Business partnership plans to grow community events, launches April wing festival

Geaux Rouge Productions, the event-planning business founded by a Baton Rouge restaurateur and an attorney, is determined to spearhead a growing roster of community events throughout the city. The group will start with a wing festival, dubbed Wingamania!, April 21 at Tin Roof Brewing Company.

GRP—founded in 2016 by Nick Hufft, owner of Curbside Burgers and The Overpass Merchant, along with Franz Borghardt, attorney and owner of The Borghardt Law Firm—have been the organizers behind a number of events in Baton Rouge, such as Fundraiser Under the Overpass after the 2016 flood, Capital City Mac Fest and BRunchFest.

This year, the pair is hoping to take GRP and its events to the next level, with a goal of hosting three to four organized events a year while staying true to their fundraising and community-oriented roots.

“What you’re seeing now is something that is being run like a business,” Borghardt says. “Our long-term goal is to have enormous events become so popular and citywide that we become big enough to hire staff to make it better.”

The Wingamania! Festival, dedicated to the “almighty chicken wing,” will feature local eateries serving up samples at Tin Roof, according to a news release. Tickets go on sale at a March 7 release party hosted by participating vendor, Ivar’s Bar and Grill for a discounted price of $25. After the release party, the regular price will be $30. Details on where to purchase tickets are to be announced.  

Entry gets you a sample of 15 different wings from restaurants in and around Baton Rouge, beer specials from Tin Roof, live entertainment, a seat at the inaugural “Hot Wing Eating Contest” and a vote for “Best Wing in Baton Rouge.” GRP expects to have a total of 15 to 20 vendors and has verbal commitments from about seven so far.

Two more Baton Rouge festivals are also in the works, they say, though details have yet to be released.

“We want to give back to the community, give people something to do on the weekends, have a charity component and not take ourselves too seriously,” Hufft says. “We’ve made it more professional. We’re organizing ourselves, but at the end of the day we know it’s a second job. We want to have fun.”