This article needs additional citations for verification .(January 2021) |
National Buffalo Wing Festival | |
---|---|
Date(s) | Labor Day weekend, 2–3 September 2023 |
Frequency | Annual |
Location(s) | Highmark Stadium |
Years active | 20 |
Inaugurated | 2002 |
Attendance | 80,000/yr |
Organized by | Drew Cerza |
Website | buffalowing |
National Buffalo Wing Festival or Wing Fest is a weekend festival held on Labor Day weekend at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, 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 canceled.
This festival was inaugurated in 2002 at Sahlen Field. 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]
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, weighing 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 canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 19th was deferred to 2021. However, the Chicken Wing Fun Run went virtual. The 2021 event was held at Highmark Stadium, to which the festival returned in 2022. The 2022 festival also added a qualifying event for the USA Mullet Championships, which Cerza found to be a fitting synergy given the haircut's popularity in ice hockey, a popular sport in Buffalo. [4]
Contests at the National Buffalo Wing Festival include: [5]
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 [6] | |
X | 9/4/2011 | 183 | Event record | |
XI | 9/2/2012 | Joey "Jaws" Chestnut | 191 | Event record [7] |
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 | Miki Sudo | 246 | Women's event record. |
XX | 09-04-2022 | TBA |
Takeru Kobayashi is a Japanese competitive eater.
A Buffalo wing in American cuisine is an unbreaded chicken wing section that is generally deep-fried and then coated or dipped in a sauce consisting of a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and melted butter prior to serving. They are traditionally served hot, along with celery sticks and carrot sticks with blue cheese dressing or, primarily outside of New York, ranch dressing for dipping. Buffalo wings are often called simply "wings", "hot wings", or "chicken wings".
Wing Bowl was an annual eating contest founded in 1993 by Philadelphia talk-radio hosts Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti. The contest was first broadcast on WIP.
Sonya Thomas , also known by her nickname The Black Widow, and "The Leader of the Four Horsemen of the Esophagus", is a South Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia. Thomas joined the International Federation of Competitive Eating in 2003 and quickly rose to the top of the ranks, beating competitive eaters such as Eric Booker.
The Anchor Bar is a bar and restaurant in Buffalo, New York, located north of Downtown Buffalo at the intersection of Main and North Streets. The restaurant was initially established in 1935. The bar is most famous for allegedly being the birthplace of spicy chicken wings known outside the Buffalo area as Buffalo wings.
Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions can last up to thirty minutes, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner. Competitive eating is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Japan, where organized professional eating contests often offer prizes, including cash.
Swiss wing is a kind of sweet soy sauce-flavored chicken wings served in some restaurants in Hong Kong. It is marinated in sauce made up of soy sauce, sugar, Chinese wine, and spices. Despite the name "Swiss", it is unrelated to Switzerland. Instead, it is believed to have originated in either Hong Kong or Guangzhou.
The Krystal Square Off was the official World Hamburger Eating Championship from 2004 to 2009, taking place in Chattanooga, Tennessee and sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). In this event, contestants ate as many Krystal hamburgers as possible in eight minutes.
Buffalo Wild Wings is an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise in the United States, Canada, India, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates which specializes in Buffalo wings and sauces.
Joseph Christian Chestnut is an American competitive eater. He is currently ranked first in the world by Major League Eating. He is a California native and resides in Westfield, Indiana. Chestnut's height is 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m); his weight is 104 kilograms (229 lb).
Tim Janus is an American entertainer, media personality and retired competitive eater known in the competitive eating community as "Eater X". He is a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). He always performs in contests wearing a painted mask and once stated, "I'd eat anything. One of my goals in life is to eat everything in the world at least once. I'd eat a roll of pennies if I thought I could set a world record. Some day I hope we make contact with beings from other planets. I'd love to eat alien."
Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti is an American competitive eater from Chicago.
The Taste of Buffalo is the largest annual two-day food festival in the United States. The festival is centered in the heart of Downtown Buffalo, New York along Delaware Avenue from Niagara Square by City Hall to Chippewa Street, featuring numerous restaurants and food trucks from the Buffalo region and other cities in Western New York, in addition to some national sponsors. The mission of the Taste of Buffalo is "to provide an affordable and enjoyable weekend festival in a socially responsible manner for families of Western New York, and to enhance the quality of life in the Niagara Frontier and promote downtown Buffalo".
Yancey's Fancy is a producer of artisan cheeses based in Corfu, New York, USA. The company was formerly known as Darn Good Foods, Inc. The Yancey's Fancy name was established in 1998 when John Yancey and his long-time business associate Mike Wimble bought the Kutter's Cheese business and factory from Richard and Tony Kutter, who retired.
Major League Eating (MLE) is an organization that organises professional competitive eating events and television specials. The stated mission of Major League Eating is to maintain a safe environment for all events, to create a dynamic and enjoyable fan experience, and to help sponsors develop, publicize and execute eating events in a wide variety of food disciplines. The league airs its annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.
Yaka mein is a type of beef noodle soup found in many Creole restaurants in New Orleans. It is also a type of Chinese wheat noodle.
Molly Schuyler is an American competitive eater. In 2013, she signed with the competitive eating organization All Pro Eating.
Buffalo Bills Stadium is an American football stadium that has been proposed for use by the Buffalo Bills to be constructed in Orchard Park, New York and succeed Highmark Stadium with the opening planned to begin in 2026.
Matthew "Matt" Stonie(born 1991/1992) is an American competitive eater and YouTuber. He is the number five ranked competitive eater in Major League Eating. Stonie won the 2015 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, dethroning 8-time defending champion Joey Chestnut. Stonie has gained fame from his YouTube channel, to which he uploads video footage of his eating challenges.
Hot Ones is an American YouTube talk show, created by Christopher Schonberger and Sean Evans and produced by First We Feast and Complex Media. Its basic premise involves celebrities being interviewed by Evans over a platter of increasingly spicy chicken wings. Several spin-offs have been produced, including the game show Hot Ones: The Game Show on the cable television network TruTV, and Truth or Dab, a truth or dare style competition that also airs on the First We Feast YouTube channel.