PotatoStock 2014: Guy Who Raised $55,000 to Make Potato Salad Throws Party

It started out as a joke, and it culminated into PotatoStock 2014, which was celebrated today from 12 pm to 8 pm in Columbus, Ohio. Zack Brown put up a Kickstarter campaign asking for people to crowfund him $10 so that he could attempt to make potato salad for the first time. As he put it, “Basically I’m just making potato salad. I haven’t decided what kind yet…It might not be that good. It’s my first potato salad.”

The campaign hit the Internet in just the right way, and that $10 request ended up finding $55,492 in donations from 6,911 backers. The final chapter in the saga happened this weekend where Brown held a party open to the Internet (and public in general) with the theme of “peace, love and potato salad.”

When Brown surpassed the initial $10 goal, he began to dream. As the amount donated to his potato salad making debut reached into the hundreds of dollars, and then past $1,000, he indicated he hoped the donation total would eventually reach $3,000 so that he could, “…rent a party hall and invite the whole internet to eat potato salad and bask in this thing we’ve managed to create together.”

The goal of creating a batch of potato salad ended with more than 3,000 pounds of potatoes donated by the Idaho Potato Commission to create the potato salad for the party. Other supplies were donated by other corporate sponsors as well. In addition, the potato fest also had beer vendors, food trucks and bands to help celebrate the event in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

So why did Brown need donated supplies and corporate sponsors when he had already raised over $55,000? He decided to take the unexpected windfall to partner with the Columbus Foundation, which will help support charities fighting hunger and homelessness. That account already had $20,000 in it and will grow as the proceeds from vendors selling at PotatoStock will also go to the foundation.

It looks as if the original goal of raising $10 to make a batch of potato salad will have a much longer lasting impact, and help a lot of people in need along the way. While the potato salad party might be soon forgotten, the money raised will help families having a bit of financial trouble for a long time to come. As Brown noted on his Kickstarter page, “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.”