20th Annual BCI Wing Ding Reaches Record-High Attendance

Boone Center Inc. (BCI) hosted the 20th Annual Wing Ding at the St. Charles Family Arena on Thursday, June 21. The Wing Ding began in 1999 to raise awareness and money for the organization and its efforts to provide employment opportunities for adults with disabilities.

The 20th Anniversary brought the highest Wing Ding attendance yet. There were 3,100 people at the event, making it an unexpected sell-out.

“I was absolutely thrilled with the turnout,” Don Rothermich, BCI Director of Development, said. “Everything really came together, and everyone I talked to said they had a blast!”

The event featured chicken wings and other dishes from 12 local restaurants. Guests also enjoyed live music from one of St. Louis’ favorite cover bands, Trixie Delight.

The participating restaurants brought many different flavors of wings for the crowd to enjoy. Brewskeez Smokehouse and Music rose to the top in the wing competition, winning both the People’s Choice and Judges’ Choice awards. Other fan favorites from the People’s Choice awards were Big A’s on the Riverfront, who took second place, and Syberg’s On Wheels Food Truck, who took third place. The celebrity judges for the wing competition deemed Mattingly’s and The Babylon worthy of second and third place for the Judges’ Choice awards.

Overall, the 20th Annual Wing Ding raised 25% more than last year. This money will help fund initiatives such as the Skills Center and supplies for BCI’s adult population.

Tony Spielberg, CEO of BCI, loved that the focus of the crowd was not just on great wings and cold beer, but also on BCI’s mission to help adults with disabilities secure the full employment of their choice.

“The 20th year of Wing Ding was a big milestone for our organization, and the people of St. Charles County did not let us down,” Spielberg said.