The Pattons arrived early for tailgating at Boulder Field with all of the required grilling equipment and a spread to cure almost any case of homesickness: several packs of hotdogs and hamburgers; a cooler filled with beer; and tins packed with homemade chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies.
"I miss my son so much," Terri Patton said. "I brought everything but the kitchen sink."
It is called "homecoming" of course, because hundreds of alumni come home to their alma mater. But on Saturday at the University of New Hampshire, Bill and Terri Patton brought a bit of their Concord home to campus for their son, Joshua, and his undergraduate friends.
The Patton family were among many hundreds of tailgate partiers who enjoyed Saturday's warm, sunny weather despite UNH's loss to William & Mary. Police reported a dozen arrests, a few more than usual, for disorderly conduct and alcohol violations.
The festivities started early. As the morning frost burned off, cars backed up on Main Street as early as 8 a.m. Sidewalks filled up with fans and a line of cars snaked all the way through campus to downtown.
"Half of these people can't wake up for class," said Julia Walsh, who graduated this spring. "But they can wake up for tailgating."
To start their mornings off, many tailgaters enjoyed 'kegs and eggs' - the principle idea being the act of cracking a beer and an egg to get the day started - a true breakfast of champions.
In order to monitor the Wildcat fans, blue wristbands were given to those of age to drink, a policy intended to limit underage consumption but accompanied with its flaws. Some went back for multiple wristbands to hand out to underage friends, while police officers only checked to see they had a band on.
One tailgater and member of Greek life at UNH was unwilling to risk drinking while being underage.
"There is a serious police presence here," said Mark Higianis of Lambda Chi Alpha. "I wouldn't risk it, especially in letters. I'm not just representing myself, I'm representing Lambda Chi."
While police forces could not stop all bad drinking practices, they did seek to minimize them. Dozens of vehicles were parked on the lot late Saturday afternoon. To lighten the pressures of drinking and driving, ticketing and towing weren't enforced.
The UNH police department was joined by the Durham and Laconia police departments to help contain and control the crowds. UNH Deputy Chief of Police Paul Dean noted the differences in tailgating compared to past years.
"There used to be an animal house attitude but it is much more constructive now," Dean said. "Everyone's here to have a good time. We want them to do it responsibly and be safe, and a lot of these people have been here before and they understand the rules."
While drinking was the primary agenda for the day, organizations made an appearance at homecoming in hopes of rallying people for another kind of cause. Among them was an Obama campaign booth that traded hot dogs for votes.
Kal Penn from the hit movie, Harold and Kumar 2: Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008), showed his support for Obama while signing people up from the crowd to campaign for his candidate.
Adam Giroux, '07, noted some were excited about seeing Penn and snapping a few pictures, not everyone was star struck.
"It was funny because everyone was going over for the free hotdogs, not even necessarily to see a celebrity."
UNH tailgating, this year, as in years past, brings together a diverse group of people - whether it is your family you can't get enough of, old time graduates or campaigners hoping to win your vote. Tailgating demonstrates that there's no topic you can't talk about over a good beer.
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