The Mop (G25)
How You Know You’re There: There’s a big mop. “In the 80s, The Mop founders (Mopfathers), Randy and Dennis Stratton, were going to their regular tailgate and they got really tired of trying to tell people exact-ly where to go,” says current Mopper Rick Carroll. “So they found an old mop hanging in the garage and decided that they would find an extremely tall pole.”
The Crew: Sean Stratton, Kirk Lakebrink, Rick Carroll, Cory Hernandez and other young guns took over from the old timers in 2014.
The Scene: “We don’t have any fancy rigs, but we always have four to six tents all connected with your typical Arrowhead slew of food and beverages,” Carroll says. “We get there when the gates open and start smoking right away. We have a TV and PA system for entertainment—we don’t mess around.”
Claim To Fake: “We hosted a Mop wedding for two people that we didn’t even know at the time and we are now friends with. They’re from the Atlanta area and found us via Facebook.”
LOT J
How You Know You’re There: “We’re not hard to find, with the Lot J flags flying high on the corner of Royal Way and Dubiner Circle, behind a large KC Chiefs tent with two DJs set up underneath it,” says organizer Josh Wahba. “Next to the DJ tent is a large Chiefs school bus filled with signatures from previous players. Next to that is the Game Day Trailer, which is fully equipped with TVs. Couches and chairs are out in front of it for people to take a load off.”
The Crew: Josh Wahba, Nate Morrow, Josh Schmutz and up to eight hundred other Chiefs fans—plus opposing fans. “Lot J has been arguably hosting the largest open tailgate at Arrowhead for the past seven years,” says Wahba. “We welcome fans of any team and always have opposing team fans at the tailgates.”
The Scene: Tents, tables, cornhole games and lots of dancing happening in front of the DJ tent.
Claim To Fame: “Lot J is also known for our pregame ritual, which has been a tradition in Lot J since the beginning. We are led in a pregame chant by one of the original Lot J founders, and everyone gives a toast together at the end. The ultimate ‘pump you up’ chant is done by hundreds,” Wahba says.
Kingdom Wagon (LOT A “ON THE GRASSY KNOLL”)
How You Know You’re There: A yellow bus is parked on top of a grassy hill in Lot A for home games. When the Chiefs are away, you’ll find the same crew assembled at The Granfalloon on the Plaza.
The Crew: Paul Goebel, Jake Hentzen, Jonah Grotz, Tim Giblin, Eric Gormly, Jack Holbrook and KC Rudolph. The gang assembled in 2012, when the Chiefs went 2-14, and has continued on into the Mahomes era.
The Scene: The Kingdom Wagon is a former Parking Spot airport shuttle, which the Kingdom Wagon crew left yellow. “We left the luggage rack inside so we have a place to store all our tailgate gear,” Goebel says. They load it up with generators, speakers, a grill, games, tables, a fire pit and a keg of Coors Light. “Each year we’ve slowly been sprucing the bus up little by little.”
Claim To Fake: “For the colder games, we always have a heated tent to make those early frigid tailgates more bearable,” Goebel says. “We’ve made new friends and have met people from all over the country, even a group of Canadians that have become season ticket holders and come down for many of the home games.”
Front Of LOT C
How You Know You’re There: “You find us by our unique homemade flags made by our crew over twenty-five years ago,” says tailgater Don Munce. “And by our 1973 Chevy panel van—the Breadtruck. We put a great wrap on the truck several years ago featuring Derrick Thomas and Arrowhead Stadium. Fans attending games and walking through Lot C have stopped for pics with our painting of Thomas signaling a safety from the eight-sack game against Seattle.”
The Crew: Don Munce and longtime friends David Ferdig and Vince Hamilton, plus Munce’s daughter and son Jessica and Ryan Munce.
The Scene: Look for folks eating—the Breadtruck takes food seriously.
Claim To Fake: “The menu is created to honor the city of our opponent,” Munce says. “If they have a signature dish or style of food, we work to make our visitors from those teams feel welcomed to Arrowhead with a taste from home—before we destroy their team. ESPN featured our roasted hog prior to the game years ago against the Washington football team. We named our hog Clinton Porkus.”
