By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
A crowd of about 130 ECU Pirates football fans braved breezy, chilly weather Sunday night to watch the East Carolina-Tulsa football game on a 20-foot-by-20-foot screen situated behind the former Maola plant on Water Street in Washington.
“We had a good crowd,” said Jeff Hunnings, owner and manager of the Pirate’s Grill and Pub, which provided amenities for the event.
He said the crowd would’ve been bigger had the “tailgate party,” as the event was dubbed, been held on a Friday or Saturday night.
“If it was a Saturday night, we easily could have had 350 people,” Hunnings said.
Donnie Cutler, who helped organize the event and provided the giant outdoor screen, said the turnout might have been closer to 1,000 fans on a Friday or Saturday night.
“But it went great considering it was a Sunday night,” he said.
Many fans left the tailgate party at halftime of the game, which came around 10 p.m., citing having to get up and go to work Monday morning.
But a handful of dedicated Pirate fans stayed around until the end of the game near midnight.
Hunnings said he’s all for doing similar events in the future, if organizers can secure approval from the City of Washington.
“I would love to do it again,” he said.
Hunnings said the Pirate’s Grill and Pub could help organize viewings for the Super Bowl, the Conference USA Championship game (if the ECU football team makes it to that game), whatever bowl game the Pirates may be invited to (the ECU team became bowl eligible with its 44-17 win over Tulsa), college basketball games and, perhaps, televised concerts.
“We’re glad to do it for people that might not have a chance to see (such events) otherwise,” Hunnings said.
He invited area residents to give him suggestions on what events they would like to see on the big screen in the future.
Of course, Hunnings and Mac “Bear” Hodges, an ECU fan and one of the event’s organizers, said such events have to take place at night to be projected clearly on the outdoor screen.
“We can’t use the screen during the daytime,” Hunnings said.
In addition to the events that Hunnings touched on, Hodges said he has pitched the idea of showing Friday-night movies on the outdoor screen come springtime.
Cutler agreed that his screen could be used to air a lot more events once the weather warms up.
“With the warmer weather, we’ll get a lot more participation,” he said.
Musician Willis Gupton got a warm reception from the Pirate fans as he opened up the evening with a set of acoustic crowd-pleasers.
A Louisburg resident who often performs in Ocracoke, Gupton sang and strummed his guitar to some classic island tunes including Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville,” giving it an ode-to-Ocracoke twist.
Hunnings said he’s in talks with Gupton about playing a regular Thursday night set at Pirate’s Grill and Pub. He is also considering having a weekly karaoke night.