The Gators are ranked top 10 in the country, and now, so is The Swamp Restaurant.
The Swamp Restaurant, a food-favorite for many on game days, was one of 10 businesses located in college football towns across the country nominated on Twitter as part of the first UPS Football Town Business Landmark Contest. The contest is a national competition for football fans to nominate their favorite go-to place on game days, Sarah Brown, a UPS representative, wrote in an email.
"We received several thousand nominations in phase one of the contest," Brown said.
Five nominees will be chosen by online votes cast before Oct. 17 as a 2015 Football Town Landmark Business. The businesses will receive a plaque and an additional custom prize. The winners will be announced on the UPS Twitter page at 8 a.m. on Oct. 24.
Each game day, 100,000 fans pass by The Swamp Restaurant, said Nicholas Smith, the restaurant’s general manager.
"After 20 years, systems and procedures are in place designed to minimize the game day chaos," Smith said.
UF psychology senior Hannah Wendell, 22, said she felt the Swamp deserved the recognition.
"Even if you can’t make the game, they make you feel as though you’re there with the echoing sounds of the stadium less than a block away," Wendell said.
Mary Myers, a 22-year-old UF family, youth and community sciences senior, sips from her beer at The Swamp Restaurant on Oct. 13, 2015. Myers said when game day rolls around she comes to the restaurant with her friends because it has a fun outside atmosphere.
