What lengths are you willing to go to for a parking spot? Students waited outside over 12 hours overnight in June to try to get a parking spot in the Elk’s Lodge.

The Elk’s Lodge parking spots, located near the softball fields, are coveted among students. This is due to their proximity to the school and their ability to be kept for multiple years and passed down to younger siblings. However, getting these spots organically requires a lot of dedication. Instead of the lottery system that is used for the Madison gravel parking lot, the Elk’s Lodge gives spots to the first people in line when the doors open at 9 a.m. There is no announced time for people to start lining up, so many students rely on word of mouth and guess when others will be there, causing the time to vary from year to year. This year, many students showed up over 12 hours before the doors opened to try to get spots. 

“I just thought I would go at 8 p.m. and see how early people were getting there,” Priya Robbins (’27) said. “I ended up being the first one.”

So what do you do for 12 hours? Some people chose to stay in their cars for warmth until the morning, but most brought camping chairs and blankets and formed a line outside of the building. Many parents tried (with varying success) to sleep while a group of students near the front of the line stayed awake most of the night.

“We all brought different games and snacks to share with our other friends while we waited,” Robbins said.

Students hoping to get a parking spot had no clear idea about how many spots would be available for this school year. The process for students to renew their passes happens right before spots open to other students, so the Elk’s Lodge is unable to announce how many students they will allow. While some people who came later saw the line and turned around, several students waited overnight, only to find out they couldn’t get a spot.

“One of my teammates was two spots too late, so she was pretty upset,” Riley Brick (’27) said. “You never know how many spots they will hand out to the new people.”

Though the wait was long and the outcome uncertain, many students conceded that the chance to get a parking pass that is valid for years made the overnight challenge worth it, especially because it can be quite difficult for juniors to get a spot in the school parking lots. According to Steve Plunkett, over 80 juniors who applied for a spot in the gravel lot were unable to get one due to limited availability. For those who came prepared to wait, the payoff may last far beyond this school year.