Hello all,

I am a student at Troy University. A few of us are heading to Boone for the game on Halloween. I was wondering if any of you could give us a list of "must-see" places or "must-visit" restaurants in the area. We are very excited to visit your campus. We are all music students, and one of our current professors taught at ASU for several years. We have a hotel booked in Johnson City, TN. From there, we will drive one hour to Boone.

Also, do you know if your athletic department gives visiting students a discount on tickets? I know a few other Sun Belt schools do. Any little discount helps a college student!

I know we are over a month out from the trip, but we just want to have a solid plan for our weekend. I'm looking forward to the game. Best of luck to your Mountaineers throughout the season.

Someone closer to tickets can answer that part...but if you're into being outside (and assuming it's warm enough) grandfather mountain, Price Lake, definitely Hebron Rock Colony. If you're looking for good bars in town - Macadoo's, Boone Saloon. Food - definitely Black Cat burritos.

Bars: Cafe Portofino, The Local, River Street Ale House, Galileo's, Murphy's, Boone Saloon, tApp Room, Klondike, Parthenon, Town Tavern, Basils.

Breweries: Appalachian Mountan Brewery, Booneshine Brewery, Lost Province, Blowing Rock Brewing Company.

Safe travels to your trip up to Boone. As others have pointed out great hang outs, I can only second. I am partial to The Town Tavern but that's just me. You can't go wrong anywhere in Boone.

Depends what "vibe" you're looking for. I'm not partial to tApp Room and Klondike because both are super fratty and can get overly crowded. Great places to eat are Portofino's, Our Daily Bread, Black Cat Burrito, and Trolly Stop if you're looking for a quick hot dog. Basically you can find what you're looking for somewhere on King Street. Makoto's is a good sit-down Japanese steakhouse that a lot of people flock to post-game.

Portofino's is my choice location for pre-game drinking, but Boone Saloon and Town Tavern are both great as well.

You just can't go wrong anywhere in Boone or Blowing Rock! I'd suggest you get there early and have breakfast at Daniel Boone Inn. You're gonna be a little sluggish after all that food but you just can't get more bang for your buck.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Looking forward to making this trip.

Hope that you enjoy your visit to Boone and specifically Kidd Brewer Stadium . You will find that most of us are hospitable (except for 3rd down) and I really look forward to having teams like Troy come into Boone on a regular basis. Just going off of my memory of our last Halloween game in Boone (was it Wofford game ?) , you will find an electric atmosphere and a great setting for football.

MDaniels84 wrote:Hope that you enjoy your visit to Boone and specifically Kidd Brewer Stadium . You will find that most of us are hospitable (except for 3rd down) and I really look forward to having teams like Troy come into Boone on a regular basis. Just going off of my memory of our last Halloween game in Boone (was it Wofford game ?) , you will find an electric atmosphere and a great setting for football.

It was Wofford 2008. One of my fondest memories from undergrad. We dropped 70 on them. The whole town was electric all weekend.

Fair warning, a lot of places will be crowded due to the influx of game-goers.

Tapp Room is great. I've taken fans from other teams there and they loved it. Town Tavern is also solid with good food and they have locations in Boone and Blowing Rock.

Klondike and Parthenon are frat bars. If you want to do the bar tour, go to King Street and hit up Boone Saloon (it will be crowded), Macado's (might be slow but has good drink specials), Murphy's (called Dirty Muprhs for a reason).

Back on Howard St, there's The Local, Portofino's then across the street from there is River Street Ale House.

If you want a good local brew Appalachian Mountain Brewery and Basils/Booneshine are close together. They're not downtown though. Ain't no light beer there though, so watch out.

If you're want a small bite to eat, Boone Bagerly is solid. A little bigger breakfast? Melanie's on King Street. Big breakfast? Sunny Rock is Blowing Rock is really good. Only drawback is that they're closed on Sunday. Boone Saloon has an underrated Sunday brunch.

If you venture to Blowing Rock for lunch/dinner, Foggy Rock or Woodlands BBQ are the best and most economical options. Woodlands is a little bit cheaper, but the menu is BBQ and some Mexican options. Foggy Rock has got a lot more options.

TroyTrojan2011 wrote:Hello all,

We are all music students, and one of our current professors taught at ASU for several years.

Also, do you know if your athletic department gives visiting students a discount on tickets? I know a few other Sun Belt schools do. Any little discount helps a college student!

Glad to hear you're making the trek up the mountain. Others have focused on the bar scene. Since that's not my cup of tea (or brew as the case may be), I'll throw in my favorite food options. Portofino's has great food as does Red Onion. The sandwiches at Macado's are good, too. Sunrise Grill is the place for breakfast IMO.

As for food on game day, know that you're welcome to join us in the stadium lot. Just send me a PM and I'll give you all the details.

App's Hayes School of Music is quite good. Our marching band is more of the traditional marching band rather than a "show" band. I prefer that to special effects type marching bands.

Y'all be safe traveling up from Troy. Give Lake Martin a wave for me on your way up. I learned to ski in that lake over 50 years ago and still have great memories of canoeing, sailing, skiing, and swimming there as a kid.

Must Visit: Blue Ridge Parkway

Eating and Drinking:
Appalachian Mountain Brewery
The Local
Black Cat Burritos
Peppers
Sunrise Grill
Stickboy Bread Co.

Food:
black cat (with pbr tallboy)
Peppers
Makotos
Los Acroisis (spelling not correct probably)

I should be at that game as well since it's my bday. Love bday game days.

Gonzo wrote:It was Wofford 2008. One of my fondest memories from undergrad. We dropped 70 on them. The whole town was electric all weekend.

You are right about that. That game was hard to believe. We bought pre-game t-shirts that showed an App helmet & a Woffie helmet. The caption read: Let The Terror Begin! Still have it.

Little did we know how prescient that was. Wow! What a display of offense! And, best of all, Coach Moore pulled all starters in about the 3rd. What were the backups supposed to do? Quit playing? We scored on offense. We scored on defense. We scored on special teams (I think). We scored during time outs. Woffie just did not want to play anymore.

And, the band at half-time was killer!

It will be awful hard to top that. Plus, that Halloween was on a Friday night, and we actually asked Watauga High's permission to play on Friday night. Of course, they agreed. It truly was an electric night.

I hope the game time is late afternoon to night for the Halloween game.

boonetown1 wrote:I hope the game time is late afternoon to night for the Halloween game.

Yep, I am pretty sure it is a 7:30 kickoff. This is going to be fun!

Edit: Nope, my bad. Schedule still says TBA. This appsolutely has to be a night game. If the proper authorities will contact me, I will tell them when to set the time.

AppAlum1 wrote:

boonetown1 wrote:I hope the game time is late afternoon to night for the Halloween game.

Yep, I am pretty sure it is a 7:30 kickoff. This is going to be fun!

Edit: Nope, my bad. Schedule still says TBA. This appsolutely has to be a night game. If the proper authorities will contact me, I will tell them when to set the time.

I doubt it will be a night game as the game before and the game after are night games. They normally try to have one night game a year and 3:30 kickoffs to allow people to drive up and back for the game without paying for a hotel. So I would guess it will be a 3:30 kick, but who knows anything can happen.

Its Halloween! And, i am still waiting for the authorities to call.

I'd prefer a 3:30 kick off but will be there regardless of the starting time...