Professional sports may be on hold for the moment, but any Wisconsinite will tell you: There’s no stopping Packers pride.
To lift the spirits of football-loving families hunkering down at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greater Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau has kicked off a virtual tailgate season!
The idea is that Packers fans around the world can set up a tailgate in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Put on your green and gold best, get some brats sizzling on the grill and toss a football around — just in your yard instead of at Lambeau Field.
“Right now, everyone is looking for good news,” says visitor center director Cameron Teske. “This is an opportunity to come together physically with people in your household and feel connected to people outside of it.”
The tailgates, which take place on Sundays from 12 to 3 p.m., began in April, as ESPN and FOX started airing historic Super Bowl games, such as Super Bowl XXXI featuring Brett Favre leading the Pack against the New England Patriots.
A Facebook group has formed to let virtual tailgaters share photos, videos, recipes and more, and it already has more than two thousand members, many of whom hail from far beyond Wisconsin.
“People are posting from Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey, even the United Kingdom,” Teske says, adding that the virtual nature of the tailgate means that Packer backers anywhere can get in on the action. “Lambeau only holds 80,000, but Packers fans are much greater than that.”
The tailgates have been such a hit, Teske says, that they may continue into the fall, even as the regular season begins.
And the series provide lots of opportunities for families to have celebrate the Packers — even in addition to the tailgating.
“It’s a great opportunity to explain the history of the Packers,” Teske says. “The Packers were around before the NFL was formed.”
You can share stories about the Packers greats of the past — Vince Lombardi, Curly Lambeau, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Reggie White and others — and queue up old games to watch with your kids.
You can also check out the virtual programming that the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame has been offering, from behind-the-scenes looks to history presentations to scavenger hunts, or download coloring pages and activity sheets for young Cheeseheads.
No matter the activity, Teske says it’s all about having fun and keeping the Packers spirit alive, even at home.
“Let’s create that same atmosphere that we’d have on game day,” he says.
Photo by Khayla Kanitz.
Katie Vaughn is the editor and co-founder of Northerly. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University-trained journalist with experience as a writer, reporter, editor, blogger and author. She lives in Madison with her husband, daughter and son, and her family is always up for an adventure.