Right now, in 2025, the only way to get from the West Side to the East Side of Kidd Brewer Stadium is around the south side. There sits a man-made hill, cultivated from the mountain earth. Probably no more than 200 feet long and at a decent angle of probably 50 feet from the top of the hill to the wall below. Those are rough guestimates. What isn’t as rough is that every home game, thousands of students, guests and in-betweens crowd this patch of grass to watch the Appalachian State Mountaineers Football team.
You don’t see this anywhere else. It speaks of a fanbase and student body dedicated to a team, a feeling built up over the years. These students, many of whom come from the foothills and piedmont regions, descend on the mountain and a stadium to make it something special.
And it might die soon.
In my Xwitter GIF threads, I started referring to it as the Democratic People’s Republic of Miller Hill as both a haha funny joke and also a hey-this-place-kinda-rules tribute. Go to X and type in “#appstategifparty miller hill” and you’ll see dozens of examples.
Students from varying backgrounds are all equal on Miller Hill. The whimsical middle-class hanger-on from Matthews, the fiercely passionate art student who was bullied back in Lewisburg and the Kings Mountain-born general studies major who drank way too much at 1:15 p.m. but is trying to rally come together.
The first thing you encounter is the chokepoint going from under the West Side to the hill. This is where some genius put the Hungry Howie’s food truck, which has the longest lines. You see, Hungry Howie’s is a rite of passage for Miller Hill. You cannot attain citizenship without getting a personal pan pizza. It’s delicious, the crust is flavored and is somehow even more delicious if you’re drunk. Especially when mixed with a beer of choice.
In this chokepoint, bobbing between lines where patient drunk pizza lovers wait, you might get a whiff of what Hippie Hill used to be. For those who don’t know, Hippie Hill is a nondescript hill on King Street across from the Turchin Center. It’s a steep hill, surrounded by apartments.
But as there is no country for old men, there’s no Boone left for hippies. Annoying teenagers from Kernersville no longer become bongo-playing peace activists who never act on any ideas. They become slightly more annoying young adults from Kernersville. Every once in a while, a hippie type emerges from the mire, but they quickly learn they can pull women by learning how to slackline on Samford Mall.
Miller Hill is as close to a spiritual successor to Hippie Hill as you’ll get in downtown Boone. And you whiff that walking past the Hungry Howie’s truck. Yes, I just spent three paragraphs explaining that someone might have smoked a joint at a football game.
Because of Harry Lyles popularizing it in 2024, mud sliding on Miller Hill might happen. Students, including women in carefully picked attire, will mud themselves up from chin to toe in a fit of Wagnerian madness.
Looking around Miller Hill, you see some people who stick out. People who are decidedly not students. These are likely parents, gifted guest tickets by their young one, who it just seemed like yesterday was learning how to walk and talk to their stuffed animals. Now, those burgeoning young adults ditch their birth givers, go to the game with their friends and wander out sometime during halftime. This former bundle of joy will later try to use their fake ID to get into River Street Ale House, then drunk crying while tucking their plushies into bed, telling each one of them deserves the world. These parents need a beer, but are trying to hold off until after the game to save a few bucks. Someone please buy them a beer and/or a frozen margarita.
There’s no dress code for Miller Hill. You have the collared-shirt-and-plaid-shorts frat types, the striped-overalls-and-god-knows-what-underneath bros, the cute-top-and-jeans women, the cowboy-hat ladies who regretted wearing heels three hours ago, some dude who maybe should have held off that extra edible and has no idea what’s going on, the sorority types who have those fake paint tattoos, that funny guy who can recite the entire first act of Holy Grail from memory, like 40 dudes who won’t shut up about their parlay and a smattering of people who are unironically from Gaston County. And if the coach isn’t winning, someone will have a sign expressing their desire to fire that coach.
There’s no room for hate on Miller Hill. I mean, at least not permanently. Middle fingers happen, as Coastal Carolina knows. But there’s a lot of room for love, and it can be lasting. If you have a beard and look hippie-ish, someone will accuse you of being Jerry Garcia
On the hill, everyone is equal. It doesn’t matter what’s in your pocket, whether it be a full wallet or vapes you snuck in. You are a citizen of Miller Hill for as long as you desire until the football isn’t being snapped anymore.
Citizenship of the hill dwindles during the game. Sustained membership is not recommended by any doctor. But it’s fun while you’re there.
Miller Hill also serves an important function to the public school mission of Appalachian State. It allows as many students as possible to attend the game free of charge. They paid through their student fees. Inter-varsity athletics should be free for public college students. At Boise State, only 5,000 students get tickets for each home game, and those are gone five minutes after going on sale the Monday before that weekend’s home game. Appalachian’s catering to its students is what makes KBS what it is more than any other reason.
Miller Hill is as organic as you can get at App State. And Doug Gillin and those in suits want to ruin it.
Hyperbole? Possibly. But he’s already mentioned that changes could be coming this offseason. A footpath for police to help people and terracing have been mentioned. There’s square footage inside his stadium, and he wants to squeeze money out of it. That capitalist Doug Gillin is all about the money and has grown cold to those whom he perceives as threats.
The below is from the Spring 2024 Board of Trustees meeting.
The net in front of the hill was installed in 2024 after its citizens played keep away with kicked footballs. Like that wouldn’t happen anywhere else.
The aforementioned mud sliding? It’s something that embarrasses those in suits. Insurance! National brand! The normal buzzwords that leads to the death of fun things.
Why have students crowd onto a hill when you could have wanna-be Instagram influencers sitting on a terraced hill like it’s a picnic? Why have mud sliding when you can have money trains? It’s like trying to get rid of free expression tunnels.
Kidd Brewer Stadium will be less than if the current iteration of Miller Hill goes away. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. There are other places to enhance the stadium and make Kidd Brewer Stadium better.
pipedreams 
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