Community Tailgate Party Encourages Safe Sober Fun

By Misty Cryer

Sponsored by the Carlsbad Coalition’s Community Impact Council, a Military Appreciation Night pre-game tailgate party was held in the Carlsbad High School Student Parking Lot on Friday night, September 19. The celebration drew a crowd to enjoy free food, games, prizes, and music, while honoring the military and building up community spirit to support the Carlsbad Cavemen football team.

“The Coalition has a group of nonprofits that we meet with every month, just to see how we can collaborate and help each other out. It is called the Community Impact Council,” said Tiffany Shirley, Operations Manager for Carlsbad Coalition. Explaining that the tailgate get-together is an annual event held each year at one of the home football games, she said that anybody who is part of the Community Impact Council can come to help out, set up a booth, or join in the activities.

This annual event offers an opportunity for local nonprofits to do something positive to give back to the community, said Shirley. “Our theme for the last couple of years at the Coalition has been ‘Safe. Sober. Fun,” she said, adding that the focus is on holding substance-free events to encourage families to do activities together while showing the kids that alcohol or drugs do not have to be present to have a good time.

This year, Shirley said, the Boys and Girls Club and Eddy County participated along with the Carlsbad Coalition. She explained that county departments, including the DWI Program and the Sheriff’s Office, made a combined effort to contribute. “They brought their big, armored vehicle, the Bearcat, and they did cotton candy and stuff,” she said.

The Boys and Girls Club hosted a game and furnished water, said Shirley. “We provided hot dogs, Frito pies, and nachos,” she said.

“Our Coalition Board and volunteers and our Teens in Action Group helped with games and food. It was really good,” said Shirley.

Matt Hutchinson, the Sheriff of Eddy County, is on the Coalition Board, said Shirley. “He brought the pull-up bar from the Sheriff’s Department, and somebody else brought mats. We did push-up contests and pull-up contests and did prizes for the winners. It was fun,” she said.

For prizes, Shirley said they had medals, candy prizes, rally towels, cowbells, and t-shirts that they gave away. This year, she said, there were no specific sponsors other than the organizations that participated. The rally towels that were given away were sponsored by Western Commerce Bank for a previous event, she said.

Throughout the Community Tailgate Party, music was played by local DJ, Midnight Sounds. The Cavemen-style football decorations dressed up the surroundings, accompanying the military-style armored vehicle, which provided nice backdrops for photo opportunities.

As a message to the community, Shirley said the biggest one is “Safe. Sober. Fun.”

“Get out and do positive things because when you teach your family—especially our kids—when we teach them how to have positive de-stressors in their life, then they’re less likely to turn to things like drugs, alcohol, and body-abusive behaviors. We want to teach them positive ways to destress and have fun and stay away from substances,” she said.