Super Ice Bowl ‘No One Else Is Doing It,’ So Why Not Throw A Tailgate Party In A Post Falls Park For A Bracing Good Time?

In Idaho, there seems to be some spirit that drives otherwise sane men and women to unusual acts of winter foolhardiness.

Each January, in Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint, shrieking human “polar bears” plunge into icy lakes to greet the new year.

In Nordman, locals gear up for the downhill boat races, launching old skiffs and canoes down an icy hill, hellbent on death or glory.

So it is perhaps not surprising that when Super Bowl Sunday rolled around, a group of Post Falls residents donned snowshoes and mittens and electric socks to watch the game … outside. They called it “Supertailgate.”

“It’s been a big hit so far. It saves my house from being trashed,” said Laurie Foley, standing near the fire.

“It’s the pioneering spirit,” explained Diana Witherspoon.

“No one else is doing it,” observed Tori Shelton.

True enough.

It was 14 degrees and snowing as a dozen die-hard outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen gathered in Post Falls’ White Pine Park for the pre-game show. Wind chill knocked the temperature down to a frigid 3 degrees.

Undaunted, the group set up four TVs on a bench in the middle of the park. One partygoer fired up the charcoal grill with a little help from an acetylene torch.

It’s the second year the friends gathered at the city park for a Super Bowl tailgate party. Last year, the weather was worse. It rained.

“I’ll take the snow over the rain any day,” said one of the survivors, plumber Mike Foley.

“It’s just nicer being outside than being stuck inside on a couch feeling stuffy,” said Witherspoon, a real estate agent. “Last year, we lasted through the whole game.”

The only hitch Sunday came when the beer tap froze. The problem was quickly fixed when the keg was moved into the heated bathroom.

Some fair-weather friends apparently were scared off by the snow and icy winds.

“Last year we had 50 people,” said Foley. He expected about 30 Sunday, some showing up for only a few minutes, just to say they’d been there.

Deciding there was no point to a tailgate party without tailgates, welder Nick Johnson scoured a local junkyard for a couple of tailgates.

He fashioned a frame from old Spokane Coliseum pipes and voila! A tailgate table.

“The city might have a fit if we had 30 pickups in the park,” he chuckled.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo