Comments on: Chili cookoff winners

By: Jenny

Jenny — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:32:44 +0000

Tom, Greenvale School is very, very grateful to you and all of our talented Cooks for your generous participation at the annual Chili Cookoff. We certainly realize and respect the fact that it does involve a lot of work and expense to serve that much chili to thousands of eager and hungry patrons, and we greatly appreciate your efforts on Greenvale School’s behalf. Without our wonderful Cooks, we wouldn’t have an event, and because of our Cooks’ participation and the generosity of so many in the community, this year’s Chili Cookoff raised over $24,000, funds that will directly benefit low-income children and families in the months to come. We hope all of our Cooks, Vendors and patrons will join us next year for another fun Chili Cookoff on May 1, 2010!

By: Lindsey Nair

Lindsey Nair — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:26:19 +0000

Webb, thank you so much for weighing in on this. I appreciate it and I’m sure that my readers do, too.

By: Webb

Webb — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:16:14 +0000

I am on the board of Greenvale School. We look forward to the Chili Festival every year. With the Strawberry Festival down the street it is a great opportunity to get out in Downtown Roanoke and the school puts the money we raise to good use.
Before the cooks can start cooking the People’s Choice chili, they have to get the ok from the Health Department, so they can’t start until that is done. The Chili Festival is also a contest for the cooks, with a separate judging process for the State Championship chili. Under the rules of the contest, the cooks cannot start cooking the chili is that is going to be judged until 10am and they have to turn it in to the judges after 2pm. I suspect that most of the cooks start cooking all their chili (the chili to be judged and the give away chili) at 10 am, which means it is not done when the gates open. Also, under the rules of the contest, the cooks are only required to make 2 gallons of chili to give away. If the cooks want to make more, that is great (and we are really thankful to the cooks that do), but there is expense involved in buying all the ingredients, and the cooks mainly do cook-offs as a hobby.
This year we stopped charging admission once we realized that the cooks were out of chili and we even refunded admission to a number of folks. We appreciate all the feedback on the blog and appreciate all the community support for the Chili Festival and Greenvale School.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:14:05 +0000

we cooked in the cookoff this year, we cooked 60lbs of meat and were constantly handing out chili from 10:30 till 2.

We were a 4 person team so it’s a lot of work and a lot of expense. To see the HOGS win every category every year is bit of a disappointment. We just don’t have the manpower to walk through the crowd with trays.

We had fun, but it seems all the work and expense is not appreciated, we probably won’t be back.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:18:20 +0000

We had a good time Saturday, but we have attended for several years now and do not understand why it’s not a requirement that all contestants be ready when the doors open.
We came in around 10:45 and almost half were not ready. I even saw one booth that said “no chili until 2:00pm”. It’s like the people that are ready “on time” are punished because everyone eats their chili and they then run out early.
We left around 1:45 and still didn’t get to taste many that were not ready. I can understand a winning chili running out, but if everyone is not ready at the same time it really seems unfair to all.
Do you know what the organizers have to say about this?
I don’t mean to complain, but am I the only one that feels this way? As it stands now, we do not plan to attend next year because of this.

By: Mike T

Mike T — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:22:12 +0000

I attended early this year, the first time i have been and really enjoyed the Hog chili, actually the best there, and like some of the other post’s i enjoyed the fact they bring out the chili to you, you dont have to stand in a long line waiting and when you get the cup it is the worst stuff you have put in your mouth all day, overall it was a really fun day.

By: Lindsey Nair

Lindsey Nair — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:00:51 +0000

Thanks for adding your perspective to this conversation, Spence. And congratulations on your wins!

By: Spence Robertson

Spence Robertson — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:36:22 +0000

I participated in the VA State Championship Chili Cook0ff on 5/02/2009 for the third year. Having enough Peoples Choice chili samples to hand out has always been an challange. This cookoff is sanctioned by the International Chili Society (ICS) and the entry fee to submit a Chili dish to be jugded is two gallons of Peoples Choice chili or $30. This year I made 5 gallons of Peoples Choice chili in addition to my ICS red chili and verde chili. My five gallons of PC chili was gone in 30 minutes.
ICS chili is a hobby of mine and I have no club or corporate backing as some of the other contestents have. I think what most attendees fail to realize, this is a fund raiser for Glenvale School which by the way offered bowls of chili for $4/bowl. A friend of mine purchased a bowl of chili from them after 3:00PM. I think all strawberry items at the strawberry festival are purchased similar to the chili sold by Greenvale School. The $3/$4 entry fee pays for the prizes, bands, space, etc.

By: scott

scott — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:22:55 +0000

I’m convinced the greatest job in the world is the judge at a chili cookoff and beer brewoff.

As soon as finals are over next tuesday, I’m going to make a crockpot of chili even if its not winter.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:48:59 +0000

Yes – but when you get there early there are a lot of contestants who are not ready yet – my frustration. It gets a little frustrating trying to find the actual chili contestants. I kinda wish they would put all the chili together. But I understand why it is all throughout the venue. Overall – I had a great time, but I did not get to try nearly all the chili I wanted to try.