There were bands. There were potato sack races. There were 3,000 pounds of potatoes. There was even peace and love at PotatoStock 2014, the charity bash that spawned out of a $55,000 Kickstarter campaign to make a batch of potato salad.
On Saturday, Zack Brown, the Ohio man who asked for $10 on Kickstarter in July to make potato salad for the first time, but instead netted tens of thousands of dollars from nearly 7,000 people, threw a public party for charity.
.@ztbrown is making the potato salad WITH HIS OWN HANDS BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU. pic.twitter.com/Yp4SJnsVVZ
— Potato Stock (@PotatoStock) September 27, 2014
Held in downtown Columbus the event promised "peace, love and potato salad."
People even wore t-shirts with the slogan.
It's our first Vine. It might not be that good. https://t.co/Z6HtMAIIJ6
— Potato Stock (@PotatoStock) September 27, 2014
And one guy seemingly put his own twist on the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Great #PotatoSalad! Great Cause! Check out @PotatoStock from 12PM to 9PM at @ColumbusCommons http://t.co/JTS0tM9JDB pic.twitter.com/f4pJaRZha9
— WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) September 27, 2014
The Idaho Potato Commission and corporate sponsors donated potato salad supplies for the party. And the Columbus Foundation, a local philanthropic group, got an $18,000 check.
Brown, who has said before that the extra money from the Kickstarter campaign won't go into his pocket, is partnering with the Columbus Foundation to support charities that fight hunger and homelessness. The account started with $20,000 in post-campaign corporate donations and will grow after proceeds from PotatoStock are added.
"His fund will have potential way after this potato salad is forgotten," Lisa Jolley, the foundation's director of donors and development, told The Columbus Dispatch.
Brown told the newspaper that he intends to "do the most good that I can."
Additional reporting by The Associated Press