College GameDay weekend brought crowds to Pullman businesses

The calm of downtown Pullman on Monday morning was a stark contrast to commotion Saturday and Sunday caused by an influx of people arriving to the Palouse for Washington State University’s football game against the University of Oregon.

Local businesses were tasked with accommodating the thousands of excited visitors drawn to Pullman to tailgate, watch ESPN College GameDay in person and fill Martin Stadium to capacity for the big game.

Brian Power, general manager of Cougar Country Drive-In, said 50 people were in line waiting to get inside the restaurant Saturday morning before it opened, followed by another large line the next day.

Power said while home football games always bring in business, he was a little surprised by the large turnout. He estimated the restaurant was 20-25 percent busier than usual.

Power said the business always tries to prepare for a large number of people, but once it was announced ESPN was hosting College GameDay in Pullman, “We didn’t know what to expect.”

The College GameDay crew members must have heard good things about the local eatery because they hired Cougar Country to make a special meal for the ESPN staff. He said the production manager for the college football TV show particularly liked the onion rings, so the restaurant made sure those were included.

Power said he was proud of his staff for their effort over the weekend. He said they handled it well despite being understaffed after some employees called in sick.

At Foundry Kitchen and Cocktails, about 25 people were waiting to get into the restaurant Friday night, according to head chef Trevor Vaught.

On Saturday, the crowd died down once the football game started but increased in size again after the final whistle blew.

“It was a pretty rowdy environment, but pretty fun for both sides,” he said.

He said the employees began prepping for the weekend as early as Oct. 12, and the full staff was on hand Friday night.

Kevin Douglas, manager of Café Moro, said he and his fellow employees also had to make early preparations. He said they made sure to shop for the business’s milk, teas, breads and other essentials the day before the big game. The coffee shop brought in extra employees for the weekend, as well.

“We were overstaffed, that’s for sure,” he said.

Maybe because most people were at the College GameDay set or tailgating, Saturday morning was not especially busy for Café Moro, Douglas said. But that changed the following morning.

He said about 300 people ordered from the coffee shop Sunday, and there was a line stretching into the adjoining sitting room for hours. He said the amount of customers was comparable to the crowd that comes for Lentil Festival in August.

Douglas said he and his staff had a positive experience interacting with the visitors.

“We really enjoyed having everyone here,” he said.

Valhalla Bar and Grill on Colorado Street enjoyed its most profitable weekend to date, according to Manager Roxanne Trocino.

“It was just a packed house all the time,” she said.

It could have been even busier, but Trocino said she heard many people skipped going to the bars because they assumed it would be too crowded to get in.

She said all employees were scheduled to work during the weekend, and many worked double shifts to keep up with the crowd.

Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport also had a busy day, which Airport Manager Tony Bean said is typical of a WSU home game. He said 26 large charter aircraft landed at the airport during the weekend, including the plane to pick up ESPN’s College GameDay crew and the plane belonging to Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike.

“We’ll fill up every available inch of space here,” Bean said of the runway.

The weekend was not much different for the Holiday Inn in Pullman, either. Sales Manager Sarah Daoud said in an email to the Daily News that rooms were sold out for eight months. The hotel is usually sold out for WSU games, she wrote, but the staff did receive more calls than usual from people looking for rooms.