PURE GOLD VALLEY

Riverwalk Stadium filled to brim with chili lovers

The weather was perfect for baseball, but Riverwalk Stadium was filled with hungry folks watching football on a big screen and savoring delicious chili cooked to perfection.

It was the annual Lions Club Capital City Chili Cook-off, and an estimated 1,500 people walked around the inside of the stadium to taste a wide variety of recipes.

?This was a successful event again and we?re very pleased,? said Jason Walker, who directed this year?s three-hour cook-off. ?The chili sold out, everybody was happy and people told us they?d see us next year.?

That was music to the ears of Lions Club members who have worked hard for the past year to prepare for one of four important fundraising projects.

Money raised at the events is used to help a variety of local organizations, especially those involving volunteers such as members of the Lions Club.

Walker estimated that up to $200,000 has been raised through the annual cook-off since it was launched several years ago.

The Lions Club made sure that Auburn football fans didn?t have to miss watching their favorite team play because of the cook-off, so the large screen used by the Montgomery Biscuits was used to show the game between the Tigers and Vanderbilt.

Sponsored by the Creek Casino, the event attracted professional chefs, as well as amateur chefs ? some trying their hand for the first time to take top honors.

Traditional recipes went head-to-head with experimental efforts by those who tried their own mixtures.

The names of teams were as colorful as the dishes poured into small containers for taste tests. Among them ? ?blackened boar.?

Sara Beck and Jan Bigham said they enjoyed most of the chili they tasted, but had a preference for what was produced by MECO Inc.?s ?Unomas Chili Cooking Team.?

?It?s all good, but we liked what they made the best,? Beck said. ?But I don?t think there?s any bad chili anywhere here today.?

The Starke Agency?s team produced ?Hog Wild Chili,? while Whitfield Foods? ?Syrup Soppers? had their own recipes not far away.

Tickets were $10 and provided enough chili to last throughout the day and into the night if some was taken home.

Awards were given in a variety of categories, including ?Peoples Choice.? Trophies went to first-place finishers.

As visitors sampled each chili recipe, three judges waited for cups to be brought to them for taste tests.

State Rep. Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka, Montgomery radio personality Greg Budell and Judd Davis of WSFA-TV spent an hour using their taste buds to determine the best of the best.

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This post was written by: Franklin Manuel

Franklin Manuel is a professional blogger, web designer and front end web developer. Follow him on Twitter