PRINT ADS

John Aspinwall wants to keep a secret about his Badger football tailgate event, which has earned his Badger Wagon spots in coffee table books and on ESPN, the History Channel and the Big 10 Network since he and his party partners started the tradition in 2003 on Breese Terrace.

The secret is …

… not the location, which, at each Badger football home game since 2004, has been a corner of Lot 16 near the UW Credit Union on Monroe Street across from Camp Randall, where 50 to 250 show up to celebrate (some continuing on to the game, though Aspinwall didn't bother for Saturday's game against Akron) and more who stop to gawk at the converted 1969 step van with its satellite dish and speakers mounted on top and the flat-screen TV, leather sofas, hardwood floor, knotty pine walls and mirrored ceiling inside. (Aspinall usually posts a note geared to those tempted to crash the party: "If you don't know John or Adam well enough to buy them a drink at Tuscany after the game, keep walking." "Tuscany" refers to the Tuscany Mediterranean Grill, a Fitchburg restaurant co-owned by Aspinwall, and "Adam" is Adam Erickson, a UW-LaCrosse grad who runs an investment firm in Chicago but returns to Madison for tailgating at the vehicle he, Aspinwall and Josh Stelzer of Sun Prairie co-own.)

… not the food, which for last Saturday's opening game included Italian sausages and brats boiled in beer, sweet peppers, onions, olives and garlic for an hour and browned on the attached grill that swings out from the back of the truck — and which sometimes includes mussels and more elaborate meals when Aspinall brings his Tuscany chefs along.

… not the beverages, which are Coors Light efficiently delivered via TurboTap from the side of the van under a pull-out 10-foot awning, and Belvedere vodka and Captain Morgan's rum dispensed from 6-liter bottles through what looks to the innocent eye like hot and cold water taps inside the Badger Wagon. ("I hope not to go through a whole one today," said Aspinwall, who previously had talked about what will be the big tailgate party of the year: the Penn State game the day after Erickson's wedding. "We'll go through 10 half-barrels," Aspinwall predicted for the crowd of about 300 wedding guests invited that day.)

… not the history of the Badger Wagon, a UPS-size truck renovated by Aspinwall; Stelzer, who owns Hat Zone at West Towne and designs the official Bucky Wagon T-shirt each year; and Erickson, whose dad formerly used the truck in his construction business. (They started working on the truck in 2002, stripping the rusting mint green paint and ending up with a gleaming aluminum exterior now decorated with a motion "W" and Bucky Badger. "We're always tinkering, always doing something different," Aspinwall said, pointing out the Bucky figure mounted on what used to be a school bus stop sign, which flips upright on the roof and features the LED message: "When you say Wisconsin, you've said it all." Then there's the Bucky metal sculpture donated by former Badger player Jake Sprague, now attached to the curtain separating the driver's seat from the back of the vehicle; the badger pelt dyed red; the carved wood ax representing the Minnesota Gophers-Wisconsin Badgers rivalry; and, in honor of Erickson's upcoming wedding to Danielle Hoffman of Chicago, the "Here Comes the Bride" horn in addition to the usual ooga, meep-meep, air horn and more to surprise tailgaters or those who see the rig on the road.)

… not the travels of the Badger Wagon, which Aspinwall and partners take on the road for one away-game each year, with passengers playing cards and watching games on TV thanks to the satellite dish mounted on a gyroscope and the driver waving to travelers hanging out of passing cars to take photos of the Badger Wagon. ("It's not something people see every day," Erickson said.)

… not the value of the Badger Wagon, for which the partners have been offered $60,000 but aren't selling.

Nope.

Aspinwall's secret Saturday was something he wanted contained by the faithful few who showed up at 8 a.m. to kick off the party before the 11 a.m. game but instead threw down a bag of pretzels to save the usual parking spot. The Badger Wagon wasn't going to make it on time … or under its own power, much to Aspinwall's surprise Saturday morning. There was no time for mechanical repairs, so Schmidt's Auto Towing delivered the Badger Wagon.

A tailgater from a nearby party called out to Aspinwall, "I knew you'd be here if you had to play hurt."

Aspinwall wasn't in the mood to talk about the snafu.

"It's a glorious day," he said. "It's game day."