Traders Village is seeking judges and contestants for the 45th annual Texas Open Chili Championship July 24 and 25.
For those who wish to demonstrate their chili cooking skills, pre-registration is under way with an entry fee of $35, and $10 for the junior chili competition ages 7-17. Pre-registration is done by emailing chilitime@sbcglobal.net with a deadline of July 20; entry fee instructions will be provided once information is received and entered in the system.
Clyde Rogers, chairman of the Texas State open Chili Championship at Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI), extends an invitation to students, faculty and anybody else to help judge this competition. Sign-up for judging will begin at noon July 24, with the first round of judging starting at 1 p.m.
The event is anticipating 150 cooks from around the country to compete for the top honors in Chili and junior Chili.
“We need judges,” Rogers said. “For 100 chilis (cooks), it takes about 120 judges and if we get the 150 chilis, it’s almost 165 judges that we need.”
Judging happens in four rounds with the final round happening between 3 and 4 p.m.
“I would like to have some of the A&M students or the professors…for the final table, which means you would be judging the top 20 to 22 out of that 150,” Rogers said.
The cookoff will take place under the pavilion with the brown roof on the far-left side of the compound. The parking fee at Traders Village is $4, and there will be signage with directions to the cookoff upon entering the parking area.
Some COVID-19 precautions will be followed; however, with the lifting of mask mandates, masks and social distancing will be at the public’s discretion.
Proceeds of this year’s cookoff will benefit Hope Hits Harder, which is a cancer foundation for kids.
“It’s the camaraderie with the people,” Rogers said. “We’re all one big family… we all help each other; everything we do is for charity.”
For more information, contact Clyde Rogers at chilitime@sbcglobal.net.
