Reporter's Notebook: The Very Real Bond Between Wyoming And Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, N.Y. — “You came here all the way from Wyoming? That’s so cool!”

After about the fifth time of hearing this same reaction, more or less, to my request for a photo or an interview at the National Buffalo Wing Festival over Labor Day weekend, I decided to forgo the details — technically, I’d come all the way from Montana — and become an honorary Wyomingite for a couple days.

It’s a bit rare these days as a reporter to be met with such resounding excitement by the mere mention of your profession, along with your temporarily-adopted home state. Then again, most people probably don’t show up to a buffalo wing festival with a bone to pick, especially if they’re decked out in kitschy chicken wing gear.

From the wing lovers who dished about their festival favorites to the football fans who told me why this year is going to be the year to the smallest of small brushes with fame — hey, I got to shoot a t-shirt gun — the Queen City really rolled out the royal welcome for this Westerner.

Buffalo’s Special Sauce

It’s tempting to chalk up a buffalo wing festival as something that’s mostly silly — people with actual jobs willingly shoved their heads into a kiddie pool filled with bleu cheese to bob for buffalo wings, after all. 

But I flew out of Buffalo feeling more heartened than I would have imagined.

That’s because something special has happened in Buffalo over the past several years that’s fostered a sense of kinship between two unexpected places thanks to an NFL MVP and an award-winning wingmaker who met a decade ago in Laramie, long before they’d become famous in their respective fields.

Thanks to Josh Allen, many Wyomingites now cheer alongside the Bills Mafia from thousands of miles away in hopes of an elusive Vince Lombardi trophy.

Meanwhile, Trent Weitzel has amassed fans who came back en masse once again this year to help the Double Dub’s crew bring home the Festival Favorite trophy for the fourth straight year.

What’s Happening in Buffalo

Buffalo often ranks highly on those various lists of the best places to live for some reason or another, and the city has become more of a vacation wishlist destination for Wyoming football fans in Allen’s Bills era.

The city attracted nearly 10 million visitors last year but I didn’t get the slightest hint of tourism weariness. Rather, the same welcoming attitude evident among the Bills Mafia seems to extend to other Buffalonians — people were quick to offer suggestions of things to do and ask what I thought of their city.

That sort of welcome is a reason why Weitzel said Buffalo has come to feel like a second home of sorts. 

Of course, it really helps when a city’s residents don’t take themselves too seriously — a local personal injury lawyer was on-hand at the festival to dole out free t-shirts featuring a cartoon image of himself wearing a buffalo wing hat and holding a drumstick.

In addition to bobbing for wings in bleu cheese, there were all sorts of different wing eating competitions, including some where heavyweights in the world of competitive eating went head-to-head. 

If you’ve never had the distinct displeasure of watching people race to shove 13 pounds of food down their gullet as quickly as possible, have you truly lived?

The Wyoming Wing Crew

The whole reason I was sent to New York was to track the Double Dub’s crew, many of whom had made a cross-country trek from Laramie on a school bus for their sixth — and what was likely their final festival appearance as competitors.

This year, 34 tons of chicken wings were fried to perfection before they were carted out to the tents where dozens of wingmakers from around the country would toss them into their specialty sauces.

With the wings as a constant, the festival is really a sauce competition.

And just like all of these sauces, there’s a special ingredient in the success story of the Double Dub’s crew.

What Weitzel could have never predicted was that two years after opening his food truck in Laramie, a football phenom from Firebaugh, California would come to town, altering the course of Weitzel’s life.

Were it not for Allen committing to Wyoming, were it not for the Spicy Bleu wings at the Weitzel’s food truck that became the quarterback’s favorite food as a student, and were it not for a huge favor from the NFL star after he came to Buffalo, Weitzel might not be at the festival.

Allen’s fame means that he can no longer casually drop into the festival to dole out wings with the Double Dub’s crew, as he did in 2019. But anytime Allen wants wings when the Double Dub’s truck rolls into Buffalo — now a regular occurrence — Weitzel finds a way to get some to the quarterback.

Spending time talking with Bills fans, it’s easy to appreciate why people would rush for any encounter with their beloved quarterback: Without exception, everyone who talked about Allen spoke very highly of him and how gracious he is to fans.

It seems Weitzel has taken a page from Allen’s playbook. 

Every time I came by the Double Dub’s tent throughout the course of two days, I saw Weitzel being pulled in one direction and then another, obliging photo requests from fans or interview requests from media outlets or talking shop with other wingmakers.

When one wing lover gushed to me about his love of Double Dub’s and how much he knew about Weitzel, I suggested an introduction might be in order. 

I found Weitzel in a rare moment of downtime and asked if he might have time for a quick photo. Weitzel jumped out of his chair to walk over and tap the fan on the shoulder, call him by his name and chat chicken wings for a couple of minutes.

Even if most Buffalonians I talked to have never set foot in Wyoming, a few remarked on the positive impressions they’ve gotten year after year from Weitzel.

The Double Dub’s crew did the state proud.

Woozy On Wings

Tagging around with wing lovers on both days of the festival, I also had to try out the fare.

While several people I met had purchased enough tickets to sample 25 or 30 wings, I reached my wing limit much sooner.

I met my wing limit at nine, and the combination of too many hours in the blazing Buffalo sun, too little water, and too many flavors of wings meant I spent some of Saturday night and early Sunday morning briefly cursing the festival.

But on Sunday, I bounced back with a new strategy — hint: lots of water and less wings — and got to be there for the surprisingly emotional final award ceremony after the conclusion of the day’s festivities.

I hung around with the Double Dub’s crew awaiting the final announcement of awards and felt some sense of the nervousness they surely were feeling. 

What if I had come all this way just to watch them lose the Festival Favorite award after three years of domination?

After the festival’s founder, Drew Creza, announced that Double Dub’s had won once again and they’d collected their trophy, I saw Weitzel by himself and he seemed overcome with what I assume might be the mixed emotions of elation, exhaustion and an end of an era.

Was that a slight lump in my throat, as well?

Anna-Louise Jackson can be reached at: jackson.anna@gmail.com