National Buffalo Wing Festival

National Buffalo Wing Festival or Wing Fest is a weekend festival held on Labor Day weekend at Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo, New York, United States, celebrating the Buffalo style chicken wing. The festival culminates with the IFOCE sanctioned Buffalo Wing eating contest, which has taken place the Sunday of the festival since 2003, except 2020 when it was cancelled.

National Buffalo Wing Festival
Date(s)Labor Day weekend, 4–5 September 2021
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Sahlen Field
Years active18
Inaugurated2002 (2002)
Attendance80,000/yr
Organized byDrew Cerza
Websitebuffalowing.com
Buffalo chicken wings

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 2001 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. 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 3,000,000 chicken wings with 100 sauce varieties to over 500,000 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 seven-time champion Sonya Thomas, becoming the first new champion since 2006.[3] After losing to Miki Sudo in 2013, Chestnut returned to his winning ways in 2014 by breaking his own record by eating 192 wings and successfully defended his title the next year by breaking yet another record, this time eating 205 wings on September 6, 2015. Two years later, he set another record, this time of 220 wings on September 3, 2017. Geoff Esper holds the record of 281 in 2019.

With the 2020 festival being cancelled caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 19th was deferred to 2021.

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
  • Chicken Wing 5K (3.107 mi.) Run, since 2016.

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 Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas 134
III 9/1/2004 161 Event record
IV 9/3/2005 Eric "Badlands" Booker 137
V 9/2/2006 Chip Simpson 158
VI 9/1/2007 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 Joey "Jaws" Chestnut 191 Event record[10]
XII 9/1/2013 Miki Sudo 178
XIII 8/31/2014 Joey "Jaws" Chestnut 192 Event record
XIV 9/6/2015 205
XV 9/4/2016 188
XVI 9/3/2017 220 Event record
XVII 9/2/2018 206
XVIII 9/1/2019 Geoff Esper 281 New record.
XIX 9/05/2021

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.

See also
  • Festivals in Buffalo, New York

References
  1. Klinck, Patrick (September 1, 2012). "Buffalo Wing Festival Starts Second Decade in a Big Way". WGRZ.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2013. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  2. http://blogs.artvoice.com/stillbuffalo/2011/09/08/national-buffalo-wing-festival/
  3. Baldwin, Richard (2012-09-05). "He ate 191 wings, but who's counting?". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 2012-09-06.
  4. "Contest Information". National Buffalo Wing Festival. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
  5. "2010 Wing Fest Draws From All 50 States and 36 Countries!". National Buffalo Wing Festival. Archived from the original on September 3, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  6. Gallman, Stephanie (September 5, 2011). "Chicken wing festival is a fowl success -- 85,000 flock to Buffalo". CNN. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-09-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "U.S. Buffalo Wing Eating Championship". IFOCE. 2008-08-30. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
  9. "2010 National Buffalo Wing Festival - Black Widow Wins". www.allvoices.com. 2010-09-06. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
  10. "Chestnut eats record 191 wings in 12 minutes". timesheraldonline. 2012-09-02. Archived from the original on 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
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