The aromas from twenty-three chili pots made their way through the streets of Whitewright Texas last Saturday. Like a magnet, Grand Street Fall Festival guests were allured to the cook-off area where they sampled the chilis, voted for their favorite and bought raffle tickets for everything from an iPad2 to a skydive.  

It was a lot of fun,  the weather was agreeable and CASI referee Jackie Gross did an excellent job of overseeing the contestants and the judging. Money was raised for volunteer fire departments that entered the competition - Bells, Howe, Savoy, Tioga, Trenton, Van Alstyne and Whitewright.

Cooks who competed for the Showmanship awards decorated their cooking areas; some wore costumes. The chili was cooked outdoors from scratch, under open canopies where guests chatted with the contestants and viewed the cooking pots. Howe VFD ran a little late because they had been putting out a fire that lasted four hours. The county health department gave a passing score for food safety. 

Contestants came from all over Texas, from as far as Conroe near Houston, from Denton and Greenville, local citizens and Boy Scout Troop 42, north Texas volunteer firefighters, CASI members who vie for points toward qualifying to cook in the annual Terlingua international chili cook-off, two corporations – North Texas Ag-Power and CTRECH Dallas/Houston – sponsored three employee cooking teams, and others who read or heard about it and wanted to give it a try. 

There were three sets of judges. The chili judging panel consisted of twenty-one interested citizens, sheriffs, mayors and other elected officials, politicians and board members.  Judging cups full of chili from every cooking pot was delivered to the chili judges at 12:30. They sampled each chili, cleaned their pallets between tastings and made not a sound or word during the judging. Each chili cup was accompanied with a judging criteria scorecard. The scores were tallied.

Three other judges walked around inconspicuously and scored the Showmanship booths. Tickets for People’s Choice were sold to the public for $5; they sampled all the chili’s and voted for their favorite.

The winners were: 

Chili

1st Place – Don Ryba of Greenville

2nd Place – Rex Jones, Dallas

3rd Place – Nita Rhor, Garland

4th Place – Rick Laribie, Argyle

5th Place – Rick Poston, Paris

6th Place – Troop 42 Boy Scouts, Whitewright

7th Place – Becky Brisco, Conroe

8th Place – Howard Jones, Pottsboro

9th Place – Don Moore, Sherman

10th Place – Scott Greenlee, Whitewright

Showmanship

1st Place – Savoy VFD

2nd Place – Becky Brisco, Conroe

3rd Place – Van Alstyne FD/VFD

People’s Choice

Becky Brisco, Conroe

We have already begun work on next year’s chili cook-off VFD fundraiser. Many thanks to those who donated their time, talents, money, services , merchandise and supplies. Special thanks go to the contestants, judges and event sponsors - Whitewright Area Chamber of Commerce, Lexus Park Place and First Choice Power.

photos by Allen Rich