Oct. 21, 2009

Due to the annual South Carolina State Fair, Gamecock Club parking passes for the State Fairgrounds will not be honored on Saturday for the South Carolina – Vanderbilt football game.

The Fairgrounds parking lot, which is free to all patrons, will open at 8 a.m. on Saturday for both fair and football parking. Vehicles will be parked on a first-come, first-serve basis until the lot fills up. Vehicles will be allowed to enter through either Gate 6 off Assembly Street or Gate 10 off Bluff Road. Fairgrounds employees will handle all parking in the Fairgrounds lot. No tents, awnings or grills will be allowed. Gamecock Club hanging tags will not be recognized nor is there any reserved media parking. Gates 7, 8 and 9 will be used as exit gates only.

Patrons with a Gamecock Club handicapped parking tag will need to enter off Bluff Road through Gate 10 into the Fairgrounds. Those vehicles will be parked along the fence line near Williams-Brice Stadium on a space available basis. There will be limited handicapped shuttle service available to the stadium from the Fairgrounds for those parked in the Fairgrounds handicapped parking spaces.

University of South Carolina lots will open at 1 p.m. for those fans with appropriate parking passes. Those lots include Williams-Brice Stadium, ETV and Key Road. The Armory lot will open at 2 p.m.

Fans without a parking pass are encouraged to park in the lots around the Colonial Life Arena and ride the shuttle to Williams-Brice Stadium. The service is $3 round trip. Riders will be dropped off and picked up at the same location, which is on Rosewood Drive east of the main gate to the fairgrounds. The shuttle service will begin at 4 p.m. and will continue for 90 minutes after the game ends. It also will have limited service during the game. Pregame pick-up and post-game drop-off points will be at the Russell House, University Union, Coliseum Lots A, B, C and D and Capital City Stadium. For more information on the shuttle, go to http://www.sc.edu/vmps/gameday.html

Additional public parking for both cars ($10) and RV’s ($30), including handicapped parking, will be available at Capital City Stadium on Assembly Street beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

“We anticipate traffic delays around the stadium and fairgrounds to escalate throughout the day,” said Jim Petrus, USC’s Associate Business Manager. “We encourage all fans to arrive as early as possible on Saturday to help alleviate the heavy traffic congestion that will occur closer to game time. Last year, the Fairgrounds lot filled up by around 4:30.”

The State Fair will open at 9 a.m. Fans with a ticket to the football game will be allowed into the fair for free between 2 and 5 p.m. The fair will feature a two-for-one ride promotion from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Game time is set for 7 p.m. between the 23rd-ranked Gamecocks and the Commodores. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU. Gates to Williams-Brice Stadium will open at 5 p.m. The Gamecock Walk will take place on the stadium tarmac at approximately 4:45 p.m.