National Chicken Wing Day?

OK. Well, Happy National Chicken Wing Day.

Before the dawn of the  information age, it seemed like we celebrated some kind of holiday or "special day" once every month or so. We had things like Valentine’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, Labor Day, and President’s Day (after they combined George Washington and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday’s, which first had their own “day.”) Group in the major holidays like Thanksgiving Day, Easter, Christmas and New Year’s Day and we had a good reason for a family gathering or a barbecue on a fairly regular basis. 

I guess we’ve blossomed into a country of celebration because today, there’s some kind of a “National Day” for just about anything you can possibly imagine. Don’t believe me? Google a day of the week and see what you find. It’s mind boggling. 

Anyway, I digress (a little). Today is National Chicken Wing Day and that’s a cause for celebration. Though my Wingaddicts brothers and I personally observe this national holiday 365 days a year, today is a great day to get focused. 

This “holiday” started in 1977 when Buffalo, NY mayor Stan Makowski proclaimed July 29 to be National Chicken Wing Day, perhaps in an effort to raise spirits after a disastrous blizzard brought over nine feet of snow resulting in nearly 30 deaths. 

Of course, Buffalo Wings were born in 1964 at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY, making this year the wing’s 60th birthday.

So far this year we’ve already celebrated International Respect for Chickens Day (May 4), National Dance Like a Chicken Day (May 14), and National Fried Chicken Day (July 6). 

As nice as it must be to have a National “Day” in your honor, today can’t be ALL about wings. They share July 29 with a few other important holidays as well. It’s also National Lipstick Day (not so great with wings), National Rain Day (not sure why, although it’s raining at my house right now), and International Tiger Day. And lest we leave out the fact that it's also National Manufacturing Week as well as National Time Management Month. 

So, Happy National Chicken Wing Day everybody. We'll go with the flow. Go on out to your favorite wing joint today and order a few plates of your favorite wings. But don’t get too filled up. Tomorrow is National Cheesecake Day, followed by National Raspberry Cake Day to close out the month of July. 

Thankfully, both go great with wings! 

Tommy Wyatt is co-founder of Wingaddicts and author of  this “Under the Wingfluence" blog. He can be reached directly by email at tommy@wingaddicts.com 

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