The Glens Falls Wing Fest will return Saturday April 30 to downtown, and the Glens Falls Collaborative, which runs the festival, has confirmed that the hot wings tasting competition is on, as is the Inferno Hot Wing Eating competition.
Wing Fest is a competition between local and regional restaurants for the best hot wing. Bridie Farrell, the olympic speed skater from North Creek, and former candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, will be a judge along with Tim Drawbridge, of ABC News10, and Glens Falls Common Councilor, Jim Clark. Participants will be able to vote, as well.
The theme of the day: This Clucker is Hot!
Davidson Brothers Brewery, at 184 Glen St. in Glens Falls, is donating the wings to the eating contest as a way for co-owner Rick Davidson to remember his friend Mike “DeeJay” DuBray, Davidson said in a recent interview. He co-owns the brewpub with his brother John.
This year’s event will be dedicated to DuBray who died unexpectedly in January. He was a fan of very, very hot chicken wings and had been a cheerleader for the fest since its inception in 2015. The Glens Falls Collaborative, a business group, mainly of downtown businesses, runs the annual event.
"The timing of the Wing Fest is perfect,” Davidson said. His bar is only now starting to see his regular customers again, after a long two-year pandemic, even though the brewpub reopened months ago.
"My hope is that as we come into the summer of ‘22, we can bounce back. The Collaborative is an important vehicle for that,” he said.
Davidson had been eyeing 2022 as the year that tourism would return since FoothillsBusinessDaily.com’s first interview with him in January last year.
The festival will run from noon to 3. The Inferno Wing Eating competition will begin at 2 p.m. A short awards ceremony to announce the best wings and the champion of the Inferno Wing Eating Competition, will be held at 3:30.
T-shirts will be available.
Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins will open the festival with a proclamation naming April 30, 2022 Mike DuBray Day, a little before noon at the bandstand on Maple Street.
John O’Brien from O’Brien Insurance will conduct a flag exchange from noon to 1. Bring a tattered flag and he will exchange it free of charge, while supplies last.
The collaborative canceled the hot-wing festival in 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Last year, it was planned for October, late in the year when organizers thought the worst of the pandemic may have passed, but that too was canceled.
[Read more about Wing Fest here.]
Sidebar for businesses:
Restaurants are invited to participate by applying online at www.glensfallscollaborative.com.
Participating downtown restaurants will serve from their storefronts, and restaurants from outside the city will serve from locations along Glen, Ridge, Bay and Maple streets and in City Park.
Sponsorships are also available
- Turkey Wing ($300): Business name and logo on sponsor poster, event map, website and Social Media
- Chicken Wing ($200): Business name on event map, website and Social Media.
- Quail Wing ($100): Business name on event map and Media.
- In Kind or other monetary donation: Name on event map.
- Application and payment due by April 20, 2022
Questions? Call Nancy Turner 518-339-2910 or Kathie Spangler 518-542-0294. Email ourglensfalls@gmail.com
Sidebar for the public:
Tasting Tickets are $1 each, and the number of tickets to taste varies by restaurant.
Tasting runs from 12-3 p.m. with an awards ceremony at 3:30.
Voting will take place online at glensfallscollaborative.com. QR codes for voting will be displayed around town and votes must be cast by 3 p.m.
We will update with T-shirt design and sales when available.
This event is produced by the Glens Falls Collaborative with major support from the City of Glens Falls and the Glens Falls Business Improvement District.
FoothillsBusinessDaily.com is a member of the Collaborative and Publisher Steve Thurston sits on the Wing Fest committee.