Project 2: Game day at The Grove from Sunrise to Sunset.

Game day on the grove at The University of Mississippi typically revolves around the moments spent clustered under ten-foot tents to watch college football where it happens, but with greater freedom of motion and personalized assortments of confections. Many more hours though, are spent getting to this point, and slowly returning to quiet that these Saturdays begin with.

Unoccupied tent cities are always the first to have their feet on the ground during the starting hours of game day at The University of Mississippi. The cluster starts here, packed end to end in the grove, and stretches out the farthest fringes of the school.

These foggy hours of the morning are when people begin to arrive in preparation for the days events. Leading the pack is one of many the many custodians, whose workload will steadily increase as the day wears on.

Along with the first of custodians come the first of friends and family members charged with furnishing the tents with food, drink and the favorite mascot of the season.

Every game day weekend beige bathrooms crop up all across the school, altering the routes taken by Oxford’s many joggers.

The sleepy tent city of the morning becomes a bustling community of tailgaters by mid day. People duck in and out of the grove to meet with others before heading back to the densely populated center.

The area outside the student union swells with more people entering and leaving tents throughout the campus. Places of high foot traffic, such as this courtyard tend to necessitate a constant presence by campus law enforcement.

A large number of families and groups of friends eventually give their tents distinguishing names.

The tent colloquially dubbed “Warehouse Rebels” hosts wife and husband, Helen and Jim Guydry. The Guydries are relatively new to the grove, electing to join their friends two years ago, when their son began college at The University of Mississippi.

Evening draws nearer, bringing small crowds into the student union building before the game they’ve come for gets underway.

A few choose to settle in the lobby under the constant cooling winds from vents above. Others prepare to set off again toward the campus football stadium.

The last stop before reaching the game is passed by save for a handful of stragglers, either just arriving or waiting on someone from the student union.

The stadium in question sits below a hill and behind a few one to two story buildings. For those visiting for the first time, finding the way requires some assistance.

Getting beyond the front gates at the stadium is somewhat of an impossibility. Checkers stand at each entrance asking anyone who comes near if they have tickets.

As the game wears on into the evening more people huddle beneath the awnings of their respective tents. At this time, the process of packing and heading home until the following week slowly gets underway.