Wrangell Sentinel -

Dan Rudy/ Wrangell Sentinel

Fourth festival food isn't only about comfort. Contestants feel the burn during the Stikine Inn's first-ever hot wings competition. Dubbed "Seven Steps to Hades," participants paid in $20 for a seven-course lesson in pungency, having to eat pairs of wings covered in increasingly spicy concoctions, and endure the burn without water between each set in three-minute increments. For those making it through to the finish, they got their money back and a complimentary t-shirt.