UW-Madison students and alumni and members of the UW Marching Band gathered to celebrate the last Badger Bash at Union South before the Badgers faced off against Cal Poly Saturday.
As has been the custom for the past 36 football seasons, Badger fans joined together to eat brats and burgers and listen to the UW Marching Band play before heading to Camp Randall.
Bob and Judy Gause, who have been celebrating Badger Bash at Union South for the past six years, said they will definitely continue to attend the celebration at the new south campus union.
We enjoy the band and the enthusiasm of everybody, that's why we come,"" Judy Gause said.
Corky Sischo, a participant in the construction of Union South in 1971, said he started Badger Bash the year after the union's opening.
""I wanted to get a lot of activity going here, so I talked to [UW Band Director] Mike Leckrone '¦ and I said, 'Would you come over here and practice?'""
Sischo said Leckrone enthusiastically accepted the request and has been performing at the tailgate ever since.
As Wisconsin fans enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm of the initial event, attendees continued to be charmed by the UW Marching Band renditions of ""On, Wisconsin!"" and ""If You Want to Be a Badger.""
Sischo, who is now retired from the university, said Badger Bash has grown enormously over the years and estimated Saturday's attendance as between three and four thousand people.
Despite the cold weather, attendees said the final Badger Bash was a great success.
Directors of Union South closed the event by dumping buckets of red and white confetti from the roof onto fans below.
According to Hank Walter, associate director of the Wisconsin Union, Badger Bash will move to Engineering Hall for the 2009 and 2010 football seasons until the new south campus union is finished in the spring of 2011.
