Get ready for gamedays with Sweet Baton Rouge’s annual Ultimate Tailgate vendor event Saturday

Sweet Baton Rouge is kicking off football season once again with its eighth annual Ultimate Tailgate at Perkins Rowe. 

Featuring a lineup of local vendors, a live DJ and a jambalaya cookoff, Ultimate Tailgate aims to get Baton Rougeans gameday ready.

“It just is a place to bring all local businesses together and to basically gear up for gameday in a fun tailgate environment,” says Meredith Waguespack, founder of Sweet Baton Rouge.

Waguespack founded her clothing and lifestyle brand back in 2010. While running her storefront in Baton Rouge, Waguespack wanted a way to bring the community together while uplifting small and local businesses. In 2019, Sweet Baton Rouge held the first annual Ultimate Tailgate.

“It was exciting because it was the very first one I ever had,” Waguespack says. “It was very small, but it was exciting that this idea I had kind of came together.”

Despite the small start to the annual event, Waguespack says she still considers the first year a success and has many happy memories. She says that a couple even got engaged at the event, making the first Ultimate Tailgate that much more exciting. 

Since then, the crowds have only grown, and so has the scope of the event itself. This year’s Ultimate Tailgate will have 47 vendor booths, featuring local businesses like the Gilded Garden, Made to Paint, Geaux Clear Collection and Bougie Backdrops 225, as well as Sweet Baton Rouge’s new brother company Coastal Pelican. Attendees can jam out while checking out vendors to tunes provided by DJ Bird. 

Five cooks will also compete in the Jambalaya Cook-Off, rounding out the Louisiana tailgating experience. All proceeds from the jambalaya tickets will go toward funding the Petey Scholarship.

The scholarship, named for Sweet Baton Rouge’s pelican mascot, aims to support incoming college freshmen or upperclassmen “with immense determination who may not fit standard academic or financial aid profiles.” The first Petey Scholarship was awarded in 2024, and three more were awarded in 2025, with recipients chosen by Waguespack and her two best friends who helped her get through college herself. So far, the scholarship has awarded students a total of $7,000.

Waguespack also hopes that the scholarship can show students that they are not alone, and that no matter how many obstacles they have to face in college, they have the support of the Baton Rouge community behind them.

“It’s just a way to give back and let that person know that we see you and we understand that [it] definitely can be challenging,” says Waguespack, “but we encourage them to keep going because we know on the other side. When you finish school, you have so many more opportunities just by continuing to push through.”

The Petey Scholarship is a central part of Waguespack’s purpose for the Ultimate Tailgate. In addition to Jambalaya Cook-Off tickets, donations from the event’s raffle and Venmo wall will also fund the scholarship. 

Revelry Sports & Entertainment has donated one of its Mini Tailgates for the event’s raffle. The tailgate includes a tent, Adirondack chairs, a table, an ice chest, and full ice and trash services, plus a purple and gold balloon arch donated by Animated Art. To enter, participants can purchase one ticket for $15, three for $40 and eight for $100.

The Venmo wall, made with a large sheet of plywood and full of balloons, is an interactive way for customers to get involved with the Petey Scholarship. Waguespack says that many community partners and Ultimate Tailgate vendors donated products and gift vouchers that participants can draw from envelopes on the wall after donating $10. 

Guests can then redeem these vouchers at the respective vendors’ booths, making it the perfect opportunity to support both the scholarship and small businesses at once. 

“If you choose a voucher from our local vendors, you go and redeem it at their booth, and then you’ll be able to go meet a new person, get your free thing, and who knows, you might find something else that you love and want to purchase directly from them too,” Waguespack says.

Another goal of Waguespack’s is to spotlight local vendors and small businesses. She hopes that by featuring these creatives, she can showcase the talent here in Baton Rouge.

“To me, the value is people coming out and showing support to not just Sweet Baton Rouge’s business, but to all the other local businesses,” Waguespack says. “You may find a new business that you’ve never heard of, and it might become your new best friend. It’s just a great opportunity to see what else is out there, especially living in such a digital world.”

Sweet Baton Rouge’s Ultimate Tailgate will be this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Perkins Rowe. For more information, visit the Sweet Baton Rouge website. Students can also apply for the Petey Scholarship by filling out this Google form.