National Buffalo Wing Festival

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National Buffalo Wing Festival
Buffalo wing festival.jpg
Buffalo wing fest crowd.jpg
Date(s) Labor Day weekend, 3-4 September 2016
Frequency Annual
Location(s) Coca-Cola Field
Years active 22
Inaugurated 2002 (2002)
Attendance 80,000/yr
Organized by Drew Cerza
Website
buffalowing.com
Buffalo chicken wings

National Buffalo Wing Festival or wing fest is a weekend festival held at Coca-Cola Field in downtown Buffalo, New York, USA, celebrating the Buffalo style chicken wing. The festival is held on Labor Day weekend and culminates with the IFOCE sanctioned Buffalo Wing eating contest.

Event history

This festival was inaugurated in 2002. Founder Drew Cerza, called the "Wing King" by Buffalo News, was said to have modeled the event on a fictitious festival from the movie Osmosis Jones.[1] Though it has been claimed that this is the first festival of its kind, WingStock on Main Street in Downtown Buffalo was held annually prior to the first National Buffalo Wing Festival.The first Wingstock was in 1997 and won by Ray Jay's Bar on Broadway in Cheektowaga and was held at the Radisson Hotel on Genesee street. Drew Cerza paved the way for the Chicken Wing Hall of Fame and made Buffalo the birthplace of the chicken wings.

Jill Greenburg said, "Of local festivals that have come and gone the Wing Fest’s staying power is a result of raising approximately $200,000 for local charities and serving almost 3 million chicken wings with 100 sauce varieties to over half a million hungry visitors over the years." In 2010, the festival was video webcast live to over 84,000 online viewers.[2]

On September 2, 2012 Joey Chestnut consumed 191 wings, 7.61 pounds (3.45 kg), in 12 minutes to take competitive-eating trophy from the five-year champion Sonya Thomas.[3] Chestnut broke his own record in 2014 by eating 192 on 31 August, and successfully defended his title the next year by eating 205 wings on 6 September, another record.

Event contests

Contests at the National Buffalo Wing Festival include:[4]

  • US Chicken Wing Eating Championship
  • Amateur Chicken Wing Eating
  • Amateur Traditional Sauce Contest
  • Amateur Creative Sauce Contest
  • Ridiculously Hot Wing Eating Contest
  • Miss Buffalo Wing
  • Bobbing for Wings
  • Baby Wing
  • Buffalo Buffet Bowl
  • Yancey's Fancy Cheesiest Couple Contest
  • Yancey's Fancy Cheesy Dance-Off Contest
  • Battle of the Border
  • College Wing Eating Competition

Facts

  • 2010 Attendance: 71,000[5]
  • 2011 Attendance: 85,000[6]
  • 1 wedding has occurred at the festival [7]
  • Prize Money Breakdown:[8]
    • 1st Place: $1,500
    • 2nd Place: $750
    • 3rd Place: $300

US chicken wing eating championship competition winners

Contest duration is 12 minutes.

  Date Name Chicken wings eaten Notes
I 9/2/2002 N/A N/A Inaugural
II 9/1/2003 United States Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas 134
III 9/1/2004 161 Event record
IV 9/3/2005 United States Eric "Badlands" Booker 137
V 9/2/2006 United States Chip Simpson 158
VI 9/1/2007 United States Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas 173 Event record
VII 8/30/2008 165
VIII 9/6/2009 169
IX 9/5/2010 181 Event record[9]
X 9/4/2011 183 Event record
XI 9/2/2012 United States Joey "Jaws" Chestnut 191 Event record[10]
XII 9/1/2013 United States Miki Sudo 178
XIII 8/31/2014 United States Joey "Jaws" Chestnut 192 Event record
XIV 9/6/2015 205

Entertainment

Every year the festival brings in top quality entertainers. There are always new and exciting entertainers each year. Several entertainers also appear year after year including Quiz Master Dennis George, Elvis Tribute Artist Terry Evans and Balloon Entertainers Dennis & Karen Regling.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ http://blogs.artvoice.com/stillbuffalo/2011/09/08/national-buffalo-wing-festival/
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ http://www.buffalowing.com/c-20-festival-history.aspx
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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