Saturday's celebration at Toomer's Corner was a strange moment in Auburn. After more than 83,000 witnessed the first A-Day game of the Gus Malzahn era, fans of all ages turned the downtown streets into one big block party, celebrating with the Toomer's Oaks before the trees' demise. Perhaps the best way to describe it? A wake of epic proportions.
Harvey Updyke may have gotten the better of the trees, and he may have caused a lot of sadness for fans in orange and blue -- all over a football game -- but he also set off an Auburn celebration only eclipsed by the national championship in Jan. 2011. In the end, Harvey lost his deranged fight. He's sitting in jail, and Auburn threw one hell of a party. It was a day that won't be forgotten by anyone in attendance.
People on the Plains like to talk about how special it is to be an Auburn fan, how truly different it is than any other fanbase. While that rhetoric can often seem overblown and arrogant, it felt true on Saturday. Yes, plenty of people would have shown up for Malzahn's first A-Day Game, but the turnout wouldn't have nearly been as high if it weren't held on the same day as the final rolling at Toomer's. This day wasn't about football at all; it was about celebrating something uniquely Auburn and being proud of the school, the town and fellow fans.
Those trees are coming down in a couple of days, and that's a shame. But Saturday was special, and it can never be taken away from the people who love Auburn.