Editor's note: The following is one in a series of tailgating articles that will be posted weekly throughout the football season.SALT LAKE CITY — Fans of ESPN Game Day were treated to a tour of The Grove at Ole Miss during last week’s Saturday morning broadcast.

Widely considered one of the best tailgating experiences in the country, the University of Mississippi set aside over 10 acres of tree lined green space as the core of its tailgating community. And while the setting does look lovely, it's hard for many to understand the Southern tradition of dressing up in your Sunday finest to watch a football game.

Maybe it’s the extremes of heat and cold (and bone dry or soaked-to-the-bone) that make dressing that way just too impractical for football fans here in Utah. Or maybe it’s our relaxed western style and sense of comfort. Either way, you won’t see a lot of cocktail dresses or blazers in the tailgate lot.

But like Ole Miss, fans of the University of Utah are lucky enough to have a school that supports and encourages a healthy game-day tailgating culture. The Guardsman lot has been set aside as the official home of Utah tailgating for many years now. It’s an ideal setting, directly across from the new Spence and Cleone Eccles Football Center and football practice facility and just a short walk from Rice-Eccles Stadium. A panoramic view of the Wasatch Mountains makes it one of the prettiest settings for a tailgate in all of college football.

As the popularity of tailgating has grown in recent years the fun has spilled down onto Guardsman Way itself, with tents lining the street from 500 South to nearly Sunnyside Avenue. And because tailgating is allowed across the University of Utah campus, tailgating groups have sprung up in just about every parking lot and open space. If you’re new to tailgating and you’ll be joining us for a game, here are a few game day sites you’ll want to catch.

The Ute Walk

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After 12 years of tailgating, there are definitely moments where we wonder how we managed to find ourselves engaged in a particular activity. In this case, it's carving up a 13-pound beef round, wrapping the pieces in a nicely woven mesh of bacon, and submerging them in a soy-Worchester marinade where they'll rest for the next 24 hours.

Though Ole Miss claims to have invented the team walk to the stadium, the Utes do it right. Two-and-a-half hours before kickoff the Utah football team leaves the football center and walks to the stadium, accompanied by the band and the cheer team. Fans line the route north on Guardsman Way, then head west on 500 South to Rice-Eccles Stadium to show their support. It gets the crowd riled up for the game, and you might be lucky enough to grab a free T-shirt or tchotchke from one of the cheerleaders.

The Utah Village

On the corner of 500 South and Guardsman Way, the Utah Village is a little like walking into an outdoor mall, but with free stuff. This is where the vendors for the game set up and create a fun and mostly free event. Watch a game on the big screens at the UtahOne Trailer, play some of the free activities or pick of some free swag from your favorite vendor. It’s a great way to work up an appetite before heading to our next must-see.

The Pit

This is the grass area that runs along the East side of Guardsman. It's sort of its own sovereign nation away from the Guardsman lot, in much the same way the North End Zone has demarked its boundaries and declared itself an independent republic. The North End Zone even has its own flag. The Pit harkens back to the simpler days when a tailgate was just a tent and a grill. There are lots of pick-up football games in this area, too, if you’re looking dust off your mad flag football skills and school some 12-year-olds.

The Guardsman Tailgate Lot

As we’ve mentioned before, the tailgate lot has much to offer for an incredibly fun day and is filled with all different types of tailgates. Just walking around the tailgate lot makes for some interesting people watching, and though they’ve banned golf carts in recent years, there are still plenty of odd conveyances patrolling the lot, from giant Big Wheels, motorized coolers and old school bikes, to at least one pedal-powered bar. Old-school ambulances, vintage trailers, school buses and more than one classic car mean you’ll be on the verge of sensory overload as you wander the lot.

We’ll keep writing about tailgating as the season rolls on, and we’d love to answer any questions you might have. Visit www.utahpigbus.com for more info or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

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