t's the national chicken wing festival in Buffalo. We got tickets.

I called a scalper - Bill Murray to his daughter in "Osmosis Jones."

That's how it started.

"Osmosis Jones" is a movie about a man, Murray, addicted to fried food. His young daughter, worried about dad's health, wants them to take a hiking vacation.

Instead he scores tickets to the National Chicken Wing Festival in Buffalo.

The obvious question: Why isn't there a National Chicken Wing Festival in Buffalo?

We wrote a column about it last summer. Gilroy, Calif., celebrates garlic with an annual party for 130,000. Hart, Mich., wraps its arms around asparagus. There are annual odes to such B-team fare as the artichoke and pickle. It's a crime against culinary nature that Buffalo hadn't taken flight with wings.

The artery-clogging delicacy was invented four decades ago at The Anchor Bar on Main Street, the still-serving shrine. It's what we're known for around the world, other than blizzards and losing Super Bowls. Why not play up the connection with a national celebration of our place on the gastrointestinal map?

Drew Cerza read the column and liked the idea. Cerza, 41, is the kind of guy we were looking for. He owns RMI Group, a national food promotion company in Clarence. He's smooth and personable without sliding into slick. He claimed he had the money, contacts and drive to put it together.

He did.

Welcome to the National Chicken Wings Festival at the downtown ballpark Labor Day weekend (Aug. 31-Sept. 1). Games, live music, kids' area, prizes, a Miss Chicken Wing pageant, classic cars and 40 wing-dealing restaurants - at least a dozen from out of town.

Wingmasters from as distant as Denver will fly in with versions of the lip-smacking, artery-choking delicacy. There's a wings cookbook deal and a Web site www.buffalowing.com.

"Wings have always been connected with Buffalo," said Cerza, who also runs Bills' quarterback Drew Bledsoe's parenting foundation. "It's about time we did something with it."

Granted, 97 Rock has its Wingfest. But it's a local party, not a national deal.

The festival was nearly KO'ed by 9/11. Nobody wanted to think about stomachs when hearts were heavy. Cerza waited until the mood lifted, then revved the engine. Sponsor money for the six-figure festival was tight in the post-9/11 world, but a recent deal with Tops Markets put the party over the top.

The dozen sponsors or partners include Tyson, the world's largest poultry company. Local tie-ins include Pepsi, the Buffalo Bisons, The Buffalo News, Channels 4 and 7 and Entercom Communications - owners of KISS 98.5, STAR 102 and AM radio giants WGR and WBEN.

The wing festival won't change the world, but it'll nail down city's tie to the poultry appendage. It'll bring people from out of town, get our minds off the Adelphia bummer, upgrade civic pride and give us an excuse for a summer-ending party.

Sure, wings and Bills aren't all we want to be known for. We're as eager as anybody to tout the hidden highbrow Buffalo: Frank Lloyd Wright, Albright-Knox, Delaware Avenue mansions. But you've also got to go with what fate hands you. We've got the brand name and the natural claim. The only question is what took us so long?

Cerza recently ran into Bobby Farrelly, co-director of "Osmosis Jones," at a golf tournament in Boston. Farrelly, part of the brother team that also gave the world "Something About Mary," was psyched to hear the movie inspired a movement.

"He kept saying, "You mean that because of the movie, there's actually going to be a festival?' " said Cerza. "He thought it was pretty cool."

Cerza, who's putting up 20 grand, expects to break even and draw at least 25,000 to the two-day wingding. A cut goes to charities, including the Food Bank.

If it works, it gets bigger next year.

"There's so much talk about what we can't do," said Cerza. "A lot of people told me I couldn't do this. But we're doing it."

Open wide and take a bite.