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What a day! Our 21st annual chili cook-off was a huge success, and first and foremost we want to thank everyone who came out to enjoy the music, the door prizes, the exhibits and of course all 23 of the vegan chilis!
The day started off kind of iffy, being heavily overcast, and even a few raindrops here and there. But by the time the gates opened, things were starting to clear up, and soon we had a perfect, bright and sunny autumn day. We had a line at the gate that lasted until 2:00, there were so many people who wanted to come!
We were wonderfully entertained by our emcee Jenny Hoff from KXAN and by the music of AlanRoy Wilhite and Friends, and the chili teams themselves did quite a bit of entertaining too. Not to mention all the chili they produced- everyone had to make at least five gallons, but most made six or seven and a few made ten or more!
In the end, the six judges chose the chili from the Texas Humane Legislative Network for the top prize. This was their first year ever with a chili entry! Second place went to Molly Frisinger's "Spice is Nice", and third place went to Chef Chaya Rao's Masala chili- which was one of two chili recipes she prepared that day. Incidentally, LSVCCO veterans Dog Almighty also entered two chilis!
The People's Choice award once again belonged to Don and Alice Barnes with their "Quintessenual" chili. Their chili is so good, we believe it's been seven or eight years since they did not win the popular vote!
The Best Booth award went to Sunny Day Farms, also first-time winners, ousting the Vegetarian Network of Austin's "Evil Scientists" who won in 2007 and 2008.
The Lone Star Vegetarian Network would like to thank Jenny Hoff, AlanRoy Wilhite, Jay Saenger at Georgetown Shirt Company (we nearly sold out of the t-shirts), Kevin Brand and everyone at (512) Brewing Co. (whose IPA was highly praised this day), Fritz Blaw at Motorblade, Melanie Colpaart and everyone at Greenling Organic Delivery, all of our judges, door prize donors, exhibitors, vendors, naturally the 21 chili teams, of course everyone who volunteered their time and energy to help us put on the event, and especially, once again, everyone who came to enjoy the event!
Stay tuned to this website, or join us on Facebook or Twitter, for further updates on how things went at this year's cook-off, including photos once we can get them organized. And in a few months we'll begin the planning for the 22nd annual cook-off in 2010. It'll almost certainly be one of the second or third Sunday in November, so be sure to mark your calendars! |
