Fall means chili time, and the VFW Riders motorcycle group saw its first chili cook off pay off in a big way last Saturday. Not only did the guests enjoy tasty, spicy bowls of chili and side dishes, their $5 admission was devoted to an annual scholarship for a local high school student.
“College is expensive for kids and their parents,” said VFW Riders member and former post commander Pete Sill. “We (the riders group) wanted to jump on the bandwagon with practical ways to address that.”
The VFW has already established itself as a generous patron of college scholarships: The Ladies Auxiliary of the local VFW post gives out two $500 awards annually. Those are in addition to nationally supported VFW efforts such as the Patriot’s Pen Essay, and Patriotic Art contests, among others, said Ladies Auxiliary member Diane Small.
VFW Riders president Steve Nickerson thanked everyone for coming out to support the event.
“This is the first time we’ve done a fundraiser like this, for this reason,” said Nickerson. “We hope that this will be the first of many more to come.”
Twelve cooks submitted entries for the contest Saturday. And if you were hoping for something more exotic than just beef on the menu, you were in luck.
“I heard one guy say he was making his chili with elk meat,” said Sill.
VFW rider Sam Miller, attending with wife Kristy and son Doug, said his entry didn’t contain ordinary beef either.
“I used venison,” said Miller. “That and some flavor and spices gives a nice little bite to it.”
“I don’t really care if I win or not,” continued Miller. “But it’s been fun, and if I do win, guess I’ll have bragging rights until the next contest rolls around.”
Three lucky judges, Joanne McDaniel, Stanley Gearheart and Veterans of Foreign Wars post commander David Hollett, tasted samples of each chili between frequent sips of water. After careful deliberation, the judges’ decision was unanimous, said Hollett.
“It’s all been enjoyable, and we agreed that Sandy Sill’s was the best tasting of all,” he said. One honor given to Sandy was a wooden commemorative plaque of the event with her name engraved on it.
As for her entry, Sill was mum as to whether the award-winning chili contained beef, elk, venison or something else altogether.
“I use the same recipe my mother always used,” she said with a laugh.
