Just one more picnic, one more day at the beach, one more burger on the grill. It's Labor Day, a wistful long weekend when we pack away the white shoes and shorts for the season, pack in as much summer as we can, and gear up to pack the kids off to school. Even though fall doesn't officially start until September 23rd, and Buffalo usually enjoys wonderful weather well into October, Labor Day Weekend feels an awful lot like the end of summer.

Labor Day was first celebrated in New York City on September 5, 1882. Since 2002 however, when organizer Drew Cerza took a fictional festival and turned it into one of the largest events of the year, Labor Day Weekend in Buffalo has had everything to do with wings. Tens of thousands of visitors from across the nation now flock to Buffalo for the National Buffalo Wing Festival, thronging Coca-Cola Field where the tang of hot sauce permeates the air and greasy fingers abound.

 

Each year Cerza brings a new and different twist to the festival. Fittingly, this is the “craft” year. No, do not expect to make wings out of construction paper and Elmer’s glue. On beyond hot, medium, mild and BBQ, there are “craft wings.” That’s what all those delicious specialty wings have come to be known as. This year look for wings coated in a peanut butter & jelly sauce (really??) and maple-bacon wings. Then pair them with – what else? - craft brews and craft cocktails.

 

Craft beer/craft wing pairings will feature wings by homegrown chefs and local brewers like Big Ditch, Community Beer Works, Flying Bison, and Resurgence. Then stop eating long enough to learn how to make the perfect craft cocktail from local mixologists and pair your concoctions with fabulous craft wings. Admission to the whole shebang is just $5.