Both wing lovers and those wanting to kick back after a hectic weekend at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts can have their wishes fulfilled tonight.
Wing Fest is now in its 10th year at Tussey Mountain, and while the name suggests that the wings are the focus of the festival, that's not necessarily the case.
Though the chicken wing-obsessed will certainly be satisfied, the festival's goal is to help locals relax after the stressful Arts Fest season, said Dave Fahrenbach, general manager at Tussey Mountain.
" 'Yay it's over. We're heading out to Tussey,' " Fahrenbach said, echoing what he believes is the voices of many of the festival's visitors.
The festival is a weekly event and will run, starting today, for the next seven consecutive Thursdays at Tussey Mountain. Each day will feature four restaurants and two performances.
"Its grown to the point where we get about two to three thousand people on Thursday," Fahrenbach said. "Its probably summer's biggest outdoor party event that happens every Thursday night."
To make sure the focus remains local, Fahrenbach selected popular local restaurants that he felt showed a special passion for their wings.
"These are places that are pretty proud of their wings," Fahrenbach said of the restaurants that he chose for the festival.
This week Toftrees Down Under Steak House, The Arena, Home Delivery Pizza and Hammermill Bar & Grill will get the chance to share their flavors with visitors, but many more will be featured throughout the summer.
At Arena, the flavor will be especially local.
In preparation for the festival, the restaurant asked some of their regular clients to submit their own sauce recipes to enter into the festival. After they prepared all of the recipes, customers were then offered chances to sample them all and vote for their favorite.
"It's neat because they're really excited," Karyn Withers, marketing manager for the restaurant, said of the customers who entered their recipes. Withers noted the winner hasn't been announced yet, and both customers and contestants are enthusiastic about the competition and curious to see the winner.
Withers stressed the importance of a good sauce recipe in the making of the wings.
"It's not as much about the actual wing. It's the sauce," Withers said.
In this festival, that adage is particularly applicable, as the food services at Tussey Mountain will take care of cooking the actual wings.
"We are basically saucing the wing," Withers said.
J.R. Mangan, owner of Café 210 said he is hoping the festival will give locals a better chance to sample their food.
Mangan said Café's goal at the festival is to get their wings out there so people other than students can try them out and see if they like them.
For restaurants that are outside of the downtown area, the challenge isn't so much attracting customers apart from the students as it is making themselves generally better known.
Sue Miller, manager at Hammermill Bar & Grill, has a very specific goal for the festival.
Though many of her regular customers attend the festival, Miller said that her biggest goal is attracting more customers for the restaurant. For Miller, the mission is "getting our name out there and getting our product out there."
Miller is confident her restaurant's wings will satisfy the audience at the festival.
"We have some really good cooks that come up with their ingredients," Miller said.
In the same trend as the food, the music will all be local as well.
Fahrenbach said that he searches for bands that are from the area and already have a decent following in the community.
"I always try to pick some of the up and coming bands," Fahrenbach said.
This week, the festival will feature local band Pure Cane Sugar, opening for other local group The Rustlanders.
For Chris Rattie, The Rustlanders drummer, the purpose of the festival strikes a chord. After recently returning from being on tour, Rattie looks forward to a concert closer to home.
"It's definitely like a homecoming kind of thing," Rattie said of his shows in the area. The group also performed at Arts Fest.
"For us they're a lot of fun because there's people that know us coming out."
Rattie said that the festival will bring some welcome relaxation after the stress of Arts Fest.
"It was a pretty crazy weekend. Everybody gets tired out from it," Rattie said.
The group's July and August tour schedule has been close to home, Rattie said, as a way to give the band some time to regroup.
They will continue their tour around the country later in August.
Though Rattie has not been to Wing Fest in a few years, he said that he is excited about the opportunity.
"It's a chance to get out of town, sit in a nice place, eat some good food, listen to some good music and just relax," he said
Kate Twoey, who plays guitar and does vocals for Pure Cane Sugar, has an interesting perspective of the show. Twoey is a vegetarian.
"I plan on hitting up the funnel cakes and probably a few margaritas," Twoey said. "It's not just a carnivore affair."
Twoey agreed that the event provides a chance to unwind and have fun without the stress.
"You don't have the hustle and bustle craziness that you get from Arts Fest, but there's still a chance to go outside and hear and support local music," she said.
Twoey said she is looking forward to watching some of her fellow local musicians perform, an opportunity she rarely gets.
While some festivals may not have a very family-friendly atmosphere, Twoey said that is not at all the case with the Wing Fest.
"Its nice that its a family-friendly atmosphere as well," She said. "There's not a whole lot of opportunity around here to take the whole family out."
Other performances that will be at the festival throughout the summer will include the Billy Price Band, Colgate Country Showdown (featuring The Rustlanders) and the 97QWK Rock Big Boy Toy show.
While the music is an important element, Fahrenbach said he doesn't want it to overpower the audience.
"It's kind of a summer get-together after the Arts Fest and after the Fourth Fest," Fahrenbach said. "You're out there in the beautiful summer evening listening to music, and a lot of times it's friends I haven't seen in months, sometimes years, show up."
Mangan agreed, saying it's a great way to get together once a week with all ages.
Fahrenbach described how many locals use the time after the Fourth Fest and Arts Fest as a time to relax from the stress and congestion the festivals bring .
While the time to relax is welcome, to Fahrenbach, the feeling of release he finds after Fourth Fest and Arts Fest is a mixed emotion.
"Financially, almost all of us in this business miss the student traffic, but on a personal side we miss the chance to escape the crowded downtown scene."
Organizers of the festival said the congestion in area streets and businesses is frustrating during Arts Fest.
Withers said the audience consists primarily of locals, though she encourages students to check it out.
Fahrenbach noted that the festival has become quite a popular destination for those wanting an escape.
Fahrenbach said that the setting is often what draws people to the festival.
"It's a beautiful outdoor setting. We don't have any trouble getting people out there, because they love it," Fahrenbach said. "We do have a big, monstrous, beautiful stage."
Mangan noted that the venue is something noteworthy for the area.
"It's a great outdoor event, which is kind of rare in State College because of noise violations," he said.
