Wingfest 2009
I like food a lot and so does Sean. I also watch the FoodNetwork all the time and one day while we were watching a food festival show in December we decided we'd go to a food festival: Wing Fest! We had been waiting for this for quite some time so we were ready to wing it up. We both love chicken wings and let me tell you if you go to a food festival you better love the theme food a LOT because to have so much of the same thing in one location is almost overwhelming. We stayed in the city of Buffalo, right in the city part across from the M and T mecca for us, One Fountain Plaza. Nice building, but Buffalo is pretty dead right in the city part, lot of empty buildings and store fronts. However it was about a half mile walk from the hotel so it was a good spot for us!!
It was a great sunny day and you could tell you weren't in downstate NY anymore, nobody was trying to cut the line to get or anything. Two tickets got you three wings, and each ticket was $1. You could use the tickets to buy other food too, most vendors weren't taking cash, only tickets. We got $30 worth of tickets-45 wings. There were 30 wing vendors and then other vendors and they had a booklet telling you what flavors each place had, most had the traditional Buffalo wing and then butter garlic, BBQ but some didn't have any hot wing at all and instead funky flavors like ginger molasses etc. Sean and I got three wings at each booth-two hot wings and one other different flavor. At first we'd walk up the bleachers to sit and then walk down (thereby increasing the amount of physical activity we got) but after awhile it got crowded and we would get wings, then move to another vendor and stand in line and eat. Although they were trying to keep things moving, again we were obviously not in downstate NY as they weren't moving fast by downstate standards. All in all a local place had our favorite wing (not the Anchor bar) but the sauces were not worth buying. There were some places with novelty items: buffalo wing soup, buffalo wing mac and cheese, buffalo wing cheddar cheese (quite tasty) buffalo wing popcorn (yummy) and boneless wings (not worth it). It was very warm but there was beer and wine (no one carding) and a tent that sold a yummy blueberry lemonade. Another tent had the great idea of selling sliced watermelon which was incredibly refreshing after 20 somethingodd wings. It was a LOT of wings. We watched the wing eating contest although that was actually quite nauseating to watch people shove wings down their throat, almost puke, choke it down, drink some water and commence shoving wings in their mouth. A tiny Asian woman who couldn't have weighed more than 115 pounds won. There was a bobbing for wing contest, wings in bleu cheese, but we didn't get to see that. Major complaints on sauces: Too much vinegar or not enough heat. Also some didn't seem like they had cooked long enough and the flavors hadn't melded together. It got crowded but people were pleasant and all in all it was a great day. But if you don't LOVE wings, don't go because you'll quickly become bored.
I am now in search of a new food festival to go to!
It was a great sunny day and you could tell you weren't in downstate NY anymore, nobody was trying to cut the line to get or anything. Two tickets got you three wings, and each ticket was $1. You could use the tickets to buy other food too, most vendors weren't taking cash, only tickets. We got $30 worth of tickets-45 wings. There were 30 wing vendors and then other vendors and they had a booklet telling you what flavors each place had, most had the traditional Buffalo wing and then butter garlic, BBQ but some didn't have any hot wing at all and instead funky flavors like ginger molasses etc. Sean and I got three wings at each booth-two hot wings and one other different flavor. At first we'd walk up the bleachers to sit and then walk down (thereby increasing the amount of physical activity we got) but after awhile it got crowded and we would get wings, then move to another vendor and stand in line and eat. Although they were trying to keep things moving, again we were obviously not in downstate NY as they weren't moving fast by downstate standards. All in all a local place had our favorite wing (not the Anchor bar) but the sauces were not worth buying. There were some places with novelty items: buffalo wing soup, buffalo wing mac and cheese, buffalo wing cheddar cheese (quite tasty) buffalo wing popcorn (yummy) and boneless wings (not worth it). It was very warm but there was beer and wine (no one carding) and a tent that sold a yummy blueberry lemonade. Another tent had the great idea of selling sliced watermelon which was incredibly refreshing after 20 somethingodd wings. It was a LOT of wings. We watched the wing eating contest although that was actually quite nauseating to watch people shove wings down their throat, almost puke, choke it down, drink some water and commence shoving wings in their mouth. A tiny Asian woman who couldn't have weighed more than 115 pounds won. There was a bobbing for wing contest, wings in bleu cheese, but we didn't get to see that. Major complaints on sauces: Too much vinegar or not enough heat. Also some didn't seem like they had cooked long enough and the flavors hadn't melded together. It got crowded but people were pleasant and all in all it was a great day. But if you don't LOVE wings, don't go because you'll quickly become bored.
I am now in search of a new food festival to go to!