BONNYVILLE – Navigating 50th Street at the peak of lunch hour was not an easy task on Friday afternoon.
Around 800 people had descended on the block to take in the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce’s annual Chili Cook-off, with two dozen variations of the Canadian classic dish available to taste.
The number of teams that participated this year was almost doubled compared to last year.
Initially, 26 teams had registered for this year’s event, resulting in organizers closing registrations. By the morning of the chili cook-off, two teams had to pull out. But, this wasn’t an issue as judges had more than enough chili to sample.
In six categories, just five teams would be given a chili cook-off title.
The winner of the ‘Hot Stuff’ award went to Lakeland Co-op. The ‘Tastiest’ chili trophy was picked up by Bonnyville Community Church. The ‘Most Unusual’ award went to Cashco Financial.
The ‘Team Spirit’ trophy went to Canadian Natural Resource Ltd. (CNRL), who also had the largest chili-cooking squad, made up of 11 people. CNRL was also awarded the ‘People’s Choice’ award.
But the overall winner, earning the title of ‘Sensational Chili Champion’ for one year and the bragging rights that go along with it, went to ATCO.
Much-loved event
With such a large turnout for this year’s event, Serina Parsons, the executive director for the Chamber of Commerce, said she would not be opposed to seeing the event grow even more, taking up a second block just off main street.
“This is one of the most loved events in Bonnyville... the community has such a fun time coming out to it and participating in it,” said Parsons.
For the last number of years, the chili cook-off has fallen in line with the Friday afternoon that the Chuckwagons and rodeo come to town.
This year, World Professional Chuckwagon Association (WPCA) drivers Chance Thomson and Dustin Gorst even came out to meet the public and sign autographs for fans.
