LITTLE BIG FALL FEST ULTIMATE CHILI COOK-OFF CONTESTANTS … Front row from left, Danielle Tanner of Hicksville State Bank and president of Main Street Edgerton, Paula Shiple of Edgerton Church of Christ, Denise William of Visiting Angels, and Kym Kurtz of Rita’s Family Dining. Back row is Staci DeLeon of Visiting Angels.
GOLDEN LADLE … Rita’s Family Dining of Edgerton was awarded with the Ultimate Chili Challenge Cook-Off Trophy as the event was sponsored by Main Street Edgerton. Posing with the trophy was from left Kym Kurtz and Jim Kurtz.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The first annual Edgerton Chili Cook-Off competition was held on Saturday, October 4 at the Edgerton Fire Hall.
It was a part of the inaugural Little Big Fall Fest sponsored by the Main Street Edgerton. The event also featured a variety of activities such as a magic show, face painting and pumpkin decorating.
“What we do is we try and organize a lot of different events for the community,” said Danielle Tanner who is the president of Main Street Edgerton. “We had wanted to do something in the fall.”
In the past, Main Street Edgerton had previously done a summertime event and wanted to pull everybody into the town for the fall season.
“We came up with our Little Big Fall Fest,” commented Tanner. “When we were sitting around and thinking about it, we thought a good old chili cook-off contest.
“We had it before long, long time ago. So, we thought let’s bring that back and let’s get some of the people in the community and the businesses in the community to come out here and participate.”
The chili cook-off contest featured four different businesses and churches in Edgerton.
Among the participants on Saturday were The Hicksville State Bank, Visiting Angels Living Assisting Services, Rita’s Family Dining and Edgerton Church of Christ.
“Again, with Rita’s Family Dining having a brand-new owner, we thought that was great along with Visiting Angels, Edgerton Church of Christ and The Hicksville Bank,” said Tanner.
The contest benefited the Edgerton Fire Department and the Williams County EMS. A freewill donation was taken, and community members also had an opportunity to vote on the chili cook-off.
“Both the fire department and the EMS are very vital in our community,” said Tanner. “We want to show the support not only for the community, but for those two things as well.”
Tanner also mentioned the chili cook-off was open to all community members and is hoping that next year, the event will be bigger and better.
“With any of our events, we do hope to make them grow as we continue on adding things and maneuvering things around,” said Tanner. “We really try to get everybody in the community involved not just our local businesses, but also our other organizations to benefit.”
This year’s Ultimate Chili Challenge Cook-Off winner was Rita’s Family Dining who was presented with a Golden Ladle trophy symbolizing the event.
“The main goal is to just get everybody together out and about especially on a beautiful day like this,” said Kym Kurtz who represented Rita’s Family Dining at the cook-off.