9 Things North Carolinians Do at a Tailgate That Tourists Find Strange
The tailgate lots outside a North Carolina stadium fill up hours before kickoff.
A first-time visitor pictures grills and coolers.
What’s out there runs on rules other Americans would never dream of.
These are the things North Carolinians do at a tailgate that tourists find strange.
Fans Along the Team Walk
UNC tailgaters claim a spot along the rope line long before kickoff, waiting for the team to walk straight through the middle of the parking lots.
The route is called the Old Well Walk, and it starts at the Old Well.
From there, it cuts through Polk Place and the tailgate crowd on the way to Kenan Stadium.
Fans somewhere else settle for a wave through a bus window.
North Carolina fans get close enough to trade a high-five with a player instead.
A visitor standing at a tailgate tent can end up close enough to slap a coach’s hand on his way to the sideline.
The Gameday Hand Sign
NC State fans flash a hand sign at total strangers on gameday, and it isn’t a rude gesture.
Three middle fingers curl into the palm while the pointer and pinky stay up, shaping a wolf’s head.
It’s called Wolf Fingers.
The sign started almost by accident before NC State’s 1975 season opener at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Wolfpack fans still use it all over campus and around the stadium on gameday.
A visitor posted up in the tailgate lots is squarely in that crowd, so the sign turns up right at eye level.
Nobody’s trying to bite you.
Sandbags for Every Tent
UNC tailgaters show up with sandbags and water jugs instead of a mallet.
Every tent in the lots stays up on that kind of weight because the university’s tailgating policy won’t let a stake touch the ground.
A stake risks puncturing underground utility lines running beneath the grass.
Veteran tailgaters pack extra sandbags before they ever pack a tent pole.
A first-time visitor who brought a mallet finds that out the hard way.
A Permit for the Golf Cart
UNC tailgaters who plan to drive a golf cart into the lots line up paperwork before they line up a cooler.
UNC requires written approval before anyone besides staff drives one through the tailgate lots, per the university’s tailgating policy.
A rented cart with a cooler strapped to the back doesn’t get a pass without that approval already in hand.
Regulars request that approval well before gameday instead of trying their luck at the gate.
Staff wave off a visitor who rolls up without one before they ever park.
Tailgating Spots Aren’t First-Come, First-Served
NC State’s Wolfpack Club and UNC’s Rams Club both rank members by lifetime giving to decide who picks a parking spot first.
A higher-ranked donor books an earlier online appointment, and the lots closest to the stadium run out before a lower-ranked member ever picks one.
Show up without a club number attached to the car, and the walk in from general parking usually runs longer than a first-time visitor expects.
One Tank for All the Cooking
UNC tailgaters plan a whole spread around a single propane tank.
University rules cap every grill setup at one spare tank, and it can’t hold more than 20 pounds.
The same rule keeps grills at least 25 feet from tents, cars, and anything else that could catch fire.
That single tank has to carry burgers, then wings, then whatever’s left on the grill by kickoff.
A visitor who packs a backup tank leaves it behind in the truck instead of setting it near the grill.
A Bar in the Lot
NC State turned one corner of Carter-Finley Stadium’s tailgate footprint into an actual sports bar.
The Raleighwood section near Gate 11 runs food trucks and a beer garden with live entertainment before kickoff and at halftime, per NC State’s 2026 stadium guide.
That’s built into ground where fans used to just park and grill.
A tailgate used to mean a folding table and a cooler.
A bar tab too.
A Live Ram in the Tailgate Lot
UNC’s mascot isn’t a student in a costume.
Rameses is a live ram, and handlers parade him past campus on gameday before he sometimes stops at a fan tailgate along the way.
A public radio report on the 2023 Duke game described Rameses making exactly that kind of stop.
Handler Don Basnight told the station that appearances like it have become a regular part of Rameses’ gameday routine.
Tailgaters crowd around for photos the same way they would for any other celebrity guest.
A visitor usually expects a costume.
Not this time.
The Burgundy Soda
North Carolinians pour a soda the color of dark cherry juice at a tailgate, and out-of-state coolers rarely carry one.
Cheerwine was invented in Salisbury in 1917.
Its deep burgundy color still catches visitors off guard the first time someone pours a cup.
Pour it over vanilla ice cream, and the float turns the same color as the can.
Not fruit punch.
Psst! How much do you know about North Carolina college football history? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
North Carolina Football IQ
Answer these questions on North Carolina college football history. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
In 2007, an unranked North Carolina team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history, beating fifth-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor. Which team was it?
The Non-Texas Hot Sauce
Every tailgate table in North Carolina seems to carry the same bottle: Texas Pete.
The hot sauce has never been made in Texas.
Not once.
The Garner family created it in Winston-Salem in 1936.
That's the same city where Friday's kickoff between Wake Forest and Miami will draw tailgaters to Allegacy Stadium.
The name was picked to sound Texan on purpose.
A shaker rides along for wings, greens, and whatever comes off a nearby grill, no matter which team is playing.
The label still says Texas Pete, and nothing on it points back to Winston-Salem.
Wake Forest's Similar Walk
Wake Forest runs a similar procession before every home game at Allegacy Stadium, called the Deacon Walk.
The walk starts at the corner of Deacon Boulevard and Piccolo Lane, and the Demon Deacon mascot leads the team past fans a couple of hours before kickoff.
Wake Forest's gameday guide still listed the Deacon Walk on the schedule for the team's November 2025 game against North Carolina.
Friday's kickoff against Miami sends that same procession past the tailgate lots outside Allegacy Stadium a little more than two hours before the opening whistle.
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