SATURDAY – February 21, 2009
Springfield Exposition Center
2009 Judging Results are IN-Click me!
Here are some photos courtesy of Ozarks Metromix!
We would like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting the Boys and Girls Clubs of Springfield. Please see the write-ups in the Springfield News Leader and Ozarks Metromix.
December 29, 2008
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
Mardi Gras Is Theme For 2009 Chili Cook-Off
The Ozarks area will celebrate its own Mardi Gras at the 28th annual Sertoma Chili Cook-Off, to be held Saturday, February 21, 2009, at the Springfield Expo Center. The event falls just two days before “Fat Tuesday” and will feature food, refreshments and performances by ten bands on two stages.
About 80 ten-member cooking teams will compete in the Chili Cook-Off for a variety of trophies and prizes, and for bragging rights about chili making prowess. Cooks will be up before sunrise to begin slicing, dicing and cooking at least ten gallons of chili each for the public to begin tasting and judging at 11AM. Chili offerings, many based on favorite and closely-guarded recipes, range from tasty to exotic to really spicy.
Other team members will have spent Friday afternoon and evening erecting and decorating booths with fanciful themes and preparing imaginative costumes for judging as the Best Booth, Best Costumes, and for Showmanship. Trophies are also awarded for the best chili, as judged by professional chefs. In response to requests from past attendees, for the first time this year members of the public will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite chili in the “The Peoples’ Choice” competition. Teams also will compete in fund raising for the “Fattest Fishbowl”
Musicians in favorite bands will volunteer their performances throughout Saturday on two stages. The Cook-Off will utilize all floors of the Expo Center, and the aisles have been widened to make easier access to all the booths. Three hundred Sertoma Club members will be manning ticket booths, food and drink concessions, a silent auction and selling souvenirs.
All this volunteer energy is aimed at helping the Boys and Girls Clubs of Springfield. Proceeds will fund an energy management system for the Stalnaker unit of the clubs, the Youth Employment Opportunities program, and a new roof for the south gym at the Musgrave unit. Last year’s proceeds of $175,000 went toward purchase of two vans and a bus, a summer youth program at Bailey and McGregor schools and the youth training program.
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Doors will open to the public at 11 AM, and the food, fun and entertainment will continue until the trophy presentations at 5 PM. Tickets for adults and children are $12 in advance, and $15 at the door. Advance tickets will be available early in January at area Cody Convenience Stores, Price Cutter and Dillon supermarkets. Every person attending the Sertoma Chili Cook-Off is given a bowl and spoon so they can sample as many varieties of chili as time and appetite will allow.
A crowd anticipated at 8000 will be entertained on the Upper Level Beer Garden Stage by Sequel Dose, The Sociables, The Ben Miller Band, Jah Roots and Speakeasy. On the Expo Stage downstairs, performers will be N2 Deep, The Dropouts, Chance Ray Band and Cory Morrow. Another band, Friends of Lynn, will perform Friday night during an invitation-only cooks party from 7 to 9 PM.
Entries are still being accepted for chili cooking teams. Entry fee is $115 for an 8 by 10 booth. The fee goes up to $150 after February 2, and last year all available booth space was sold out before the event opened. Further information and application forms are available on the website www.sertomachilicookoff.com , at the Sertoma Building, 318 S. Campbell, by telephone to 863-1231, by fax to 863-0602 or by e-mail to Sertoma@sbcglobal.net.
For the fourth consecutive year, FedEx Freight, based at Harrison, Arkansas, is the presenting sponsor of the Chili Cook-Off.
Corporate sponsorships help maximize the fund raising effort for the Boys and Girls Clubs. In addition to FedEx, sponsors include Premium Beverage Co., MetroMix, Mediacom, Jack Daniels, Ozarks Coca-Cola, Heim Young Associates, 92.9 Bass Country, AutoTrader.Com, Shughart Thomson & Kilroy law firm, Williams Seasonings, Zickel Flooring, Empire Bank, Kraft Foods, Ferrell Duncan Clinic, Weaver & Martin CPA’s, Quality Inn Hotels, A-1 Guarantee Roofing, O&S Trucking, The Missouri Bank, Liberty Mutual Life Insurance, Blue Stream Lube & Oil, Copy Biz, A-V-P productions, Clark Products, Hiland Dairy, Yellow Cab, Johnsonville Meats and U-Turn Studios.
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Trophy winners in 2008 were Carol Jones Realty for Best in Show; Springfield Fire Fighters Local #152 for Showmanship, Cody’s Convenience Stores for Best Booth; Ferrell Duncan Clinic for Best Costume. The Grand Champion chili was cooked by the News Leader, and Texas Roadhouse took the chili prize for restaurants.
Top fund-raisers were Mr. T and McAlisters, Business to Business, Cody’s Convenience Stores, Ferrell Duncan, Fed-Ex Freight and the Lone Star Restaurant. Those awards were for raising contributions in appreciation for particularly good chili.
Six Sertoma clubs in the Springfield area cooperate to put on the Chili Cook-Off. Sertoma is an acronym for SERvice TO MAnkind, the third oldest civic service organization in the country. Springfield Sertomans return over $300,000 to the community annually through activities such as the Chili Cook-Off, the Wingapalooza, Summer Sizzle, the Grin-Iron Classic all-star high school football game, the Men About Town contest, and Thursday night Bingo.