Yesterday we out out with a bunch of folks to the annual Chili Cookoff sponsored by the West Chester Rotary. In attendance, Dave, Ken and Kate, and Dan and his two kids, Kerri and Aidan. The four of us (Berta, Abby, Riley, and I) met them all at Dave’s and we walked up town.
This year’s chili was much better than last. There were actually quite a few tasty and edible varieties, as opposed to last year when there were about two.
The procedure was the same as last year. You buy a wristband for $10 and you get to eat as much chili from as many of the kiosks as you want.
The opening was a little odd this year, with all of the restaurant tents opening for business at 1:00pm, nearly all on the same block. It was inconvenient because the crows wasn’t spread out over the whole three blocks of the event, but all compacted into a small space. The lines were long and there wasn’t a lot of movement available for the strollers.
We had to walk clear down to St. Agnes to even start eating chili, and by that time we were hungry. Berta stopped with Abby at the moon bounce they had set up for the kids, and she actually ended up with a big bowl of chili before we even got through the first line.
All of the tents were handing out small containers of the chili. They were the size of the ketchup cups at Wendy’s, if you know what I’m talking about. The place Berta got her first taste of chili from was handing out medium-sized styrofoam bowls, and they ran out really early.
Abby tasted some of the chili by dipping tortilla chips in it, but she really didn’t get a taste. She liked the kid activities pretty well though, and got a butterfly painted on her face. Riley refused to eat chili, and only partway into our trek did he even show any interest in chewing on my used spoon.
When you pay for your wristband, they give you a wooden nickel. You put it in a bucket near the stand for the chili you like best. This determines the People’s Choice award. Everyone in our group pretty much liked the same chili; the one provided by Scott Honda, the Katrina Hurricane Relief chili. It had a nice blend of beef and spicess, with a bit of chicken and dirty rice. Tasty. They even provided printouts of their recipe, which nobody else did.
Berta voted for this one place that had people dressed up like flowers. I’m not sure who was running that booth. Their chili wasn’t bad, but I didn’t like their beans. In their favor, they did provide corn bread - the only place that did so.
Dan voted for one of the restaurants who made a crab chili. The food was very good - like a chili-esque crab bisque. The problem is, it’s not chili if it doesn’t have beef.
Dave ran off at some point because we were going too slow with kids and a pregnant woman. Apparently it was is goal to try all the chili, and he succeeded at it. I pity him today, because I’m sure there will be aftermath. As Ken said, it’s good to have Dave as a taste-tester because, you know, we’d be sad if he died, but… At least we’d know.
I bought some chocolate-covered popcorn from a girl cub scout when we were about ready to leave. (Yes, a girl. Cub Scout.) 
After Ken came back from running our votes to the Scott Honda bucket (to avoid the crowds), we went back that way anyway to get some ice cream from one of the side-street (Darlington?) shops. That was pretty tasty, too.
And that’s pretty much the trip. I’ll have to look around for the competition results. I wonder who won the people’s choice overall this year.
