Privacy Policy

This site, atxwingfest.com, is run for Austin Chicken Wing Festival, produced by Jesse Island Productions and operated by U Know The Drill, LLC. When this policy says “we” or “us,” that means U Know The Drill, LLC.

For privacy questions and requests, reach U Know The Drill, LLC at acwfmedia@gmail.com, or write to U Know The Drill, LLC, PO Box 140283, Austin, TX 78714.

Analytics, only if you say yes.

We use Google Analytics 4 to count page views, see which pages people find useful, and count the actions people take on the site, such as clicking through to tickets or sending a form. It does not load until you press “Accept” on the cookie banner. Choose “Essential Only” and the Google Analytics script is never added to the page, so no analytics cookies are set and no data is sent to Google. If you accept, Google Analytics collects your approximate location (city level, derived from your IP address), device and browser type, the pages you visit, and how you arrived at the site.

We also use Vercel Analytics, which measures page views and anonymous counts of actions taken on the site, such as how many people clicked through to tickets, joined the email list, applied to compete, vend, sponsor or volunteer, or cast a People's Choice vote. It does this without cookies and without building a profile of you. The counts are totals only, so they are not linked to you, to your email address, or to anything you typed into a form. It runs for everyone because there is nothing to consent to.

Things you type in.

If you join the email list we collect your email address. If you apply to compete, vend, sponsor, or volunteer, we collect the contact name, email, phone number, business or team name, a description, and any website or social links you choose to give us. We use that to run the festival and to reply to you. We also share the attendee list with that year's vendors and sponsors after the festival, which is written out under “Who else handles your data.”

People's Choice voting, on festival day.

Voting is geo-locked to the venue so it can't be brigaded from a couch. When you vote we ask your browser for your location and record your latitude and longitude, the accuracy figure your device reports, your browser's user agent, a random voting cookie, a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address, and a scrambled device signature. The hashed values let us spot duplicate votes without storing your actual IP. Your browser will ask permission before sharing location, and you can say no. You just won't be able to vote.

Server logs.

Our host records standard request logs, and we rate-limit form submissions using your IP address, to keep bots out.

• Cookie consent preference. Stored in your browser so we stop asking. This is stored in local storage, not a cookie, and never leaves your device.
• Google Analytics (_ga, _ga_*). Set by Google, and only after you accept. They typically expire after two years.
• Voting (acwf_voter). A random ID that stops one person voting twice. Set only if you use the voting page.
• Festival staff login (acwf_admin_session). Only ever set for our own admin area. Regular visitors never get it.

We do not run advertising pixels. There is no Meta pixel, no TikTok pixel, and no Google Ads tag on this site.

We use a small number of companies to actually run the site. They process data on our behalf, and we do not sell your information for money. There is one case where we pass your details to other businesses, and it is written out below the list.

• Google (Analytics). Website analytics, only with your consent.
• Vercel. Hosting and cookieless analytics.
• Neon. The database that stores applications and votes.
• Resend. Sends our confirmation emails and holds the email list.
• Upstash. Rate limiting that keeps bots off our forms.
• Ticketbud. Our ticket seller. Buying a ticket takes you to Ticketbud's own site, where their privacy policy applies, not ours.

Festival vendors and sponsors.

After the festival, we share that year's attendee list, including your name and email address, with the wing makers, vendors and sponsors who took part. They use it to market their own businesses to you. These are independent companies rather than companies working on our behalf, so once they have your details their own privacy practices apply and not ours.

If you would rather not be on that list, email us at acwfmedia@gmail.com before the festival and we will leave you off it.

• Say no to analytics. Choose “Essential Only” on the cookie banner. To change your mind later, clear this site's data in your browser settings and the banner will ask again.
• Block Google Analytics everywhere with Google's browser opt-out add-on.
• Leave the email list. Every email we send has an unsubscribe link, or email us and we'll take you off.
• Ask what we have, or ask us to delete it. Email us using the address below and we'll sort it out. Texas residents have specific rights under the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, and we'll honor requests from anyone who asks, wherever you live.

Applications and email-list entries are kept for three years, or until you ask us to delete them sooner. Voting records are kept only long enough to verify the People's Choice results and are then reduced to anonymous totals. Google Analytics data is retained according to the setting on our Google Analytics property.

The festival is family-friendly, but this website is not aimed at children under 13 and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you believe your child sent us something, email us and we'll delete it.

If we change how we handle data, we'll update this page and the date at the top. Big changes get called out on the site.

Questions, corrections, or deletion requests go to acwfmedia@gmail.com.