By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Steve Peters knows how to get fired up for the Super Bowl.

He didn’t have to be in a Jacksonville parking lot to have a tailgate party Sunday. In fact, he didn’t even need a parking lot or a tailgate.

The Lewiston resident set up a bonfire outside in the partially completed addition on the back of his house. He invited friends, family and co-workers over to catch the game in the outdoors.

“If the weather hadn’t been good, I probably wouldn’t have made a big issue out of it,” said Peters. “I kind of like it.”

There wasn’t even a need for incendiary devises such as a Peyton Manning poster, a Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel or a “T.O. has B.O.” T-shirt.

“I pulled the shingles off the wall, and I just wanted to burn them,” said Peters, who also had an instant means of burning trash. “It was kind of nice out.”

Other years, Peters has watched the Super Bowl indoors, but with an addition being built for his mother, Sue Peters, it made for a perfect setting for a Super Bowl under the stars. With the excellent weather forecast Sunday, he scrambled Friday to plan the party.

When his mother arrived just before gametime, she jokingly declared “I want this party out of my house.”

She had been informed of the gathering Sunday morning.

“He said We’re going to, not can we?'” she said.

Peters, who works for UPS, also has a business on the side selling grills. Though his partner Vic Theberge couldn’t make the open-air pregame show, their grills got plenty of work. There were two Slik Vic Griddles set up alongside the bonfire to cook everything from teriyaki steaks, shrimp, nachos, hamburgers, hot dogs and escargot.

Scott Perry was there as a half-hearted Patriots fan. He grew up in Northern Maine as a Steelers fan.

“I’ve always liked the Steelers, but I’ve always followed New England, said Perry. “It’s hard to root for them now, but I don’t want Philadelphia to win. New England is the home team. I root for everyone else – the Red Sox, the Bruins and the Celtics.”

Monique Marston, another UPS employee and Peters’ neighbor on Montello Street, is a proud Pats fan from way back.

“Yes, I’m a Patriots fan,” she said. “From the time that everybody used to say the Patriots couldn’t win anything. We didn’t jump on the bandwagon.”

Across town there was no shortage of Patriots fans at the apartment of brothers Ryan and Jeff Marquis and Rob Arp. The Davis Street residence was full of die-hard Pats fans, many showing their loyalty on their backs and their heads.

Ryan Marquis and Arp had decided to get blue Mohawks after the Patriots beat Indianapolis three weeks ago. They’ve been wearing them ever since.

“It was his birthday the Sunday of the Colts game,” said Arp. “I kind of dared him that if the Pats won, we’d all get Mohawks.”

Chris Blair and Ryan Boies joined in Sunday, shaving their heads and dying their hair. Kyle Landry tried dying his hair and goatee blue.

“It’s the Patriots,” said Boies. “It’s what we’re doing right now. You’ve got do something. You’ve got to sacrifice for good luck.”

Ryan Marquis and Brian Fournier were each sporting Corey Dillon jerseys. Chris Blair had a Rodney Harrison jersey while Ty Law was represented by Jeff Marquis and Arp.

“We pretty much decided two weeks ago,” Ryan Marquis said about the party, which featured more than a dozen friends from high school and college. “We were going to have one anyway, but when your team is in it, it’s a step up.”

The group had salsa, 15 pounds of buffalo wings, steak, hamburgers and pizza and the all-important keg.

“The essentials,” said Ryan Marquis.