From the category archives:

Fall Whalegate Tour

Event Recap: Whaleforce 2 hits Clemson @ USC!

December 2, 2011

Our Whaleforce 2 crew completed its final stop on the Fall Whalegate Tour at the University of South Carolina this past weekend and what a way to wrap up a whale of a tour! Friday night began with a fun filled event at the best bar in town, The Salty Nut. Big thanks to everyone who came out and the super friendly staff that helped us put on an awesome event. The Salty Nut was the perfect atmosphere with a great crowd and some traditional southern charm. Saturday, of course, was Gamecock gameday! USC was hosting Clemson and the day started out with a store event with our friends at Brittons of Columbia. Perry from Brittons helped us learn some game day chants while we gave out lots of giveaways, coozies and gift-with-purchase prizes. After that, we whaled on over to the Alpha Tau Omega tailgate where the real fun began! We partnered with some friends from Fat and Juicy Blood Mary Mix and threw a whalegate those die-hard fans are sure to remember! Bragging rights went to our whale rep Steve for winning our field goal competition and we couldn’t have asked for a better crowd.

Thanks to all our friends and fans for coming out this fall, we had a great time and hope you all did too! Don’t worry if you didn’t catch this time around, we’ll be hitting the road as soon as the weather’s warm for our spring tour reminding everyone on our way why everyday should feel this good. See you soon!

Tagged as: alpha tau omega, brittons of columbia, clemson, coozies, fall, football, gamecocks, giveaways, prizes, tailgate, the salty nut, usc, whalegate tour...

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Event Recap: Whaleforce 1 at Alabama vs. Auburn

December 2, 2011

Our patchwork suburban made its final stop at the rivaled game of Alabama at Auburn for the Iron Bowl. We couldn’t have planned a better game and crowd to end our our Fall Whalegate Tour! We whalegated with our friends at The Locker Room in Auburn and gave away lots of coozies, fun prizes and gifts with purchase. We set up early Saturday morning and met lots of fun and friendly fans from both teams. We couldn’t believe how much spirit these guys had! Shops closed about 1:30 for the kick off of the biggest game in town where Alabama came out on top. We were proud to be a part of such a competitive game with lots of history and lots of tradition!

We caravaned back to the Northeast with Whaleforce 2, our patchwork van, with lots of “Honk if you love patchwork!” hellos along the way. There’s lots of fun in the works for our spring tour and we can’t wait to be back out on the road again soon!

Tagged as: Alabama, auburn, coozies, fall, giveaways, iron bowl, prizes, the locker room, whaleforce 1, whalegate tour...

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Event Recap: College Scholarship Day at Churchill Downs – Whalegate Tour

November 16, 2011

The vineyard vines whalegate tour recently made its way back down to the beautiful state of Kentucky for the fun-filled College Scholarship Day event at Churchill Downs in Louisville. WhaleForceTwo made the 12 hour run from our Stamford, CT offices all the way down with an energized crew, ready to enjoy the trip and of course, meet some eager students looking to score some official vineyard vines swag. College Scholarship Day at Churchill Downs is an exciting day where ten scholarships of $1,000 are awarded to students, and entry is free with a college ID. vineyard vines was stationed in the paddock with corn hole boards, plenty of coozies, whale hats, stickers, sunglasses and the chance to win a $200 gift card as well as a limited edition college tour baseball hat and custom corn hole set. To make the day that much better, when the races came to an end, Churchill Downs featured a concert by Grammy-nominated country music artist David Nail. Overall, this crisp fall day brought with it some close races, lots of laughs, good music and of course a few great shots of some happy students with their new VV gear.

Check out more photos on our flickr feed!

Tagged as: churchill downs, college scholarship day, country, Kentucky, Louisville, vineyard vines, whale

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Fall Whalegate Tour: The Montpelier Hunt Races

November 10, 2011

This past weekend, the Fall Whalegate Tour traveled down to Viriginia for the Montpelier Hunt Races.The Montpelier Race was a family friendly Steeplechase race in Montpelier Station, Virginia. There were around 30 equestrian type vendors, as well as a few delicious food vendors. Everyone was having a great time either in the club tent area or “whale-gating” in the lots. We met a ton of fun people, all really excited about the races! We were also able to spend some time with the coordinator for the Foxfield races. She was nice enough to introduce us to one of the judges, who even volunteered to pose for some pictures next to the vineyard vines banner. We also had a chance to watch the kids “Stick Races”, where the little ones were able to race in the fun as well. Overall, the weather was great, the races were close and we enjoyed some true southern hospitality!

Check out more photos from the tour on our Flickr Feed!

Tagged as: foxfield races, horse racing, horses, Montpelier, Montpelier Hunt Races, patchwork van, Steeplechase, Virginia, whalegate tour...

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Event Recap: NCSU vs UNC – Fall Whalegate Tour

November 10, 2011

The vineyard vines Whalegate Tour hit the road for Raleigh, NC for the acclaimed NCSU vs UNC football game that gets just about everyone in town to the stadium. The classic rivalry could be seen with plenty of NCSU fans and UNC fans scattered throughout the tailgate lot and of course, a lengthy line at the vineyard vines tent! We kicked off the weekend with an afternoon visit to the Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity, where attendees got a chance to snag some vineyard vines giveaways and get prepared for the next day game! Saturday morning was an early start in the tailgating lot and fans, students and just about everyone else were greeted by the vineyard vines tent set up and of course, Whale Force One. Throughout the morning, the smokers were fired up, dance floors installed [ yes there were dance floors ] and the chants for victory could be heard all around. For everyone who stopped by the vineyard vines tent, we had coozies, stickers, sunglasses and bottle openers making it a pretty special day all around. Congrats to the Wolf Pack for their win! We’re looking forward to our next visit to beautiful North Carolina!

Tagged as: chapel hill, college football, ncsu vs unc, north carolina state university, university of north caroilna, vineyard vines, whale force one, whalegate tour...

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Event Recap: Northeastern University Kappa Sigma/Delta Zeta Social

November 3, 2011

Just a few weeks ago, WhaleForce 2 cruised to Boston, Massachusetts for a stop on our Fall Whalegate Tour. With the help of the brothers and sisters of Kappa Sigma and Delta Zeta of Northeastern University, we had a whale of a time at GameOn located in the downtown Boston/Fenway area. There was great music, great company, with some awesome vineyard vines giveaways tossed in! Thanks to our Northeastern University whale rep, Chris, for showing us a whale of a time!

Tagged as: boston, Chris, delta zeta, Fenway Park, kappa sigma, Northeastern, vineyard vines, whalegate

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Whalegate Tour: Georgetown @ Holy Cross

November 2, 2011

It was a family affair this weekend for our most recent stop on the vineyard vines Fall Whalegate Tour! We stopped at the beautiful campus of The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts for one the biggest games of the season, Georgetown Hoyas vs. Holy Cross Crusaders. It was also Family Weekend which brought lots of vineyard vines fans of all ages over to the VV tent for a whale of a tailgate. Despite the surprise snowy weather, Crusader fans offered us quite the warm whalecome and some of the best whalegate food we’ve had on the tour! Although, Holy Cross fell short to the Hoyas, we had a great time out there and enjoyed some good old fashioned New England hospitality and of course and of course, unpredictable New England weather. We’ll see you all this weekend at the Montpelier Races in Virginia and at UNC @ NC State in North Carolina!

Check out more photos on our flickr feed!

Tagged as: family, food, football, Georgetown Hoyas, Holy Cross, New England, snow, tailgate, weather, Worcester

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Event Recap: Florida vs Georgia Football Game! – Whalegate Tour

November 2, 2011

The vineyard vines whalegate tour made the long journey down to Jacksonville Florida for the acclaimed and ever lasting rivalry between the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs! Gameday was ripe with tension and plenty of chants and early declarations of victory. The vineyard vines crew was stationed in the Touchdown lot right beside the stadium and by 10am the parking lot had filled up with some of the most impressive tailgating set ups we’ve ever seen! As the day went onwards, we signed up fans for a $100 gift card, gave out coozies, whale hats, stickers and lots of other great giveaways. Once the game started, the crowd moved into the stadium but for the diehards still out tailgating, we saw some impressive tv setups right at tailgates! The Georgia Bulldogs went on to win the game 24-20 but all in all, it was a great time. Many thanks to everyone who came by and said hi, signed up and left smiling. We had a blast with you!

For more photos, be sure to check out our flickr feed!

Tagged as: college football, FLGA, florida georgia, florida vs georgia, jacksonville, vineyard vines, whalegate tour...

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Whalegate Tour: Colgate @ Georgetown

November 1, 2011

We had a wild weekend cheering on Georgetown University for our most recent stop on our Fall Whalegate Tour. We had a rockin’ time at the Rhino Bar and Pump House Friday night and enjoyed some great music and great people with lots of give-a-ways and prizes tossed in! Saturday we hit the field early to cheer on the Hoyas to a big 40-17 win over Colgate. We had a great time “whalegating” with fans, friends, and students with the patchwork van parked in a prime location right outside the field. We then headed to vineyard vines Georgetown for a fun Sunday store event with live music, lots of happy customers, and our favorite giant pink Whale! Thanks Georgetown for having us, we certainly felt whalecome everywhere we went!

Kate’s all set up at Rhino Bar!

Go Hoyas!

Whale-in’ around town!

Tagged as: Colgate, football, Georgetown University, prizes, Rhino Bar, tailgate, vineyard vines, washington d.c., whale, whalegate tour...

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Fall Whalegate Tour: University of Alabama vs. Tennessee

October 28, 2011

This past weekend Whale Force 1 had an exciting weekend at the University of Alabama vs. University of Tennessee football game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. For a few of our staff it was their first experience at an SEC football game (Yes, it’s true, a large portion of northerners go to small, liberal arts colleges)!

The weekend was filled with a couple awesome events starting on Friday with the Ole’ Smokey Cookout at the DKE house, benefiting the Greek Relief Fund. We were giving out official vineyard vines Whalegate Tour goodies while students were enjoying great barbecue and playing cornhole on the our famous VV cornhole sets. At the end of the event, two determined hot dog eating contest winners went home with some great vineyard vines prizes, including a tote bag and a tie. Thanks to the members of DKE, ZBT, KKG, and ΦM for putting together a fun filled event.

Saturday was game day! We were set up outside the famed Shirt Shop giving out “gift with purchases” and other Whalegate Tour goodies. The Shirt Shop was packed with people getting their official University of Alabama apparel and checking out the patchwork suburban parked on the corner of Greensboro Ave and 6^th. Thanks to Charles Spurlin and the rest of The Shirt Shop staff for being so accommodating. We’re back at it again this weekend with Georgetown @ Holy Cross and Georgia vs. Florida in Jacksonville!

Reelin’ in the customers outside The Shirt Shop!