The National Buffalo Wing Festival is returning to Sahlen Field after four years at Highmark Stadium this weekend. Participants can enjoy chicken wings from 15 different national restaurants and over 100 different sauces. Drew Cerza, the founder of the Wing Festival, says the idea of the festival was inspired by a fictional wing festival in the movie "Osmosis Jones" and came into fruition in 2002.
“You have a movie called Osmosis Jones, where Bill Murray was a big eater, and his favorite food was chicken wings, and his goal was to go to the Buffalo Wing Festival, but there wasn't one,” Cerza said “So a columnist from the Buffalo News wrote an article saying “Hey, I saw this movie about buffalo wings and the wing fest, why don't we have one?” I saw the article and decided to try it. We started back in 2002, and here we are, 24 years later.”
Cerza says the festival is beneficial for the Buffalo economy, highlighting tourists who come specifically for the festival every year.
“We have people who come from all over the country. Last year, folks traveled in from over 46 different states and 26 different countries to attend,” Cerza said. “It’s an opportunity to showcase Buffalo as a city but also let people know that this is where the chicken wing was invented.”
Tickets for the festival can be bought online or at Sahlen Field. Proceeds from the event have been donated to FeedMore Western New York and the Alzheimer's Association of Western New York for the last 10 years.
