HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-9-7, Page 9VIE1VF1NlI1FJ R Times -Advocate, September 7„1994
Page 9
Joyce Lappin stirs the Ring of Fire chili pot Saturday afternoon.
Chili hot, but
crowds cool
The Legion wonders how to keep the
fire under the annual Chili Cookoff after
the weekend event draws only 11
teams and reluctant crowds
EXETER - Dave Grundy says he
can't help but feel a little hitter
about the weekend's Fourth Annual
Chili Cookoff. It's not the chili, but
the lack of it, that has him dis-
appointed.
Although the Exeter Legion once
again "limited" participation in the
event to 30 teams, only 11 this year
actually set up thcir booths on the
Legion parking lot for
the competition.
Even the crowds
seemed less
caught up in the
event. Most vis-
itors didn't ar-
rive until the chi-
li was ready
for tasting,
between
3:30 and 4
p.m.,
meaning
the event looked more like a ghost
town than a bustling Mexican can-
tina for most of the afternoon.
"Attendance was down from the
standpoint of visitors and teams en-
tering," con firnled.Grundy.
Keeping the enthusiasm for the
event going all day long proved a
failure, he said, but said the eve- •
ning dar:e after the trophies had
been handed out was a "roaring
success" until nearly 11 p.m.
If Grundy is a little hitter, he says
it is because the Legion receives
many donation requests from vari-
ous organizations and teams
throughout the year, hut when it
comes to getting four people to en-
ter a team in the Legion's event,
Grundy says they come up shoe.
Perhaps the problem is co-
inciding the Cookoff with the La-
bour Day weekend, he suggests.
"There's been talk of changing
the weekend," he said, proposing
that moving it a week later, or a
couple of wecks earlier- would be
the ticket to success. Problems
with that include avoiding other
community events, and other chili
cookoffs on the provincial "circuit".
Still, the Cookoff isn't a money
losing proposition, said Grundy,
hut admits that he wishes it made
money on the scale that similar
events in other small towns do.
Grundy said he will be
handing the reins of
thc Chili Cookoff
to another Le-
gion member for
next year, and
hopes some "new
ideas" will be able
to attract people to
the event "for
other reasons,
other than the chi-
li".
The good news is
thc 11 entering teams
with some sort;'of tro-
t
that 10 of
went home
phy.
In the Open Division, the Mills
Construction/Scip's Valu Mart team
placed first with their Ring of Fire
chili. In second was Cascy's Lawn
Care's Blades of Fire. fhird place
wcnt to Frayne's General Store's
Jerk Chili.
In the CASI division (Chili Ap-
preciation Society International)
first went to John Leather of Bel -
wood's Road Kill Chili, second to
Les Winter of Rockwood's Tall
Texan, and gird to Marg Foster of
Huron Park. In fourth to sixth plac-
es were the Special Hearts from
Kitchener, Mark Gaskin's Jose's
Cafe, and Veri Trucking's booth.
Both the People's Choice and
Best Decorated booth awards went
to the Mills ConstructionNalu
Man team, and Holtzmann's IGA
were voted the Most Entertaining
learn.
At right, above, OPP Staff Sergeant Don McInnes is on his
Way Into the cold water, after Matthew McAuslan hits the dunk
tank target. At right, below, Gail Stubbs said she came all the
way from Waterloo to taste the chl!I at the Exeter Legion's an-
nual Cookoff. Here she uses her official taste testing kit to
sample the Blades of Are from the Casey's Lawn Care team.
A
Stirring in his top-secret ingredients, Pete Maxwell concocts his Pete's Potent Potion for the
Veri Trucking chili team. "It's got a bite, but then it cools down," he promised.
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Erin Kraftcheck finds out just how cold the dunk tank really
is. Volunteers took turns in the tank to help raise funds for
the Exeter Scouting groups.
Karen Smith, an Exeter Legion member, models an official
Chili Cool'off t -shirt.