Bellaire shows school spirit with tailgate event
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BELLAIRE -- As the football season kicks off, a new committee has been formed to get Bellaire Big Reds fans in the fighting spirit.
The Tailgate Village Committee for Bellaire High School Football is hosting a tailgate festival before every home game this season in hopes of bringing the community together.
Athletic Director Missy Tiber said she came up with the idea to build community around the school's first football game and kick off the season. She added that she hopes to keep the party going all season long to carry that school spirit throughout the season.
"I just think when you’re in a smaller town, everything about us is Big Reds, so why don’t we come together and celebrate and just have a great atmosphere," Tiber said.
"Our band, cheerleaders and football team will parade straight through the tailgate. So we’re just really excited to kick off the school year."
She added that the event had local vendors, games, food trucks, inflatables, music, school clubs, sports fundraising booths and fun for people of all ages.
Varsity head coach Mark Bonar said he was originally against the idea.
"I was not 100% for it. I thought it’d be a big distraction, but they’re handling it well," Bonar said. "I think the kids really do appreciate all of the support."
He added that the school district has been taking steps to bring the community together and that the tailgate event is a perfect example of the community coming together to have school pride.
"We’re doing a lot of good things in our school district that's pulling everybody together," Bonar said. "Everybody’s making a little bit of an effort and it’s going to be a really nice thing. We’re trying to all get back to where we want to be."
The event was free to vendors, but attendees were required to purchase a ticket to the football game.
Following the event, the Big Reds played Buckeye Local High School.
Tiber was recently hired as the district's new athletic director, so she thought the tailgate event would be the perfect opportunity to introduce herself to the community.
"I was hired here about a month and a half ago, and one of the first things that I thought about is just wanted to build community around our first game to kick off the football season, so we just decided to have a tailgate, and this is going to be a tradition that carries on every single home game for us," Tiber said.
Tiber is a former Division I college women’s basketball coach, spending time at the University of North Alabama, Georgia Southwestern University and Southern Illinois University.
She also has coached at Tusculum University and Belmont Abbey College and was an assistant coach at West Liberty University.