The 14th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival is under way this weekend. The event has drawn more than 30 kitchens from around the area and across the globe that will offer hundreds of different styles of wings. There is no question that chicken wings take center stage during the festival, but as Sister Mary Johnice of the Food Pantry explains, the event also has another more charitable element.
"They just think that people come and they eat wings, and the money goes somewhere. But, to see where it's really going, to the community to provide meals for hungry people, especially children, that's really important, and people really need to know that."
There is a $5 entry fee, and the monies collected will benefit the Food Bank of Western New York, the local chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, and Meals on Wheels for Western New York, Incorporated.
The festival has raised nearly $300,000 since 2002.
