Make wings, not war
While most Allegheny College students study or gear up for weekend festivities on a Friday evening, Co-Vice President of the Gator Activities Programing Board Cecily Milligan, ’18, was hard at work making the final preparations for this year’s Wingfest celebration, which took place on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 12 p.m. on the Gator Quad.
Wingfest is an annual celebration in which students partake in sampling chicken wings from various restaurants, bars and food vendors, such as Timbercreek Tap and Table and Chipper’s Pub.
“We used to buy wings from places like Costco or Sam’s Club, but since it’s a smaller community, we want to let students know there are things to do around town,” said Milligan.
Other venues that provided wings for the event were Mickey’s Firehouse, Hunters Inn, Julian’s and The Penny Bar. The infamous “Lickers” from Chipper’s Pub were a sweet twist on honey barbeque. The flavors offered included mild, hot, honey barbeque, honey mustard, sweet chili and Maui Wawi. The Maui Wawi are a crisp, double-baked, Hawaiian-style wing. The event also featured a vegan option, called a veggie tempura, that was provided by Parkhurst Dining Services.
“Wingfest was one of the things that got me excited about GAP my freshman year,” said Milligan.
The theme of this year’s event was Woodstock, dubbed “Wingstock” by GAP. The event was held outside, and students enjoyed music from the ’60s and ’70s as hungry Gators celebrated hippie-style.
Students were required to show their student ID in return for a bowl that they could fill with six wings of their choice, as well as a T-shirt. The T-shirts were given out on a first-come-first-serve basis. Students could also purchase another bowl of wings for $3.
“Honestly, I came for the shirt,” said Dillin Gadley, ’18.
Allegheny Student Government President Tess Bracken, ’17, said Wingest is a casual event.
“You get free wings and a T-shirt. Plus, I really liked the Maui Wawi wings from Chipper’s,” said Bracken.
There was a wing-eating competition in which teams of four competed against each other in order to finish a boat of six wings each. Each participating team paid $20 to compete and the winning team chose a charity to donate all the proceeds to.
Students were given the option to sabotage the teams with hot sauce or save them with ranch for an extra dollar.
“Call Her Daddy,” a team of Alpha Chi Omega sorority sisters, included Sarah Basden, ’19, Allison Cosgrove, ’18, Julia Foltz, ’19, and Griffin Sullivan, ’19. They took home the flower crown, and won $124, which will be donated to Women’s Services, Inc. in Meadville.
Students can look forward to other events hosted by GAP, such as hypnotist Chris Jones, who will be performing in the campus center lobby on Nov. 5.
