Most summer Saturdays in Auburn bring the heat. But this Saturday, restaurants from all over Auburn brought the heat to Auburn.
Auburn residents tried chicken wings from restaurants all across Auburn at the inaugural Wing Fest Saturday, July 28, from 2-7 p.m. at Greystone Mansion. A ticket to the event came with vouchers for six samples as well as live entertainment, games and bar service.
Tickets ranged from $10 to $20, depending on time of purchase. After the festivities, there was an after party with drink specials until 10 p.m.
Attendees were incentivized to bring canned goods to donate to the East Alabama Food Bank, in order to get extra wing vouchers. A portion of the proceeds from the event went to the food bank.
Stinky's Fish Camp, one of the restaurants present Saturday, was introduced to Auburn nearly one year ago. The location of the restaurant was originally supposed to be off exit 57.
“We wanted to be part of the Auburn community, not just another restaurant,” said General Manager Caleb Reeves. “So, we thought this event was one of the first opportunities for us to get involved with the community of restaurants and be a part of Auburn.”
Stinky's was one of many restaurants that attendees could try, but they also provided the wings for the wing eating competitions that were held throughout the day.
“Donating some wings that people can eat and have a good time is the least we could do,” Reeves said. “If people will let us feed them, that’s really what we want, you know, to show people we can cook and let us cook for them.”
Each participant would race to be the first one to finish 12 wings to get a spot in the final round in the evening.
Luke McFarland had never been a part of an eating competition, but after he narrowly won in the qualifying round, he took home the cash prize in the final round.
“I had a tactic – eat two wings, drink some water, get it right down,” McFarland said with a full stomach. “The first time I was like ‘I remember this, Joey Chestnut, you know, water, water, it’s important.’”
In addition to the eating competition, a wing toss competition was held for children. Similar to an egg toss, participants would use bowls to throw and catch a chicken wing back and forth, stepping back after each successful toss until there was a winner.
“Anytime you have an opportunity where the whole family can come out and enjoy the event just the same, where it doesn’t turn into a kiddy event and the parents put themselves aside and let the kids be by themselves,” said Auburn resident Travis Cochran. “Everybody gets to enjoy themselves here, and I appreciate them for the event.”
Cochran enjoyed the early evening with his family, trying wings from the many wing places in Auburn.
“What happens is once you lock in on one flavor, you’re pretty much going to stay with that flavor,” Cochran said. "Out here you get to experience stuff that you wouldn’t want to pay for and not enjoy. The experience is priceless because you get to try stuff that you probably wouldn’t try.”
Those in attendance got to vote on the restaurant that they thought had the best wings. Many Auburn residents were exposed to many new wing restaurants. One such restaurant is Wings Etc., which has only been in Auburn since April and brought home the award for best wings in Auburn.
“Everybody did a good job,” said Charles Johnson, manager of Wings Etc. “There was a great turnout. Product is good. We have really large wings. One of the things we focus on is large wings and large beer.”
Brian Benson, general manager of Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ in Auburn, said his restaurant his typically known for just its barbecue, but the event gave the restaurant a chance to showoff their wing products.
“Not really knowing what the turnout would be, seeing that it’s the first one, we were a little skeptical, but we are very impressed right now,” Benson said. “They did a very good job of marketing this event, and everyone is seeming to love all the different vendors. It’s good to see all the big-name wing places that we have around here.”
Jonathan Davis, organizer of Greystone Mansion’s events, was extremely pleased with the turnout, considering it was the first event of its kind. He said he would’ve been happy with a crowd of 300, but the total attendance nearly doubled that.
“It gives Auburn something else to do as far as locals and students alike that’s not sports related and something off campus, so it’s not UPC or something like that,” Davis said. “It’s fun. It’s something I would attend if I wasn’t putting it on. Try to make it something I would go to and what I’ve seen in big places as much as we can get away with in a small market.”
During the event, it was announced a similar type of event will be held in the same location on Sept. 9 with a barbecue theme. The plan is to have a similar type of event every two months going forward.
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