Record fundraiser brings the heat

Rapper Nelly was telling it straight when his lyric “It’s getting hot in herre” opened the music playlist on Monday night at Pit & Tap in Wilmette.

The temperature climbed substantially for the next three hours for the 50 participants of Heat Check, a hot-wing challenge and fundraiser inspired by the hit YouTube show “Hot Ones.”

Surrounded by family, friends and local-news supporters, the brave participants endured 10 progressively hotter sauces on Pit & Tap wings, all in support of The Record North Shore, a nonprofit community newsroom.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE HEAT CHECK FUNDRAISER

The fundraising community event was the third annual collaboration between The Record and Pit & Tap. The two previous year’s the event, called Barbecue, Brews and News, connected community members with The Record staff.

This time around, Pit & Tap owner Michael Clarke had an idea to spice things up.

“In the past 20 years or so, hot sauces have become much more complex and have emphasized flavor over just heat,” he said in a message to The Record. “Having a fundraising event like (Heat Check) obviously leans on the popularity of the streaming show (‘Hot Ones’), but also can and did attract teens, women and men to the event.

“Plus, although it wasn’t a contest, there was a sense of competition at each table as to who could keep going as the wings got hotter and hotter.”

Most of the participants stood tall in the early going. The first four wings (each coated in a different hot sauce) brought some heat but did not cause much of a stir.

The mood began to change with Wings 5 and 6. Sweat made an appearance for many, and a more serious and determined affect started to replace the collective joy.

Emcee George Rafeedie, a Record board member, auctioned items such as cups of ranch dressing, pitchers of milk and bowls of ice cream to help cool things down.

But nothing could offer relief for what came next.

Sauce No. 8, Da Bomb Beyond Insanity, humbled the room.

“We were good up until 8,” participant Ari Lifschutz said. “Eight was a real punch in the mouth — eyes, nose and mouth. We did get some ice cream to cool down — all for The Record.”

Ten minutes after trying Da Bomb, eighth-grader Lambe still couldn’t feel his tongue.

“It just attacks you,” he said of the sauce.

His tablemate, Caleb Sapp, also an eighth-grader, gave a shoutout to the ice cream for softening the blow.

“With Da Bomb, it took me straight down,” he said. “Ice cream helps, a lot of ice cream. Not ranch. Ranch was a horrible investment.”

Even after Da Bomb’s destruction, most of the participants rallied, powering through Sauces 9 and 10 to complete the challenge.

While not all the math is complete, early numbers and community involvement make Heat Check the most successful fundraiser to date for The Record, which is celebrating its five-year anniversary of providing responsible and independent local news coverage.

The Record North Shore launched in October 2020 with a mission that public-service community reporting should be accessible for all. A majority of The Record’s annual revenue comes from its readers. Couldn’t make the event? Support us today and look out for future fundraising community events — like a September golf outing and November bash — to celebrate our anniversary.