WEDNESDAY - Sept. 23, 2009

ChiliFest 2009

The West Virginia State Chili Championship

ChiliFest 2009 is in the books and what a great day it was. The beautiful weather brought out a record crowd that at times was impossible to get through. Downtown Huntington at Pullman Square was alive with music, games, contests, ceremony and of course lots and lots of chili. 37 Red Chili cooks, 24 Chili Verde Cooks and 28 Salsa entries made for a very busy Judging Tent. When you included the People's Choice teams from the Huntington community we had well over 60 cooking teams to keep the crowd, estimated at over 25,000, happy and fed. Our People's Choice teams did an outstanding job of raising money for the Ronald McDonald House with loads of different varieties of chili. Our top 10 People's Choice teams alone raised $19,704.00 in sample tickets sold. Together with all the chili teams and chili sold at the Ronald McDonald House tent it looks like over $36,000.00 in chili sample ticket money has been raised surpassing any year so far. Combine that with the 2010 Toyota Camry that was raffled off on Saturday, we will probably add another $36,000.00 to the kitty for a total surpassing $72,000 in gross money raised at ChiliFest. Many thanks to all the teams who traveled far and wide to attend the 26th year of ChiliFest in downtown Huntington. God bless you for all your efforts. Here are our winners this year:

ChiliFest 2009 Winners:

Red Chili Winners:

1st Place: Brian Warmuth, Wheeling, WV

2nd Place: Brad Berkebile

3rd Place: Amy Roberts

4th Place: Carolyn Blakemore, Fairmont, WV

5th Place: Gary Schmeh, Cincinnati, OH

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Chili Verde Winners:

1st Place: Kevin Smmons, Milton, WV

2nd Place: Gail Donovan, Cincinnati, OH

3rd Place: Carolyn Napier

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Salsa winners:

1st Place: Lauren Staley, Nicholasville, KY

2nd Place: David Mallory, Kitt Hill, OH

3rd Place: Rose Warmuth, Wheeling, WV

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Best Booth and Showmanship

1st Place: Bill & Gail Donovan, Cincinnati, OH

2nd Place: Jeff Shaw & Trinity Presbyterian, Huntington, WV

3rd Place: American Health Services, Ironton, OH

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Media Cup Winner: WSAZ

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People's Choice

1st Place: G-Lover Chili Team

2nd Place: American Health Services

3rd Place: Back Door Chili Company

4th place: St. Mary's Medical Center

5th Place: Hillbilly Chili Team

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