The final Varsity Meet? September 2012
The Varsity meet in Atlanta is a monthly tradition that has gone on way back before I was even thinking about a car. As usual the event starts out with good vibes and everyone is having a nice time. But as the light fades in the sky and the street lights come on, the idiots arrive and insist on making themselves feel special by making a scene. As a result of the craziness that goes on at this event, The Varsity publicly indicated on their Facebook page that they will no longer allow this to go on. It’s pretty sad that this has happened even though I haven’t gone out to the meets as often as I used to years ago for this very reason.
This is not just a problem for us in Atlanta, it’s something that plagues all of us. We beg for events and something to do with fellow car lovers. But once someone takes the initiative and puts it together, it grows and becomes a popular event. Then it’s only a matter of time before it gets out of control, gets shut down, and everyone is back to nothing. I have seen it happen every summer all around Atlanta. A few weeks ago they even attempted to charge a fee to come out and park in the lot. People paid to come out and sit in the lot all night with the same foolishness just with a added cover charge.
PHOTOS BY: JUAN CARILLO
To me The Varsity meet was never the place to showoff or to be seen. It was just a place to go and waste your Thursday afternoon and shoot the shit all night.
It was also the neutral ground for all types of buy, sell, or trade deals. I don’t think that there is one person reading this from Atlanta that has not met up with someone at The Varsity at least once. Being right smack in the middle of Atlanta it was always equal driving distance for both parties. And it was always full of people to act as witnesses just in case that person you are meeting at 10pm decides to kidnap you..lol
The Varsity is a place that we have found and welcomed many new car enthusiasts to the city. It’s always nice when we can finally put a face to the car that you have seen online. Plenty of our features have sparked from seeing a car at The Varsity. It usually does not take much to do a lap around the lot to get an idea if the good or the bad showed up.
One thing about the Varsity that I thought was really cool was that it was the melting pot of all cultures. You will see a donk parked next to a minitruck that is double parked being blocked in by a group of revving motorcycles. Most of the import crowd dominated the meet over the years, but The Varsity meet never truly belonged to any specific group. We all equally shared the space.
This Integra for instance I only see at the Varsity every month parked in the same spot. The owner does not stray to far from his car and I have spoken to him many times about how clean the car is. Even though its not much of a car show, the front row is always a good judge of what in store as you enter the lot. Most of the popular and nicer cars always tend to end up up front and by 5-6pm the lot becomes a nightmare for trying to find a parking spot.
Even though I did not go out to the meet as much, I am still slightly let down that its not even a option for me. But the result of The Varsity being shut down is that the people have migrated to Wild Bills out in Gwinnett every Thursday. The same viscous cycle has started to erupt at that spot also. With larger crowds comes more idiots and more incidents. This has led to them charging a small fee of 2$ to come and park to cover the cost of security. From what I have heard it has helped the situation for the time being.
This is a older picture from another Varsity meet, but its the same scene every month. These crowd shots were always cool to see. We will see if The Varsity opens up their doors once they get a little break from the chaos. Thanks for reading!
