The National Buffalo Wing Festival is heading back to Sahlen Field, its original home located in Downtown Buffalo on August 30-31,2025. After spending the past four years at Highmark Stadium, the festival will return to the home of the Buffalo Bisons – where it all started back in 2002.

Wingfest, which was held at Sahlen Field until being forced to relocate due to the pandemic with the Toronto Blue Jays taking over the ballpark, including the weekend that the festival was to be held. In 2021, the Wingfest moved to Highmark Stadium for four years allowing the tradition to continue at the NFL stadium. 

“We are beyond excited to bring the National Buffalo Wing Festival back to Sahlen Field,” said “Wing King” Drew Cerza, founder and organizer of the festival. “For nearly two decades it was the perfect backdrop for celebrating Buffalo’s signature dish. The energy, the atmosphere, intimacy of the field layout, and the connection to Buffalo’s vibrant downtown, this is the ideal location moving forward. We can’t wait to welcome wing lovers from all over the world back to this historic site! Our thanks go out to the Buffalo Bills for a great four years at Highmark Stadium.”

“This is a true homecoming for the Wing Fest. For 19 years, Sahlen Field was the place to be for wing lovers across the world. The return of this festival to its original location is a powerful reminder of how Buffalo continues to shine as a culinary destination and how much pride we take in our beloved wings.” The Buffalo Bison Baseball Organization is excited to continue our partnership with Drew and the Wingfest for years to come,” said Anthony Sprague, Bisons GM. 

The 24th annual festival will take place Labor Day Weekend on August 30-31 in 2025 and will feature an incredible lineup of more than 20 local and national wing vendors, offering everything from classic buffalo wings to unique, creative takes on the iconic dish. As always, the National Buffalo Wing Festival will include live entertainment, family-friendly activities, and the much-anticipated US Chicken Wing Wing Eating Championship. Additional highlights will include wing-related competitions, a wide selection of local craft beers, and plenty of activities for people of all ages.

The festival will also continue its tradition of giving back to the local community. Since 2002, over $500,000 has been donated back to local charities. Last year 23,000 people attended, including people from 48 different states and 26 countries.

Ticket information will be available in early January.

More info is available at www.buffalowing.com.

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Tickets Remain for First Ever Froth Fest

Tickets are still available for Froth Brewing’s inaugural beer festival, Froth Fest 2023, which will take place at Island Park in Williamsville on August 12. The event will feature more than 25 local breweries, local food, and live music from The Strictly Hip. The beer tasting portion of Froth Fest, 12:30-3:30pm, is ticketed. General admission tickets are $60 and VIP tickets are $100. VIP includes early access, exclusive Liquid Lollipop release, and custom glassware. Froth Fest will take place from 12-10pm and live music, food, and Froth beer trailers will be open to the public for free. You can purchase tickets here.

One-Eyed Cat Brewing Drops First Canned Beer

Williamsville’s One-Eyed Cat Brewing has released their first ever beer in cans – Helles Belles, a light and crisp 5.1% Munich Helles-style lager with notes of bready malt, an underlying hop bitterness and a slightly dry finish. Helles Belles is available in 16oz. 4-pack cans at the brewery right now for $14.99. The beer is also available on draft at the taproom.

VIP Craft Beer Fundraiser at Buffalo Wing Fest

This year’s Buffalo Wing Festival, which takes place on September 2, will feature a craft beer VIP experience. Breweries include 42 North Brewing, Steelbound Brewing, Ellicottville Brewing, Resurgence Brewing and more. Tickets are $75 and include admission to Wingfest, access to the Buffalo Bills field, $15 in wing/food tickets, craft beer tastings for two hours, souvenir plate and tasting cup and a free bottle of Dan-O’s seasoning. There are only 500 tickets for each two hour session (2pm-4pm, 5pm-7pm). $5 per ticket will be donated to local charities through Bills Mafia Babes and Hope Rises, which supports pediatric cancer initiatives.

Resurgence Brewing Plans Lager Release, Blood Brothers Collab

Resurgence Brewing is bringing back their I Want My WNY Lager on August 18 (5pm), an American-style light lager with slightly sweet notes of corn. The beer will be available on draft and in 16oz. 4-pack cans to go. For the release, there will also be a Buff-a-logo pop-up shop at Resurgence’s Chicago St. taproom.

The following day, on August 19 (12pm) Resurgence will release Little Brother West Coast IPA, a collaboration with Toronto’s Blood Brothers Brewing. This sessionable West Coast IPA is the little brother of Bigger Brother IPA, a 6.5% IPA with Idaho 7, El Dorado and Strata hops, which was brewed at Blood Brothers. Little Brother will be available on tap and in 16oz. 4-packs cans to go. There will also be other Blood Brothers beer available in cans at the release party.

Steel Leaf Brewing to Host Special Moe’s Pop-Up Tavern

Come September, Steel Leaf Brewing will be transformed into Moe’s Tavern from The Simpsons. From Sept. 8-17, a portion of the brewery will become everyone’s favorite dank pit watering hole from the populated animated series, complete with iconic front entrance and bar. This is a ticketed event and limited and timed tickets must be purchased in advance online. The event will feature an exclusive food menu, as well as a special beer brewed for the event by Steel Leaf. Costumes are encouraged. For more information, visit https://moespopup.com.

Bills-Themed Beers Returns Ahead of Start of Preseason  

Just in time for the start of the Buffalo Bills preseason this Saturday against the Indianapolis Colts, a number of Bills-themed beers have returned to brewery and store shelves across Western New York. In addition to staples such as Thin Man Pills Mafia and Community Beer Works Let’s Go Pils, Resurgence Brewing Circle the Wagons Pilsner & IPA, Ellicottville Brewing The Herd Crushable Lager and Fan Zone IPA, Flying Bison Buffalo Pils, Big Ditch Make Me Wanna Stout and No Punts Intended Pilsner, Brickyard Brewing Number 14 East Coast IPA and Number 17 West Coast IPA, 12 Gates Pancho’s Legacy Lager, and Steelbound Brewery AllenTown IPA to name a few. Southern Tier’s flagship IPA even got a red, white and blue can art makeover for the new season. Look for these beers wherever great beer is sold.

Brian Campbell is co-founder and Brand Manager of the Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at brian@buffalobeerleague.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), and Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague).

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This year’s Buffalo Wing Festival, which takes place on September 2, will feature a craft beer VIP experience. Breweries include 42 North Brewing, Steelbound Brewing, Ellicottville Brewing, Resurgence Brewing and more. Tickets are $75 and include admission to Wingfest, access to the Buffalo Bills field, $15 in wing/food tickets, craft beer tastings for two hours, souvenir plate and tasting cup and a free bottle of Dan-O’s seasoning. There are only 500 tickets for each two hour session (2pm-4pm, 5pm-7pm). $5 per ticket will be donated to local charities through Bills Mafia Babes and Hope Rises, which supports pediatric cancer initiatives.

Over the past 21 years, the National Buffalo Wing Festival has raised more than $440,000 for local charities. The festival will again give back to the community with this year’s beneficiaries including FeedMoreWNY and the Alzheimer’s Assoc. of WNY.

The Mafia Babes are an empowering community of women united by their passion for football and desire to help others. Emerging as a social media initiative in February 2016, their community has grown to encompass over 32,000 enthusiastic women.

“The Mafia Babes are thrilled to collaborate with the Wingfest which embodies the “City of Good Neighbors,” bringing together great people, great food, and great causes”, says Kristen Kimmick, co-founder.

Hope Rises ignites hope through continuous acts of charitable kindness throughout Western New York. Beginning in 2017, highlighting the good of the world, it quickly transformed into a 501c3 mission with 100% of money raised remaining in the community.

The National Buffalo Wing Festival, presented by Empower Federal Credit Union, returns to Highmark Stadium on Sept. 2 and 3. Now in its 22nd year, the festival has averaged 45,000+ attendees over the last 10 years that have been tracked from all 50 states and 44 different countries. Other activities include live music, a baby wing pageant, amateur and XXXHot Wing Eating Contests, a celebrity influencer sauce-off competition, bobbing for wings, and the Wing It On! United States Buffalo Wing Eating Championship. Twenty-three (23) local, regional, national, and even international eateries will be on hand serving over 100 different styles of wings as well as other local Buffalo favorite foods.

Major League Eating co-founder, George Shea will be in Buffalo for his 19th time to emcee the Wing It On! United States Chicken Wing Eating Championship. Joey Chestnut, the #1 eater in the world will be returning to try and unseat the reigning Champion, Miki Sudo, the #1 female eater in the world. Eric
“Badlands” Booker will be competing and performing some rap and even film an episode of “Badlands Chugs” for his popular YouTube Channel.

23 Wing & Food Vendors:

• Anchor Bar-Buffalo, NY
• My Favorite Ice Cream, Buffalo, NY
• Archer’s Tavern – Dayton, OH
• Not Just Cakes – Buffalo, NY
• Booty’s Wings – Surprise, AZ
• Pop ‘N Bob’s Kettle Corn-Buffalo, NY
• Buffalo Wild Wings – USA
• St. John’s Brewer’s – St. Thomas USVI
• Center Street Grille-Enola, PA
• Steelbound Brewery – Ellicottville, NY
• Checker’s Restaurant – USA
• The Blind Rhino-Norwalk, CT
• Danny’s South-Orchard Park, NY
• The Dirty Buffalo – Virginia Beach, VA
• Double Dubs – Laramie, WY
• Tree’s Wings & Ribs – Royal Palms, FL
• Just Pizza-Buffalo, NY
• Wegmans – Rochester, NY
• House of Wings – Iceland
• Wing It On! – Raleigh, NC
• Legend Larry’s – Sheboygan, WI
• Wings Army-Mexico
• Millie’s Café- Ottoville, OH

To learn more, visit BuffaloWing.com or follow along at www.facebook.com/BuffaloWingFestival, @WingFest , and by using the hashtag #WingFest23.

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