First Fentress Chili Cook Off During Trick Or Treat On The Square

Fentress County residents still have time to enter into the Chamber of Commerce’s first chili cook-off on Saturday.

Tourism and Membership Director Seth Vaughn said the event will happen alongside the county’s Hope Foundation Trick or Treat on the Jamestown Square. Vaughn said all you have to do is bring your already made chili and enter.

“You can drop your entries off from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, the last entry will be received at 6:00 PM,” Vaughn said. “The winner should be announced shortly after, possibly around 7:00 PM or a couple of minutes afterwards. Then all the dishes must be picked up by 7:30 PM.”

Vaughn said the chili cook-off is free and you can literally register the same time you drop chili off on Saturday. He said judging integrity is a top priority, staying tight lipped on who will be crowning the top chili in the county.

“We do have some community members who have volunteered in order to be our judges,” Vaughn said. “Of course it is going to be independent, they’re not going to know whose chili is whose whenever they’re voting. However, we just try to keep things as biased free as possible.”

Vaughn said that with it being the first attempt a chili cook-off, there are only ribbons as prizes and attendees downtown are not going to be able to eat the chili. However, Vaughn said it was a perfect chance to get more people downtown to support the Hope Foundation.

“The do so much for the youthful generation and they do have the Hope Child of The Year,” Vaughn said. “So often times they choose one child in the community who is going through a rough time and they just help them in whatever they can do to be of assistance.”

Vaughn said that all residents need to do on Saturday is bring their chili to the chamber of commerce office. Vaughn said the intention is to let people drop it off so they can enjoy everything going on downtown.