Festival History

The National Buffalo Wing Festival celebrates the “Chicken Wing”, known nationally as “Buffalo Wings”, which have become a national food icon. Invented in 1964 at the world-famous Anchor Bar by Teresa Bellissimo, Buffalo, NY has become the official “Home of the BuffaloWing”. The popularity of the chicken wing has made it America’s #1 appetizer. Last year alone over 13.5 billion wings were consumed by Americans, 1.3 billion on Super Bowl Weekend alone.

In 2001, actor Bill Murray playing Frank Detorre starred in one of his notoriously eclectic movies entitled, “Osmosis Jones.” In this film Murray played the part of an average Joe addicted to fried food and other artery-clogging fares, who was heading to Buffalo New York for…of all things, a chicken wing festival. At that time there WAS NO NATIONAL CHICKEN WING FESTIVAL…at least not yet.

Realizing that we needed to create one, our community rallied with me to create what is now one of the most recognized food festivals in the country. That was 22 years ago, and since then we have had over 1.2 million attendees that have eaten approximately 5.7 million wings weighing more than 215 tons. We have had over 150 participating restaurants and raised over $440,000 for local charities. We have survived a pandemic, inflation and have found a new location in Highmark Stadium, “Home of the Buffalo Bills”.

The Wingfest has drawn the attention of media throughout the world, including many appearances on Fox News, CNN, The Travel Channel, The Food Network, CBS Morning Show, ABC News, The View and Regis and Kelly, NBC’S Today Show, and was also the subject for a PBS Documentary.

The festival also drew the attention of the Food Network as Food Icon Bobby Flay came to Buffalo for a chicken wing throwdown and Emeril Lagasse filmed the festival for a show on Buffalo Wings.

The National Buffalo Wing Festival has become one of the best culinary road trips in America. Last year attendees were tracked from 46 states and 28 different countries, all for the love of the “Buffalo Wing”. Thanks for joining us this Labor Day Weekend as we celebrate the 22nd annual National Buffalo Wing Festival.

“Keep Wingin’ It”

DREW CERZA

The “Wing King”