Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Gagliano.
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstory.
I founded the World Championship Hot Wing Contest and Festival (formerly the Southern Hotwing Festival). The hot wing competition began in 2002 in a small parking lot of a bar in Memphis, TN, with a challenge. To friends to cook a better wing than mine. Seven teams showed up to compete, and the festival raised $50 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis. Currently, the World Championship hosts over 70 teams that compete for $10,000.00 in cash prizes, and the coveted 5-year World Wing Cup Series will pay $25,000.00 at the end of the 2026 WCHWCF event. To date, we have contributed over $300,000.00 to the RMHCM.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road was smooth until after the 3rd year, when we outgrew the parking lot with 17 teams; we moved to South Main. After 5 years of the event and hosting 35 teams, a resident complained to the city that the festival was causing a nuisance with the noise from the three stages and numerous bands. We then moved to Jefferson Park (now River Garden Park) at 51 Riverside Dr. until 2018, when Memphis River Parks Partnership began a renovation of the park. We moved to Tiger Lane at the Liberty Bowl. In 2020, COVID-19 hit and forced our festival to move the date from our signature Spring festival in the city, April date, to a Fall date, which caused disruption and confusion; however, we were able to make the event work. Finally, we are back to a Spring date, April 20, 2024, again at the River Gardin Park, and we hope to have a successful festival.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a Commercial Real Estate Broker and Chairman/Founder of a non-profit 501c3 named Wings Over Memphis. I wear two hats while making real estate transactions. On the one hand, I operate and administrate Wings Over Memphis to produce the World Championship Hot Wing Contest and Festival. I am proud that Wings Over Memphis has grown to its level, with four international teams competing and raising over $300k for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis. We have been able to make this non-profit a success without a large administrative team; instead, we are fortunate to have volunteers who pitch in and make the festival a success.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I am a Vanderbilt University graduate who participated in the 1984 XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles, CA, as a member of the Italian National Baseball Team.
Pricing:
- Ticket entrance $15 online includes 3 Wing Bucks
- Ticket entrance $20 walk up include 3 Wing Bucks
- Team entry $250
- Food vendor fee $250 non food vendor $150
Contact Info:
- Website: WWW.WORLDWINGFEST.COM
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldchamphotwingcontest/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldChampionshipHotWingContest
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WCWingContest
