This weekend, a local veterans organization will give you a chance to heat up your weekend while helping to raise funds.
The Jacksonville Sons of the AMVETS will be hosting their 7th annual Wing-Ding at the AMVETS Hall in Jacksonville this Sunday.
We spoke with Jim Duncan, President of the Jacksonville AMVETS, who explains first just what a wing ding is:
“A team or individual sign up, and included in their sign up fee we provide them with wings and they pick those up friday night and cook them and they bring them back in and we give them serving dishes and in that way it kind of works like a chili cook off. The cooks are all in one area and the public comes by and samples and then they vote on people’s choice. We also have a corp of people who do the judging for us too and they judge best tasting wings and that kind of stuff.”
Duncan also tells us how the idea for the event came about:
“Well, actually the sons of the AMVETs who are members whose parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles had been in the service but they had not been. So, they’re kind of a subsidiary unit. They came up with the idea, and I’m not really sure where they got it. To be honest I was a little skeptical about it, but it’s worked out. People seem to have a good time. So, they’ve continued it every year. It’s been a good time, been a good fundraiser for us.”
The Wing-Ding is expected to have about 16 teams participating, and Duncan says people can come to taste the wings for 10 dollars at the AMVETS hall:
“It does cost 10 dollars to get in this year, the price of the wings have gone up and we’re paying for them. So we had to raise our entry fee, I think we were at 8 dollars last year but were up to 10 this year just to come in and sample the wings. There’s plenty of wings to sample so you’ll get your money’s worth.It’s right across the street there from Normas Cafe and down the street from the Illinois Theatre. We’ll be in our back banquet hall in the north side of the building, we’ve got plenty of room to get plenty of people in there. We’re looking for a good turn out and a good time.”
The 7th Annual Wing-Ding will be this Sunday from 12-4PM at the Jacksonville AMVETS. Admission is 10 dollars, and all proceeds go towards the building of an Iraq/Afghanistan War Memorial