A day before her birthday, Tessa Pirkola won two front-row tickets for Lil Wayne’s upcoming UF concert.
On Wednesday, Pirkola, a 20-year-old UF marketing sophomore, won the tickets and a meet-and-greet with the rapper ahead of his April 4 concert.
As a part of an O’Connell Center promotional event, three alligator piñatas were hidden around campus, with one containing the winning tickets, wrote Renee Musson, the O’Connell Center’s associate director, in an email.
“This would be an opportunity to do something on campus that could generate a similar excitement to the experience you can get by attending events within our building,” she said.
Tickets for UF students cost between $31 and $63, according to Alligator archives. Pirkola said she planned to skip the concert because of its ticket price.
The piñatas were hidden by Norman Hall, the Baughman Center and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Pirkola found the winning piñata by Norman.
Once the O’Connell Center posted hints to the locations of the piñatas on social media,
Pirkola hopped on her skateboard and rushed from Norman Hall to the Baughman Center, near Lake Alice. However, a “better luck next time” message was inside.
Pirkola saw someone received the same message at the stadium, so she raced back to Norman Hall — a 4-mile-long trip in total, she said.
“I thought it was a cool way to get people involved,” Pirkola said.
Contact Romy Ellenbogen at rellenbogen@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @romyellenbogen
