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Nov 27, 2008 6:41 pm US/Central
Tailgaters Enjoy Last Texas Stadium Thanksgiving
IRVING (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
It was the end of an era at Texas Stadium in Irving. Thursday's Dallas Cowboys matchup with the Seattle Seahawks was the last Thanksgiving Day game to be held at the venue.
It was a tailgaters' swansong on the Irving pavement Thursday. A lot of folks spend a lot of time and money on the pre-game tradition. For many, the new Arlington digs just won't be the same.
"This is it. This is it. Everything you get today you need to save and put on the wall and plaque it up," Cowboys fan Marc Veilleux said sadly. "We'll have these memories forever."
Veilleux and his restaurant industry colleagues take their food as seriously as they take their team. Their "Lombardi Ranch Tailgaters" put on a Texas-sized turkey and trimmings feast.
He pointed out some of their menu choices: "Mac-And-Cheese. The mashed potatoes are gonna get re-loaded, they're obviously a popular item. And we have another type of dressing right here."
But America's team has all of America's tailgating tastes. A group of Cowboys fans from the Houston-area celebrated their Hispanic heritage. "Come on around. We got fajitas. We got shrimp kabobs. We got sausage. What else we got? Chicken wings!" fan Gumaro Navarrete told a crowd.
Buddy Martensen has maintained his New Orleans taste buds for the eight years that he's tailgated in Irving. "So gumbo is big to us. It's a cool day and Cajuns cook gumbo in this kind of weather," he said. "It beats a turkey!"
James Poen takes tailgating into the bed of his pickup. "We've got a little grilled shrimp. We got a little brochette shrimp and we got some brats," the third year tailgater explained. 'It's hard to tailgate with turkey."
CBS 11 News even came across Seattle fan Tommy Stearns who braved the enemy parking lot to grill meat and kept insisting that Thanksgiving's really tomorrow. "A real man's dinner is steak. The Seahawks will reel 'em in, so today we eat steak for a victory," he said with certainty. 'Tomorrow we eat turkey in celebration. So it's as simple as that!"
One wistful tailgater, though, has seen it all at Texas Stadium. Janae Dillard has taken in Cowboys games since the team played at the Cotton Bowl.
Now, 35 years of home games at Texas Stadium are coming to an end.
"Today'll be the last turkey day, which I've done every Thanksgiving game out here, which has been awesome," Dillard said remembering. "It is emotional and it's just now since you've asked me, it's kinda put it all in perspective that it's coming to a close. Just three more home games and it's all over."
While tailgaters said goodbye with their own feasts, the Cowboys feasted on a big called Seahawk.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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