Twenty cooking teams lined up at Grind City Brewing Co. Saturday, dishing out chicken wings from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. for a cause bigger than bragging rights. The 901 Hot Wing Fest asked nothing at the door, but every wing came with a small donation attached, and this year the goal was to push past $12,000 for kids who need it.
The festival, now in its fourth year, is free to enter, but tasting the competition spread means chipping in a buck or two per wing, according to dailymemphian.com. That small ask adds up fast across 20 teams and a full day of sampling, and organizers say the festival has already raised thousands of dollars for local children over its run, per the event's own 901hotwingfest.com site.
Every dollar collected is meant to go directly to the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, which helps children who are victims of physical and sexual abuse. The center was named as the event's beneficiary, with organizers stating plainly on their website that 100 percent of funds raised go directly to the center. This year's event carried a stated goal of raising at least $12,000 for that work.
A Bluff-Top Cookoff With Twenty Teams Competing
Grind City Brewing Company served as host once again, a spot the festival describes as set on a bluff overlooking downtown Memphis and the Mississippi River. Among the cooks working the fryers Saturday was Gary Narvid, who prepared a batch of wings at the festival as part of the team Pirates of the Capsaicin. Twenty teams in total popped up around the brewery grounds to offer their own takes on the wing, turning the venue into a sprawling, sauce-splattered competition floor for the afternoon.
The format has become something of a local tradition heading into its fourth year, drawing repeat teams eager to defend past glory. Last year's People's Choice Award went to the team Hold My Beer and Watch This, a title that past competitors were presumably looking to reclaim this time around, per the Daily Memphian's account of the event.
Money Raised Goes Straight to Abuse Survivors
The appeal of the 901 Hot Wing Fest has always leaned on its simplicity: show up, grab a wing, hand over a couple of bucks, and that money heads straight to a cause that supports some of the city's most vulnerable kids. Organizers have framed the festival's mission around that direct pipeline from plate to pocketbook, with no middleman skimming off the donations meant for the Memphis Child Advocacy Center.
Saturday's gathering marked another chapter in that now four-year-old effort, with the fryers, the bluff-top views, and the steady stream of donations all pointed toward the same goal. Coverage of the day's cooking and the scene at Grind City Brewing Co. came from the Daily Memphian, which detailed teams like Narvid's working the line as the festival unfolded.
