ASB indefinitely ended the tailgating event before the football season finished due to a lack of participation.

The decision to cancel was made after the Oct. 10 homecoming game.

“We weren’t getting the same numbers as we had at the first event,” senior and ASB Co-President Jake Whealen said. “The first game is obviously going to get the most people because it’s the start of the season.”

At previous football games, the event began at 5 p.m. while the Junior Varsity game started. On the night of the homecoming game, the Junior Varsity team had played on Thursday while the tailgating event began at 5 p.m on the following day; accordingly, spectators arrived later Friday evening.

But the homecoming game did not completely influence the decision.

“[Attendance] was exponentially going down,” Whealen said. “[The cancellation is] for the benefit of the trucks — not just for ASB.”

When asked to comment on the decision, ASB Advisor Heidi Cissell declined an interview.

ASB plans to try to implement the program at future sporting and school events.

“With it being as successful as it was, regardless of shutting down half-way through the season, the tailgate shows how it might be successful and it’s a good tradition that Oak Park will keep implementing in future years,” Whealen said.

Previously, concerns from the Athletic Booster Club arose surrounding the allocation of funds received by the food trucks. The decision to cancel the event was not affected by the dispute with funds, Whealen said.

According to a prior agreement, all profits from the food trucks will still be donated to the school’s Athletic Booster Club, ABC President Julia Ahdoot said.

“We hope in the future that ASB continues to develop ideas to include the community and to get more people to come out and support our Eagles,” Ahdoot said.

Senior Bek Kamalov said he felt disappointed when he heard that ASB decided to shut down the tailgating.

“I will definitely miss the event because now the students will miss out on the food,” Kamalov said.

Although tailgating was used to bring in school spirit, the tailgate cancellation has yet to put a damper on junior Liliana Fendler’s support for the football team.

“[The tailgate] was fun and it is a bummer [that it’s cancelled], but it’s not going to make a big difference [to me] because I will still go to the games,” Fendler said.