The Auburn community gathered together Saturday for a celebration of all things wings for the second annual Auburn Wing Fest held at Greystone Mansion.
From 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Auburn families enjoyed activities and live music while sampling wings from six different vendors located all throughout Auburn. Burgers, barbecue and beer were also sold, but wings were everywhere. A chicken wing toss and wing eating contest were even included in the festivities.
Different restaurants from all over Auburn got the chance to show off their wings, such as Jim N’ Nicks who gave out their honey mustard, habanero and buffalo sauces.
“Really it is a great honor to be able to come out here and share our wings with everyone,” said Oscar Valladares, a Jim N’ Nick’s chef. “A lot of people know us but don’t know about our wings, so we love the opportunity to get people to try them.”
J. Jones was representing Mama’s Last Stand at the event for the first time this year.
“We have participated in the BBQ fest in the past, but this is our first time at the wings fest,” Jones said. “We brought smoked wings, as well as some different sauces from everyone else because we wanted to bring some variety to the fest.”
Jones said he loved the sense of competition with the other restaurants and the family fun environment that the fest provided.
“I’m from Atlanta originally, and an event like this might cost $40 as opposed to the $10 or $12 you pay for here,” Jones said. “And even though there is alcohol being sold, this is a family event. People bring their kids, and everyone is having a good time.”
J. Davis, the organizer for the event, said the turnout was great with about 700 people showing up over the course of the night.
“We have six different wing places show up, and even though it was a bit of a hotter day we had the tent, so everything has been working out,” Davis said.
Davis is the person behind the recent string of food festivals at the Greystone Mansion, from the wing fests to the barbecue fest and others.
“I noticed there were these big fests in other cities and the competitions, and it was something that everybody liked,” Davis said. “We have had a really positive response from all the different fests so far.”
Davis said he would love to continue to grow the fests by getting more vendors to participate and maybe work with the city to move to a park in order to host larger crowds. Davis and his team are working on new ideas for different events all the time.
“We have the second annual barbecue fest coming and we are having the first chili fest later this November,” Davis said. “We’re talking a lot in the office; we have heard beer fest from a lot of people and burgers, too, so we will hopefully see more of that in the future.”
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