WEDNESDAY - September 12, 2007

CT STATE CHILI COOKOFF!!!

Dear Friends,

Just a quick email to remind you that the CT State Chili Cookoff is THIS weekend in New Haven,CT!

To sign up for The CT State simply contact Sharon Willard at swillard@caanh.net and let her know you'll attend!Or go to http://www.chilicookoff.com/Event/Event_Display.asp?EventID=2073 where you can sign up directly!

If you need anything, please don't hesitate to contact me at madmikeskillerchili@cox.net

I hope that you sign up for the CT State in preparation for the 2008 NERCC which will be May 3,2008!

We really hope to see you at these two great Connecticut CCO's!

Madly,

Mad Mike

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Banks of the Elk Regional

Hey Chiliheads!

Want another chance to qualify for the WCCC 2007?

Then come to Clay West Virginia for the Banks of the Elk Regional Chili Cook off.

The cook off is held during their Golden Delicious Festival on Sunday October 16th! Yummm...

$1,000.00 goes to the first place winner in Red!!! Yummm...

For more information contact jorettagray@yahoo.com

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CHILI OLE' AND

SOUTHERN COLORADO B2B REGIONALS

PLEASE REGISTER ON-LINE ON THE ICS WEBSITE OR CALL GEORGE LOTT @ 719-544-4423 FOR THESE COOKOFFS, IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING. WE NEED TO GET A HEAD COUNT FOR SPACE NEEDED, AND GOODY BAGS THAT WILL BE PASSED OUT. BOB PLAGER - CHIEF JUDGE

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SIX Winners Qualify for the ICS Worlds Championships

It's getting to be crunch time. September 22nd and 23rd ,Pueblo and the Pueblo Convention Center will be hosting a two day qualifier to get six of our great cooks ready for Omaha in October. The southern Colorado Regional was the site of the first World Green Championship, long before green chili was recognized by the ICS. In fact our cookoff back then was almost exclusively Green Chili (Chili Verde to the ICS) and the Red Chili portion was actually Chili Concarne, not ICS no beans allowed chili. We have decided to hold these cookoffs in conjunction with the Pueblo Chili and Frijole Festival. Pueblo has some of the greatest green chilis available anywhere, and during this weekend, all the farmers from the area roast and sell their chilis at the historic Union Avenue District. They also have fresh vegetables for sale, ethnic food stands, hundreds of various vendors, and Entertainment Tents with music and libations that continue late into the evening.The Festival is but a block away from the Convention Center.

Also, in conjunction with our cookoffs, the Convention Center hosts a wonderful art show and sale, with many local and nationally renown artists displaying their artwork.This complete event usually draws over 30,000 people per day, so have plenty of People's Choice available.

The cookoff schedule for both days is:

7:30 set-up and sign in,

9:00 cook's meeting,

10:00 Green begins,

11:00 Red begins,

12:00 Salsa turn in,

1:00 Green turn in,

2:00 Red turn in ,

and 3:30 awards (approximately)

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Each day the prizes will be:

Red

$200 first,

$100 second

and $50 third,

same for the Green Chili,

Salsa

$100 first

and People's Choice $100.

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The location is easy to get to. Take I-25 north or south to exit 98B. Go west two stoplights to South Main, go left at the light-Convention Center is on the left. We will have some parking reserved for the cooks after unloading. Looking forward to seeing everyone and all will have a grand time.

George Lott, 719-544-4423, glott@wilcoxsonauto.com

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MONDAY - September 10, 2007

DOWN EAST REGIONAL

And MAINE STATE results,

Some Maine Numbers

1 weekend of "Back to Back" chili cooking put on by the Wells Chamber of Commerce;

2 chances to qualify for the WCCC in Omaha, NE;

3 seasons of Maine weather experienced in only 45 minutes!;

4 hundred quarts of people's choice chili handed out;

5 categories of cash prizes for the cooks;

6 weeks the Chamber's new leadership had to pull-off this event;

7 times a day you could include lobster in a meal or snack;

8 hours of hard work by the cooks, from set-up to break-down;

9 hours of even harder play, from break-down to fall-down;

10 states represented, not including "Coach Don", from CA;

And best of all…. 0 glitches from the Chamber's new leadership team, who were definitely behind the 8 ball with so little time to organize everything. They did a great job.

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A huge thanks to Ted, Eleanor and Lorraine and the rest of the Chamber. This was their first event, and they did a great job keeping this event alive.

And a great, big thank you to Steve and Audrey Falkowski and Sue Aitken for immeasurable help in the judges tent....Audrey and Sue on scorekeeping and Steve running circles around me making sure everything else worked.

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This is by no means the biggest cook-off in the ICS, but think about some of the numbers: 23 cooks, a chief judge and a scorekeeper traveled a total of 27,500+/- miles for this event. That's an average of 1,100 miles per person. 96 quarts of competition chili, 16 pints of salsa, 100 gallons of people's choice chili….airfares, car rentals, gasoline, hotel and bar tabs!!!! And the hours upon hours and miles put in by the new Chamber....and they aren't used to us! Too soon to know how the Chamber did with fund-raising. The weather certainly did not make for a picture-perfect weekend.

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The Official Results:

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Down East Regional: Saturday, September 8

Best Booth: Bob Smith ME ?

People's Choice: Bill Strain NH

SALSA: 1st Dave Schulman CT

VERDE: 3^rd Kim Eckley MD

2^nd Wendy Hennessey NH

1^st Wes Carlson IL

RED: 3^rd Ghon Eckley MD

2^nd Mario Saccoccio CT

1^st Les Walter MD

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Maine State: Sunday, September 9

Best Booth: Mario Saccoccio CT

People's Choice: Mario Saccoccio CT

SALSA 1^st Jim Miller PA

VERDE 3^rd Kim Eckley MD

2^nd Tod Goede NH

1^st Rich Omerza PA

RED 3^rd Scott Navaroli MA

2^nd Ghon Eckley MD

1^st Skip Cooley NV

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Thanks to all who helped made this cook-off so much fun.

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Joe Harvey

Chief Judge

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27th Annual Mile High Regional

The weather was warm, at times windy, and with a huge crowd of over 7000 people, the cookoff went off without a hitch in Community Park in Superior, Colorado. The Chili Fest event was a huge success with lots of great cooks, a restaurant division, food and vendor booths, and a separate "holding tank" (2 - 10 x 10 tents put together with rope around it) for the judges to gather in and await the judges meeting.

Special thanks go out to Martin Toth and all his very special volunteers who kept the festival going all day. This was the largest crowd ever, with all proceeds raised going to the Colorado Fallen Firefighters Foundation, and the largest amount of cooks ever, who also dolled out many gallons of chili each to "feed" the hungry chili sampling crowd.

As Chief Judge, I want to give special thanks to my wife, Kathy, who was my Chief Scorekeeper, and who very patiently was training Martin and volunteer Michael Milner on the proper procedures of scorekeeping and how a big cookoff should be run. I also want to thank another volunteer, Mike Phelps, who managed to keep the judging tent in order, preparing all the tables, spoons, drinks, and keeping the crowd of spectators out of the judging area.

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Now for the results:

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SALSA - 13 ENTRIES

3rd Caleb Weiss

2nd Paul Cordova

1st Erika Knutson

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CHILI VERDE - 20 ENTRIES

3rd Sue Dudzik

2nd George Lott

1st Andy Gatschet

RED CHILI - 25 ENTRIES

3rd Danny Long

2nd Hank Wedemeyer

1st Eunice Dortch

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BOB PLAGER

CHIEF JUDGE

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SUNDAY - September 9, 2007

Phoned in results

MAINE STATE

Salsa

2^nd Ghon Eckley

1^st Jim Miller

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Chili Verde

2^nd Todd Gady

1^st Rich Omerza

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ICS Red

2^nd Ghon Eckley

1^st Skip Cooley

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Mentone Regional - September 22nd

The last Southern California cookoff to advance to the 2007 World's Championship will be the Mentone Regional on Saturday, September 22nd. The cookoff is held at Greenspot Farms in (where else) Mentone. After the first sanctioned cookoff the setup of the contestants was changed. The chili contestants are placed right up front, mostly on level asphalt, and getting in and out is not an issue.

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All three contests will be held. The first place prize money for traditional red chili has been increased. The winner will now receive $1,000.00!! People's Choice chili is an optional contest. You do not have to bring People's Choice chili unless you want to compete for the $200.00 prize for the most popular chili as voted by the spectators. The entry fee here is a little different. If you cook traditional red chili only or chili verde only, the entry fee is $35.00. If you cook both, the entry fee is still only $35.00. You can also enter the salsa contest, and the entry fee is still only $35.00. If you enter only the salsa contest, the entry fee is $15.00. What a bargain!

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There are lots of activities all day and a good sixties band "The Yardogs". The trophies at this cookoff are spectacular---all are ceramic statuettes, and each one is a collector's item! There is a lot of money to be won. Besides $1,350.00 for traditional red chili, $200.00 for chili verde, $100.00 for salsa and $200.00 for people's choice chili, there are also money prizes for best booth, best showmanship, best costume, Miss Chili Pepper and Mr. Hot Sauce. There is also a hotly contended horseshoe tournament with money prizes for first and second places.

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Chief Judge is Mike Austin. Chief Scorekeeper is Karen Ray. Ormly Gumfudgin is a good friend of the cookoff chairman, Jim Lotito, and always attends this event. If you plan to cook, please fax your entry form to Jim Lotito at (909) 389-7167, or enter online. If you are able to help with the judgin at Mentone, please email Mike Austin at ughlee@verizon.net or call him at (909) 883-3596. Come on out and join us for a day in the country.

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============================

If you have articles for posting to Dicks Chili World BLOG, they can be emailed to GWTWChili@aol.com

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Tell your other Chilihead Friends about the BLOG and how it works.