Fans of chicken parts smothered in sauce are in for a special treat over the next month and a half.

Tonight marks the first night of Tussey Mountain's eighth annual wing challenge, a seven-week event in which area restaurants will battle for the title of best wings.

Starting tonight, four different restaurants will compete every Thursday for a spot in the seventh week's final round.

Wing connoisseurs attending the event will redeem tickets for wings at booths set up by competing restaurants and vote on which ones they liked the best.

"We have three criteria to determine who had the most popular wings for that evening," Tussey Mountain General Manager Dave Fahrenbach said.

He said the criteria include amount of wings sold, voting and input from a panel of judges.

Fahrenbach said about 3,000 people show up for each night of the event.

Chris Fox is a bartender at Home Delivery Pizza and has worked at the restaurant's booth at previous wing challenges.

He said he continues to be astounded by the number of people attending the event.

"The lines for wings and beer -- you can be in those lines for an hour," Fox said.

Fox said he goes to the wing challenge even on weeks when he isn't working at the booth for Home Delivery.

He said his favorite part of the festival is the opportunity to try unique varieties of wings from restaurants he wouldn't normally go to otherwise.

"It's neat to try some of the crazy stuff, because some people make some of their own sauces just for the festival," Fox said.

Though beer will be available, Fahrenbach explained that the wing challenge is a family event.

"It's heavily attended by families. Fahrenbach said. "It's certainly a very casual, fun outdoor atmosphere."

The event, which is sponsored by 105 JOE-FM, will feature the ever-popular wing eating competition as well.

Six people chosen by the radio station will come every week to see who can eat the most wings in 105 seconds.

The six who are the top finishers from each week will compete in the final round with the champion receiving a prize package from JOE-FM.

Musical acts will also play during each night of the event to mask the sounds of bone licking and finger-smacking.

Kicking it off tonight are Cliff Turner & the Afterburners and the Chris Woodward Band. Bands such as The Nightcrawlers and Velveeta are scheduled to play in weeks to come.

Quaker Steak and Lube, which recently opened a restaurant in State College, is participating in the Tussey Mountain Wing Challenge this year.

Quaker Steak and Lube General Manager David Weaver said he isn't concerned about the competition.

"We have over 400 national wing competition victories company-wide," Weaver said. "We serve almost 30,000 pounds of wings a week at the restaurant, so somebody must like them."