Photo illustration: Katie Williamson
The Grove is the hub of The University of Mississippi’s football game mania as fans spend hours upon hours in the stretch of grass and towering trees by the hundreds, stomping their way from tent to tent.
Despite the high Grove traffic from three home games in a row, the condition of the Grove does not seem to have been unusually affected, according to Denise Hill, superintendent of Landscape Services.
“The Grove looks about the same as it does every year this time of year,” Hill said. “It always depends on the amount of rain we get.”
Biology senior Alexandra Wood walks through the Grove a few times a day.
“I think the Grove looks better this year than it has any of the other years I have been here at Ole Miss,” Wood said.
Aleely, one of the landscaping crew members who work on the Grove throughout the year, said the crew is focused on the leaves falling due to the season change since the ground is unsalvageable this far into the season.
“Right now, all we are mostly taking care of is blowing leaves off the pathways,” he said of the current maintenance required to keep the Grove in shape. “There is not a whole lot we can do to help the land recover after a game in a few days.”
Aleely said the landscaping crew comes in to work on the Grove and the peripheral areas seven days a week due to the high concentration of home football games in six weeks this season, working one to two hours each shift.
On Monday, six landscapers accompanied Aleely in working on the Grove to prepare for this weekend’s game against Arkansas.
“A crew comes in on the weekend every Saturday night and Sunday to clean the Grove after the games, and sometimes they come in Monday, too,” Hill said.
Although the work seems to increase during football games to keep the Grove in shape, Hill said that the upkeep of the Grove stays about the same throughout the year. But that can change quickly, according to Aleely, who said the weather is the biggest obstacle keeping the Grove from being in pristine shape.
“The wet weather is the biggest challenge for us,” Aleely said.
Hill said that due to the combination of wet weather and high use of the Grove, the crew’s main focus is to keep holes that form in the Grove filled to avoid trip hazards.
Most recently, the Grove has been covered with straw in certain areas. According to Aleely, fans use straw to line their tents in an attempt to reduce the negative effects of a wet gameday.
Although the straw is there to help keep the Grove in good condition, Wood said she does not like the way the straw looks on gameday.
“Rain is so much worse than cold on gamedays,” Wood said. “The straw helps with the muddiness, but I think it makes the Grove look worse.”
Aleely and the landscaping crew will begin rehabilitating the Grove after the Grove Bowl.
“When football season is done in the early spring, we will scrape the Grove, punch holes to aerate the soil, then beginning planting new grass seeds,” Aleely said.
Hill said the work on the Grove will continue at the same rate, and the seeding process will lead to a lush, grassy Grove for the spring.
— Amina Al Sherif
