Fairgrounds Provides First-Come, First-Serve Parking on Saturday
Oct. 14, 2014
Due to the annual South Carolina State Fair, Gamecock Club reserved parking in the State Fairgrounds will not be honored on Saturday for the South Carolina – Furman 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. 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, chairs or grills will be allowed. Gamecock Club hanging tags will not be recognized. Gates 7, 8 and 9 will be used as exit gates only.
Patrons with a handicap parking tag will enter off Bluff Road through Gate 10 into the Fairgrounds. Those vehicles will be parked in row 1 of the Garnet and Black sections. There is no handicapped shuttle available to the stadium from the Fairgrounds.
University of South Carolina lots, including Williams-Brice Stadium, Gamecock Park, ETV, Key Road and the Armory, will open at 8 a.m. for those fans with appropriate parking passes. Parking is also available at the old Roundhouse for $20 and at Capital City Stadium for $10. The Capital City Stadium lot will also be open from 2 p.m.-8 p.m. on Friday to accommodate RV parking.
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 cost is $3.50 roundtrip per person. The shuttle service begins at 9 a.m. and runs for 90 minutes after the game.
The State Fair will open at 10 a.m. Fans with a ticket to the football game will be allowed into the Fair for free until noon. There is no Fair re-entry unless your hand is stamped prior to exiting. No football tickets will be honored after the game at the State Fair.
“We anticipate traffic delays around the stadium and fairgrounds,” said Jim Petrus, South Carolina’s Director of Parking Services. “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.” Petrus also noted that traffic on Assembly Street will run both directions before and after the game.
Game time is set for noon between the Gamecocks (3-3, 2-3 SEC) and the Furman Paladins (2-4, 1-1 SoCon). The game will be televised nationally on the SEC Network with Tom Hart and Matt Stinchcomb in the booth and Kayce Smith on the sidelines.
