For Julia LoPresti and Peter Fauske, tailgating lot 44 is their home away from home. The rolling hills behind Medlar Field at Lubrano Park have been filled with dozens of fall Saturdays.

LoPresti’s family has been avid Penn State football fans since she started her academic career at Penn State Altoona. Since 2013, they’ve attended almost every home game at Beaver Stadium.

“[LoPresti’s father] just fell in love with the whole Division I atmosphere, and he was like, ‘This is so cool,’” LoPresti said. “He was like, ‘I am going to start tailgating.'”

But Fauske, who didn’t spend his college years in Happy Valley, was an adopted Penn Stater after he met LoPresti at their local gym.

“He was already at the gym and I started [going] in January of 2021, and for a while, I just referred to him to my friends as the cute guy at my gym,” LoPresti said.

One night after working out, the two went out to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant, and they said that the rest was history.

Fauske then got a taste of the Penn State family and their passion for college football. He has attended games in State College and even traveled with the family to the Outback Bowl in 2022 and the Auburn road game in 2022.

“He was hooked day one,” LoPresti said.

LoPresti’s father can have up to 70 people at his tailgate on any given weekend and uses his passion for cooking to make the experience even better. He makes anything from steak and shrimp to macaroni and cheese.

“My dad has turned his tailgate into a traveling five-star restaurant,” LoPresti said.

A little less than two years after that sushi date, Fauske decided it was time to pop the question, and the location couldn’t have been more obvious.

Fauske ordered the ring and waited for the perfect game during the 2023 regular season.

“I think when I finally decided to do it, it made the most sense. It was the most logical place,” Fauske said. “I couldn’t really think of any other place to do it because everyone is the happiest there.”

While the original plan was for the proposal to happen in September during the White Out game, the ring wasn’t delivered in time, so plans got pushed back to the UMass Homecoming game in October.

The day came and the weather was less than ideal, but the couple was so in the moment that no amount of rain could bring them down.

“I don’t think we even felt the rain at that point,” Fauske said

Even the surrounding tailgates were ecstatic to see the proposal, and everyone was cheering and feeling the love.

“I don’t even think I made it through whatever my little speech was going to be before I cried,” Fauske said.

Now, the couple has its sights set on January 24, 2025, to tie the knot. They even expressed some Penn State-themed decorations that will make an appearance on the big day.

“We are already talking about getting a Nittany Lion logo ice sculpture,” LoPresti said.

While some might think that marrying into a Penn State family comes with an insane commitment to the school, the couple is thankful for what the university has brought them and will bring them in the future.

“When you find somebody you love, and you want to marry [them], just do it,” Fauske said. “Get it done, take the step, and never look back.”