Fork U tailgates – Chicago style
Regularly hosting some of the National Football League’s biggest pre-game extravaganzas since its inception in 1997, Chicago’s Fork U Tailgating Club is one of the most dedicated tailgating groups in existence.
Thousands of Chicagoans and football fans from around the world have partied with Fork U during the past 14 seasons, gathering to eat, drink and talk football before Chicago Bears’ home games at Soldier Field.
Fork U began after co-founders Dennis Lindley, Ron Aleskiewicz and Bill Jennings found it hard to travel to Bears road games with all of their tailgating gear in tow. Regularly going to one or two away dates per season, they began to latch onto other pre-game parties wherever they went.
“We were surprised at how welcome we were to join Tailgate Parties of the opposing team’s fans,” said Lindley. “That is when we decided that we wanted to do the same thing in Chicago.”
Fork U is well-known in tailgating circles for its all-inclusive tailgating parties that begin before the sun rises over Lake Michigan and last until about an hour before kickoff. Admission to Fork U events is just $25 for those who pay one week in advance and $35 on the day of the game. Kids age 13-20 enter (with a parent, of course) for $12, and children 12 and under are admitted free.
Each party package includes unlimited food, drinks, a comfortable place to sit and all other necessary supplies. For Bears games, the club typically meets in the 31st Street parking lot near Soldier Field. Fork U also hosts occasional baseball, hockey and NASCAR meet-ups.
Since forming, Fork U has played host to fans of all 32 NFL teams and tailgaters from 44 states and eight countries.
“We don’t throw tailgate parties to make money,” Lindley said. “We do it because we love tailgating and we love meeting fans from around the world.”
Through the years, Fork U has received its share of attention from local and national media. It has been highlighted on Chicago cable network WGN, The Food Network’s Throwdown! with Bobby Flay and on Delish.com.
Lindley, a retail management professional by day, has been tailgating for more than 30 years and counts several Fork U moments – Super Bowl XLI, the Bears-Pittsburgh Steelers game in 2009 that that attracted a regular season-record 163 pre-game guests and last December’s home game against the Patriots, which Lindley recalls as one of his fondest tailgating memories.
“Arctic cold, sub-zero wind chills and 50-plus mph wind gusts,” Lindley said of the game last Dec. 12. “We set up the bar (close to 50 bottles of liquor) and a few other things. I said to Ron, ‘It’s not that bad out here.’ I hardly had the words out of my mouth when the first wind gust of the morning hit us and blew almost every bottle off the bar. Luckily, they landed in snow and we only lost a bottle or two.”
