavors,
everything from apple pie to
chocolate chili.
“We tried to embrace the
rich knowledge and expertise
of (East Tennessee) instead
of just basing it on my granddad’s
recipe,” Ole Smoky
founder Joe Baker told Time
Magazine. “We took the best
of a lot of different recipes and came
up with a product that we think best
represents the area.”
Now that moonshine is so easily
accessible, it’s a snap to make your
own moonshine cocktail recipes at
home and at your tailgates. To that
end, Inside Tailgating has picked five
Ole Smoky recipes to try this spring
and summer out in the parking lots.
There is no more fitting a beverage
to serve at a NASCAR tailgate than
moonshine, by the way. The original
stock car drivers were all bootleggers!
(A reminder from the folks at Ole
Smoky: please “shine” responsibly.)
14
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FOOD&DRINK
Ole Smoky Dirty Shirley
2.5 oz. Ole Smoky Moonshine Cherries® Juice
2.5 oz. Lemon-Lime Soda
Mix well in a glass over ice and garnish with Ole
Smoky Moonshine Cherries.
Ole Smoky Hillbilly Icicle
2 oz. Ole Smoky Razzin’ Berry Moonshine
1 oz. Ole Smoky White Lightnin’
2 oz. Lemon-Lime soda
Mix ingredients well in a glass over ice and
garnish with lemon twist.
Ole Smoky Blackberry Lemonade
2.5 oz. Ole Smoky® Blackberry Moonshine
2.5 oz. Lemonade
Mix well in a glass over ice and garnish with fresh lemon
wedge and blackberries (optional.)
Ole Smoky Ginger Apple
2.5 oz. Ole Smoky® Apple Pie Moonshine
2.5 oz. Ginger Ale
Mix ingredients well in glass over ice and
garnish with a fresh apple slice (optional.)
Ole Smoky Fire Hound
1.5 oz. Ole Smoky Blue Flame Moonshine
3 oz. Grapefruit Juice
.5 oz. Elderflower (optional)
Mix well in a glass over ice and garnish with fresh grapefruit slice.
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FOOD&DRINK
By Carroll R. Walton, carroll@insidetailgating.com
Take a Swing at
GRILLING
“BASEBALL
STEAK”
FOR OPENING DAY
Major League Baseball’s Opening Day
is upon us and what better way to
celebrate what should be considered a
national holiday than to get outside and
grill! It doesn’t matter whether you’re in
the parking lots before a game or in your own backyard.
And if you’re looking for something a little more original
to throw on the grill than hot dogs or hamburgers, how
about a “baseball steak?” The appropriately-dubbed cut
from the upper part of a top sirloin gets its name from
its puffy, round appearance as it cooks.
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For five tips on the best way to prepare a baseball
steak, Rob Hawkins, Product Manager at Char-Broil
Grills (www.charbroil.com) shares his expertise:
1.
Get your steak to room
temperature. If you place a
cold steak on the grill, the exterior
may cook or burn before the interior
hits the desired temperature.
2.
Apply an even coat of
vegetable or canola oil on
both sides of the steak to ensure
that your steak doesn’t stick
to your cooking grates.
3.
The most nerve-wracking
aspect of cooking a steak is
knowing when it’s done. Take the
guesswork out and invest in a digital
thermometer. For a rarer steak, the
internal temperature as measured in
the middle of the steak is 125°F. For
medium rare, aim for 130-135°F and
well done 155°F.
4.
Let it rest. Never cut into a
steak that’s hot off the grill.
Pull it off the heat, tent with foil and
let it rest for about 8 minutes. While
it rests, the steak’s fibers will relax,
and the juices will redistribute back
to the center.
5.
For the baseball steak, which
should be about 2 inches
thick, it will continue to rise in
temperature even when off the grill.
We recommend pulling it off five
degrees before your desired target
internal temperature.
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FOOD&DRINK
TASTE
of the NFL
By Carroll R. Walton, carroll@insidetailgating.com
Wayne Kostroski, nationally-known
restauranteur and founder of the
wildly successful “Taste of the
NFL” charity event, believes its
annual Party with a Purpose is
equivalent to spending an evening at the best
restaurant in the country.
He makes a compelling case.
Every year, on the eve of the Super
Bowl, celebrated chefs from each of the
32 NFL cities join alumni from each NFL
team, including Hall of Famers like Franco
Harris and Tony Dorsett, to serve up
some of the country’s best cuisine to
a couple of thousand lucky guests.
Chefs like Susan Spicer of New
Orleans and Miami’s Carlos Garcia (by
18 Check out more Food & Drink at www.insidetailgating.com

FOOD&DRINK
way of Venezuela,) Seattle’s John Howie
and Baltimore’s Nancy Longo pair their
dishes with dessert supplied by the “Cake
Boss” Buddy Valastro. Toasting it all with
some of the country’s best beer and wine,
they raise money for food banks across
the U.S.
Taste of the NFL has raised more than
$25 million so far. The way Kostroski puts
it, based on what he’s learned from food
banks, money raised by Taste of the NFL
has accounted for 220 million meals for
those in need.
“Isn’t that staggering?” he said. “Every
dollar can create either four or eight meals
depending on the food bank.”
Next February in Miami, Kostroski will
host the 29 th annual Party with a Purpose.
His first was in 1992, when the Super Bowl
came to Minneapolis while he was chairman
of the restaurant board there and a member
of the Super Bowl host committee. Kostroski
spoke with Inside Tailgating about the
evolution of Taste of the NFL, what makes
it so unique and its impact.
Q. How did you come up with the idea for
Party with a Purpose?
A. The challenge with the leadership of
the (Minneapolis) host committee was
“How do we distract people from the fact
that it’s going to be cold and there’s going
to be snow?” At the time there were 28
teams in the NFL. I looked at the 28 towns
and realized I knew chefs in about 24 of
those. I didn’t know any football players
other than two alumni from the Minnesota
Vikings so I called them up and had a
meeting with them. I said “Look, I want
to raise money for hunger. I want to do
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FOOD&DRINK
facility is and whatever can comfortably be
put in there for the chefs and the guests.
Tickets are no longer $75. It’s $700. What’s
remained constant is that it’s a heck of a
value because at Super Bowl everything is
priced crazy, in my opinion, for not much
value. You go to a breakfast or a lunch and
you’ve got a Hall of Famer speaking at the
podium but you are way across the room.
You pay that amount just to be in the
room and you never have a shot to get an
autograph or a photo.
website, see all the teams listed, click on
the team you’re the big fan of and you can
donate any amount, $10, $50 whatever.
That bucket grows all through the season.
At end of the season it’s a second check
that we write to all those food banks.
Q. Is there an anecdote or memory you
an event the night before Super Bowl. I
can call the chefs if you guys will call a
player. Current player or alumni, or a Hall
of Famer, just get a player from each NFL
team. Nobody gets paid. We’ll cover the
airfare and lodging but this is 100 percent
volunteer and let’s see what we can do.”
We put it together in about 12 weeks.
Literally, my thoughts were “Let’s do this
great event one time.”
Q. And then?
A. It sold out in three weeks, and we put
the event on. It was terrific. In the next
three, four weeks I kept getting calls from
players and some of the chefs, saying
“Hey, what are plans for L.A.? We’re in.”
That’s where the Super Bowl was going.
I said, “Whoa, I wasn’t really planning on
that.” They said, “You’ve got to do this.
We loved it. It was impactful. Our families
loved that we were involved with this.
We’ve got to do this.” So we kept doing it.
And last year was our 28th year.
Q. Other than the fact that there are more
NFL cities now (32), what’s changed
between the first event and the 28th?
A. One of them is the size. That first year,
we had it in the lobby of an office tower
because that was the only site that was
left that late in the game. And we had a
capacity of 1,100 people. Admission was
$75. Fast forward to the 28th year last
year in Atlanta. The capacity was 2,200
people. In New York a few years back,
it was the largest it’s been, with 3,200
people. We go according to wherever the
Q. What’s stayed constant?
A. We always sell out, and we sell out a
couple months in advance. We hold back
a few tickets until we know who the two
teams are. Then companies from those
two cities call in a panic, and say “Do you
have any tickets left?” We want to make
sure they’re there. Then they go back to
their respective cities, hopefully, talking
about what they can do with the food
bank in their community they had such a
good time at this party.
Q. Speaking of local communities, why
and how did Taste of the NFL broaden its
reach to smaller events held in individual
NFL cities?
A. I’m never satisfied that we’re having
enough impact because to put an event
on the night before Super Bowl in a Super
Bowl city when hotel rooms are four times
what they normally would be, pipe and
drape is four times what the cost would
normally be, etc. it’s really hard to gauge
how much you can end up with. So we
started doing team events. We’ve got 11
teams that do them: Taste of the Cowboys.
Taste of the Vikings. Taste of the Rams,
things like that….We don’t run it. We get
it going. We promote it. And 100 percent
that’s raised on that local event stays in
that community. It started 14 years ago
now in Dallas in a parking lot of Kent
Rathbun’s restaurant….Generally, the
average of those teams’ result is generally
about $160,000 to $200, 000. The Cowboys
have set the bar. Last year they raised in
one night $430,000 for the north Texas
food bank.
Q. How else have you widened the scope
of your fundraising?
A. Five years ago we started a thing called
Kick Hunger Challenge. At the beginning
of the football season, people go to that
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FOOD&DRINK
have of going to a food bank and seeing
firsthand the impact you all have made?
A. The first time we were in Phoenix, the
fourth or fifth year of the event, we were
at St. Mary’s food bank. We did the usual
grip and grin check presentation back in
the early days. We don’t do that anymore
because it’s cheesy….But (afterward) the
director of the food bank (introduced me
to) this woman. She was there with two
boys, I’m guessing 7 and 5…The older
boy said, “My mom tells me that because
of you we are going to have more meals
together than we did before.” I struggle
to maintain myself now every time I tell
that story. I almost burst into tears.…
That’s what drives me in hunger relief. The
opportunity for a family to sit together Is
missing when you don’t have food. It’s the
root of a lot of problems.
Check out more Food & Drink at www.insidetailgating.com 21

Fans&Thrills
By Carroll R. Walton, carroll@insidetailgating.com
TAILGATE
FEST
New Music Fest Keeps Tailgate Going
The only bad
thing about tailgating
is when
it’s over, right? Just
when the conversation,
the food, and the cornhole
is really heating up
seems to be right when
you have to pack everything
up and scramble
into the show or sporting
event. Entertainment
entrepreneur Melissa
Carbone has figured a
way around all that, and
it’s genius: keep the
tailgating going during
the concert.
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FANS&THRILLS
Carbone (pictured below), who made a
name for herself and her Haunted Hayride
business on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” has left
spooky in the shadows to venture into country
music with Tailgate Fest. She and partner
Alyson Richards started the all-day country
music festival in 2018 in Los Angeles.
While taking in a lineup that featured
acts like Toby Keith, Joe Nichols and Nelly,
fans tailgated from parking spots beside
the stage, along the standing-room only
area, and lots in and around the Forum.
Some 10,000 fans packed in, either standing
in front of the stage, watching from their
truck beds with a vantage point of the
stage or a video monitor, or swimming
in the 250-person stage-side pool that
came complete with a swim-up bar. The
festivities also included a two-step dance
contest, a jacked-up truck contest, and a
cornhole tournament, with winners getting
upgraded into VIP areas.
24
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FANS&THRILLS
Even the artists seemed to enjoy the
show’s unique format. Carbone, who lives
in L.A., overheard some great feedback
while rubbing elbows with promoters and
agents during Grammy week.
“One of the agents at UTA was talking
about Tailgate Fest with somebody else and
said Toby did a ton of shows last year and
Tailgate Fest was his favorite experience of
the year,” Carbone said. “When I heard that,
I was floored and so proud.”
Tailgate Fest 2019 will feature country
artists Brantley Gilbert, Brett Eldredge,
Check out more Fans & Thrills at www.insidetailgating.com
25

FANS&THRILLS
Lee Brice, Tyler Farr and others.
Carbone built her reputation for creativity
and attention to detail while turning her
passion for Halloween into an entertainment
company specializing in horror attractions.
She talked Mark Cuban into investing $2
million while appearing on Shark Tank in
2013, which was the biggest deal he’d
ever made on the show. She has since sold
Ten Thirty One Productions to focus on
tailgating, another passion project.
“I got introduced to the tailgating
culture going to country music festivals
and concerts, and I fell in love with it,” said
Carbone, whose wheels started turning after
seeing Kenny Chesney, Brantley Gilbert
and Jason Aldean in one show at the Rose
Bowl. “I was embedded in that culture for
a few years, and then started to really get
bummed out when we had to pack up our
tailgates to go into the show….
“We have these beautiful little worlds,”
she continued. “Then you have to
shove everything in your pockets, and
eat hotdogs and warm beer inside an
arena. I used to pontificate to my friends,
‘Wouldn’t it be a dream if we could just
keep tailgating while the show was going
on? Just bring the stage outside?’”
She’s done that and much more, and the
26 Check out more Fans & Thrills at www.insidetailgating.com

FANS&THRILLS
ideas keep coming. She’s expanded this
year’s festival to two days, with overnight
RV camping, and moved it to a bigger
venue. Tailgate Fest 2019 will be held Aug.
17-18 at Silverlakes Park in Norco, Calif.
The 200-acre sports complex features
24 soccer fields which means fans can
tailgate on grass rather than pavement.
And the flat wide open layout means every
vehicle will have a vantage point of the
stage. The new venue also has 8,000 hotel
rooms within a five-minute shuttle ride.
In addition to last year’s contests, this
year’s festival will feature bonfire singalongs
with guitar players leading the
music and s’mores available to roast
over the fire. There will be a Bloody Mary
brunch the second morning for a little
“hair of the dog.” And for those highenergy
country fans, spin classes will be
offered the second morning as well.
Tailgate Fest takes a unique approach
to concession sales as well. Tailgatingfriendly
food items like hotdogs, buns,
sliced tomatoes and ice will be available—
staples that all-night tailgaters are likely
to run out of.
“At the end of the day we just want
it to be an insanely fun experience,”
Carbone said.
At its core, though, Carbone believes
she’s tapping into a culture with tailgating
that doesn’t require a lot of event planning
and micromanaging. She sees tailgating
as one of the rare social scenes in today’s
plugged-in world where people actually
put away the cell phones and engage with
each other.
“Festivals have become giant Instagram
photo ops,” Carbone said. “Tailgate Fest is
literally plucking people out of that world.
People are not on their phones when
they’re tailgating. It’s visceral and very
human to human interaction, which is why
it feels so good.”
Bringing tailgating experiences to a
big city like Los Angeles is Carbone’s
way of delivering a slice of downhome
American life. It’s akin to what she did
with Haunted Hayrides when she put, as
she says, “city-dwelling Los Angelenos
in the woods at night.”
“There’s not a lot of tailgating here (in
L.A.),” she said. “You have a really hard
time finding that vibe here, that nostalgia,
that small-town Americana, so that’s what
I started to think about. If I was going to do
Tailgate Fest, I should it do it somewhere
where people don’t have a lot of access
to tailgating because if there are enough
people who want it and can’t find it, I’ll grab
all those people. And also launching a new
giant brand like that in a city like LA gives
you a magnifying glass that you wouldn’t
get if you launched it somewhere else.”
Carbone said for now her focus is on
cultivating the L.A. event. She’d love to see
it grow to 80,000 or 90,000 people. But
as an entrepreneur, she can also visualize
the festival going coast to coast.
“I think Tailgate Fest can manifest itself
in a ton of different ways,” she said. “It can
be in a beach parking lot with a bunch of
jumbotrons to kick off football season. You
can roll into a park with 500 to 1,000 people
and have a fourth of July tailgate with a
couple of emerging acts. It can really be
scaled up or down depending on the
content subject matter. I think the road
ahead for Tailgate Fest is wide open.”
Check out more Fans & Thrills at www.insidetailgating.com
27

FANS&THRILLS
TAILGATE FEST
A HIT WITH FANS
From our conversation with
Tailgate Fest founder Melissa
Carbone, we know both organizers
and country artists were happy
with the debut of Tailgate Fest in
2018. But what did fans think about
it? To find out more, we connected
with Heather Tepper, a fan from
Calabasas, Calif., who attended last
year’s festival and has tickets to go
back to Tailgate Fest 2019 in August.
Last year she won tickets to the show and
took her mom. (What a nice daughter!)
This time, she is paying her own way to
make sure she’s there for it. For details
on what she thought of the show and her
overall experience, read on. Here, in her
own words, are her thoughts on…..
THE FORMAT: “I loved the format. It
was great that you could hear the music
from everywhere, and you did not really
have to leave your car to have a fun time.
There were options like staying at your car
and relaxing or going up to the stage and
watching the performers up close. There
was something for everyone.
ON THE MUSIC: “The concert itself
was amazing. The artists were incredible;
acoustics were great. Nelly bringing out
Florida-Georgia line for ‘Cruise’ was epic.
Jana Kramer having her daughter run onto
the stage was the cutest thing ever, and
Toby Keith always brings the house down.
He is truly one of the best performers.”
ON THE TAILGATING: “I did not tailgate
for that long. I just went with my mom, and
we ended up getting upgraded to the pit, so
we were up near the stage the whole time.
We did go back to our car and tailgate during
one artist because we had seen him before,
but other than that we stayed in the pit. The
reason we would go to our car was to eat.
The great part of the festival was because
it was all about tailgating, you were able to
bring your own food and drinks, which made
everything so convenient and easy. Going
back and forth was very easy to do.”
ON THE CHANGE OF VENUE FROM
THE FORUM IN INGLEWOOD TO
SILVERLAKES PARK IN NORCO
THIS YEAR AND EXPANDING FROM
ONE DAY TO TWO: “I was not a fan of
the location change. I loved the location
where it was last year, and I thought
everything was perfect. It is also way
farther for me then the original location,
but I understand why they did it. Overall
(a two-day event) is a bigger hassle. I like
one-day festivals more than multiple days.”
THE OVERALL VIBE: “It was a very fun
scene and everything was very accessible.
The concert goers were nice and friendly.
and everyone was just there to have a
great time. It was one of the best festivals
or concerts I went to last year and I look
forward to attending this year.”
28 Check out more Fans & Thrills at www.insidetailgating.com

FANS&THRILLS
TAILGATE
NATION
New App Helps Tailgaters Connect
When it comes to innovation and what’s
new on the tailgating scene, generally
you think about gear: coolers with
stereos built in, grills that fold up like
a suitcase, portable TVs and satellites
that put a standard tailgate over the top. But none of those
innovations address questions like: Who is coming to my
tailgate? Where can I find a tailgate? How can I connect
with other tailgaters?
John Lieberman (pictured right) has bridged that gap with an app which is
changing how people connect for tailgating. His creation, Tailgate Nation, helps
travelers find tailgates at games or concerts in cities they are visiting. It also
helps locals find tailgates nearby if they’re not up for hosting themselves.
Inside Tailgating spoke with Lieberman about his passion for tailgating and how he
came up with the Tailgate Nation concept. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Q: How long have you been tailgating?
A: Growing up in Northern New Jersey
I would attend New York Giants games
as well as Mets, Knicks, Nets and Devils
games. Giants tailgates were my introduction
to this lifelong passion. From
early fall games with the grill and football
tosses to the colder games when
sometimes my brother and I would get
some delicious subs and stay warm
in the car eating and talking football
before the game. One of the reasons I
love tailgating—and people around the
country I’ve talked to agree—no matter
the outcome of the game, you always
win in the parking lot.
Q: What problems did you notice
people having that inspired you to
create your app?
A: The idea for Tailgate Nation
stemmed from a few things I noticed
attending games. I was attending a
Giants/Bears game while staying
in New York City. I didn’t have a
car, cooler, grill etc. yet I wanted to
tailgate before going to the game. I
wanted to connect with an existing
tailgate and share in the food drink
and fun. At most home games around
the country, visiting fans show up the
same way—ready to tailgate but
unprepared with the right necessities.
Q: How does Tailgate Nation address
that problem?
A: (With) Tailgate Nation, you look for a
tailgate to attend at the event you’ll be
going to. If there aren’t any listed, you
can also become a host for that event.
As a host, you have a platform to share
your tailgate with new and old friends
as well as a chance to make some
money doing what you love.
Q: What challenges did you run into
while creating the app?
A: Just like Airbnb and Uber, in the beginning
the challenge is to find enough
hosts at events to keep up with user
demand. Our team (went to tailgates)
and asked about features that would
help hosts and attendees looking for
tailgates. We keep updating to make
our app not only useful but extremely
user-friendly. Once we explain how easy
our app is almost (everybody we talk
to) downloads and starts using right
away. Look for updates and a lot more
hosted events this summer and fall!
30
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By Ryan Alessio, ryan@insidetailgating.com
Q: Where can people use the app?
A: Tailgate Nation is currently available
at all major sporting events including
the NFL, NCAA football, Major League
Baseball, the NBA, NASCAR and major
concerts and tours around the country.
In the near future, events such as golf
tournaments, ACL cornhole events and
custom events will be added to the app.
Q: What do you think the future holds
for Tailgate Nation?
A: I (think it can be) used by people
just looking to host or attend a party.
At the end of the day, a tailgate is a
party and Tailgate Nation wants to
be the official “host” for all of these
events. Most people think of only
football for tailgating, but tailgating
is a year round event. And even if
people aren’t sports or concert fans,
they can host and have fun attending
these events.
To follow Tailgate Nation on Twitter:
@tailg8nation. Download the app in
your store and start using it today!
Check out more Fans & Thrills at www.insidetailgating.com 31