Kiwanis family flavors chili contest

Ingredients that make chili hot: cayenne pepper, Tabasco, and fresh habañero peppers. Ingredients that make a chili cookoff hot: Cabot, Arkansas, Kiwanis-family members working together.

An annual event, the Cabot Community Chili Cookin’ contest heats friendly competition and stirs up funds for Key Club each year. The cookoff began in 1991, sponsored by the Cabot Kiwanis club. In 1999, the Cabot High School Key Club took over, inviting the Cabot Builders and K-Kids clubs to participate and introducing hot dog, ice cream, and cookie sales into the mix.

The contest follows a simple recipe. Teams compete in two separately judged events: chili and best decorated booth displays. The teams compete in two divisions: youth and adult. The event raises money through chili samplers’ admission, additional food purchases, and a silent auction.

“A chili-cooking competition is an excellent fundraising activity,” says Cabot Kiwanian Bill Smith. “First, anyone can prepare chili—young and old alike. There are hundreds of ways to modify a basic chili recipe to produce a dish that is both delicious and distinctive. Second, people readily pay a small admission fee to sample a variety of chili recipes and vote for their favorite teams competing. Parents flock to the event to support their children who compete. Third, the event provides an excellent forum for businesses and political candidates to display their wares and mix with the community. And fourth, the event is an excellent opportunity for the Kiwanis club and its sponsored youth clubs to be seen and better understood by members of the community.”

Bill says teams from banks, churches, newspapers, businesses, and political parties go to great lengths to present tasty chili and construct elaborately decorated booths. The cookoff typically brings in between $500-$700, and the silent auction nets an additional $1,500 each year.