Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 13/00) - Yellowknife "chickeronians" are ready to swoop in on what's billed as the city's hottest hot-wing event.

Three years ago, hot-wing nuts Tim Sewell and Joe McCaw began a friendly debate over who made the best hot sauce.

The pair decided the public should be the judge and the Yellowknife Learning Centre should be the big winner. So the feather-clad duo duelled it out for hot-wing supremacy, then added chicken-crap bingo to the schedule.

This year, oh the chicken will still make its mark, but there's a new event planned -- participants will throw rubber chickens at a target. Law enforcement officials will be on hand with radar guns.

Sewell said this year's festivities, to be held Sunday afternoon at the Monkey Tree pub, will continue to raise funds for the Learning Centre. Last year, about $25,000 was raised with half going to purchase books and for interior renovations, and half to a fund to expand and improve the centre.

This year's event will also be a time to remember Joe McCaw who passed away earlier this year. Joe won't be their as co-host -- no doubt he will glide over for a glimpse of the event now named for him.

This year, Sewell and McCaw's combined hot-wing recipe will include the "cluckenary" secrets of "roosterfarian" Todd Burlingame who has picked up spices from various exotic locations.

"Largely on my shoes," he laughed.

Sweet crude oil is rumoured to be among the secret ingredients. There is speculation that Burlingame's work for a pipeline company is actually a cover for his pursuit of hot-sauce spices.

Burlingame adds a small cannon will be fired to launch the event. Wingaronians are still working out the explosive logistics though.

Testing, said Burlingame, has shown firing a live chicken, just won't fly. "We may stuff the cannon with feathers and aim it at the parking lot."

Sewell stresses no live chickens will be hurt at the event. Several hundred did however let go life and limbs for hot sauce slathering, he adds.