Over the summer, a Kickstarter campaign launched by Zack Brown briefly captured the world’s imagination and scorn, which are two of the key ingredients for potato salad. (Also important: disappointment and mayonnaise.) And while his bid for crowdsourced support to make the popular side dish ballooned into more than $55,000 in donations—as well as a debate over whether Internet crowdfunding has finally gone too far—Brown’s intentions remained pure. He insisted that it would remain all about the potato salad and the people. And on Saturday, he delivered on that promise.
Brown’s PotatoStock took place in Columbus, where folks gathered to sample local food trucks, live music, and potato sack races, as well as lots and lots of potato salad, created with more than 3,000 pounds of potatoes. Even better, all of those potatoes were donated by some of the many corporate sponsors Brown secured, freeing him to give some $20,000 from his Kickstarter fund—along with proceeds from the festival—to charities that help the hungry and the homeless.
Meanwhile, Brown says he still plans to fulfill his obligations to many of his backers, promising their T-shirts and potato salad recipe books by December, while also suggesting they might be able to attend a “potato salad tour” he’s sort-of planning. In short, he managed to turn a stupid Internet joke into a genuine benefit for the community, making it all exceedingly difficult to hate.
Thanks, Zack Brown. Without hate, how are we supposed to make our own potato salad? (And don’t say, “Use dijon.” Dijon potato salad is bullshit.) Fortunately, The Columbus Dispatch says Brown plans to use some of his Kickstarter funds to start a “a for-profit company to create a website for sharing humorous content.” So that’s probably good for enough hate for a bowl or two.