Georgia Fans Weren’t Allowed to Tailgate on Campus So They Tailgated Off Campus

There’s a saying that water finds a way, and it’s not an especially big surprise that this axiom would apply to the SEC and tailgating. Tonight, Georgia is hosting Auburn for what is turning into sort of a blowout but on paper was the marquee college football game of the day in America. Ticketholders are permitted to set up a table at their cars, but grills, tents, and TVs are banned.
That’s on campus. Off campus, big parties persisted. Chip Towers of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
Those same limitations clearly were not in force elsewhere around town as there were plenty tents, televisions and grills going outside the perimeter that encompasses the UGA campus. And despite several electronic signs posted at the edges of downtown Athens warning visitors that “masks are required by law,” very few of appeared to be complying. Then again, most of them appeared to have food or drink in their hands.
There was a major party going on underneath a big tent on the front lawn of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house on Pulaski Street at the western edge of downtown. Meanwhile, up the steep hill that is Clayton Street, the Classic City was hopping pretty much like it would be most every home-game Saturday in a non-pandemic year. Sidewalks, restaurants and bars were busy and crowded. A long line snaked down the sidewalk outside Bourbon Street Bar on Broad Street, with no evidence of social-distancing and very few patrons wearing masks. There were similar scenes at Creature Comforts and Magnolias, with lots of young adults packed together, drinking and reveling in the clear, warm weather.
The full AJC story has some photos and some more context about where the parties were, and who was throwing them.