Over the past weekend, Ohio resident and creator the famous Potato Salad Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, Zach “Danger” Brown, hosted PotatoStock 2014 in the state’s capital to give back to the Central Ohio homeless community. The free event featured performances by five bands, food trucks, and over 3,000 pounds of potato salad.
As previously reported, Brown launched the campaign this past summer to raise $10 to make the “perfect” potato salad. Within hours, the project hit the platform’s spotlight and raised over thousands of dollars after only a few days.
At its closing day, August 2nd, the campaign reached over $55,000 from close to 7,000 backers. Not only did it become popular, Brown’s project received so much attention during its run on the crowdfunding giant that it became the 4th most viewed project page in the platform’s history.
The top ten most viewed are as follows:
- Ouya game console
- Pebble Watch
- Veronica Mars movie
- Potato Salad
- Double Fine Adventure
- Project Eternity
- Penny Arcade
- Reading Rainbow
- Mighty No. 9
- Oculus Rift
Although he was happy about the funds, Brown decided to give back to the city (and region) that he loves, rather than make $55,000 worth of potato salad. He announced his partnership with the Columbus Foundation to launch an event called PotatoStock to not only eat delicious potato salad, but other food truck items as well. All proceeds from the selling concessions were to be donated to the homeless population in Central.
Brown shared, “This will create a permanent fund to help Central Ohio’s non-profits end hunger and homelessness. These types of funds gain interest every year and grow over time, so, while our little Internet joke will one day be forgotten, the impact will be felt forever.”
Also discussing his recent visit to Idaho to take cooking classes, Brown revealed, “I’m going to guess it’s the world’s first potato salad themed event. I wanted the best potato salad, and for the best potato salad I need the best potatoes, so I’m here to get Idaho potato.”
Not only did he learn a thing or two from Idaho’s best chefs, Brown also managed to see the biggest potato in the state, which was carried on a six-ton truck that was brought to Boise Airport as a “welcome” surprise.
Check out some pictures from PotatoStock 2014 below! For more, check out #PotatoStock on Twitter.
Peace, love, and Potato Salad. Together we can help end hunger and homelessness. #potatostock (photo via @chavilah) pic.twitter.com/1WzWYPXiR2
— LifeInCbus (@LifeInCbus) September 27, 2014
@ztbrown does it #taste as good as it looks? The internet will decide at @PotatoStock! @MyPiada #PotatoStock pic.twitter.com/WNFgUus87n
— Big Idaho® Potato (@BigIdahoPotato) September 27, 2014
There is a whole lot of Peace, Love, and Potato Salad going on at the commons . #PotatoStock pic.twitter.com/7z96DqUXdB
— Jim Laird (@otherjim) September 27, 2014
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