Chili Cook-Off and Heritage Festival
By Patty Unruh
Chili has been called everything from “a bowl of blessedness” to “soup of the devil.” Whether you like it hot – or not – there was chili to suit every taste at Central City’s Chili Cook-Off and Heritage Festival held on Main Street on August 10. Besides celebrating the zesty concoctions of red and green chili varieties, guests at the street festival learned about Central City’s heritage of mining and the importance of beer to the miners.
The aromas of spices, fresh roasted coffee, and barbecue blended enticingly as patrons began visiting the booths of chili competitors. The event started off with sunshine as warm as the chili, but clouded over as crowds gathered throughout the afternoon.
Commercial and non-commercial entries of red chili and green chili competed for $100 cash prizes. There was a ten dollar entry fee per chili, or fifteen dollars to enter both the red and green categories. The public was invited to sample the varieties for free and could then receive a ballot to vote for their favorite choices.
Competitors were required to prepare or at least combine ingredients on-site and to heat or cook their chili on-site. They were allowed to do chopping or other pre-preparation in advance and could cook by propane or cook-top. The chili chefs began the day at 8:00 a.m., with public tasting starting at noon and running until the chili was consumed. Those looking for a free lunch were out of luck, as the samples were doled out in only one-ounce plastic cups. However, other delicious food was available for purchase.
Judging began at 1:00 p.m. Judges took a six-ounce cup for tasting, taking their samples from the same chili pots as those used to serve the public. The rules stated, “All results final, no complaining.”
Commercial entrants included Mountain Mocha, Easy Street Casino, Century Casino, JKQ BBQ, and Reserve Casino. Non-commercial entrants were Andy Armbright, Brandon Johnson, Nancy Spain, Russell Thomas, and John Denney. There were a total of 13 chili varieties entered.
Each variety of chili had a name to identify it. The creative titles included Red Beer Chili, Millie’s Red Revenge, Panda Red, False Alarm, Green With Envy, Three Alarm Chili, and Great Fire Green Chili.
Although most of the competitors kept their chili components a secret, a few of them were willing to part with information about the ingredients that made their chili special. Matt Casarez and Jeff Hardy of the Reserve Casino shared that Berkshire pork made their green chili unique. Brandon Johnson, winner of the non-commercial green chili category, noted that it contained bacon and five different kinds of peppers.
Janice Morales of the Easy Street Casino made a succulent red chili, spicy but not overwhelming. She said it was a basic recipe that her dad used to make. Easy Street’s green chili was “delicious,” according to one patron named Sharon. “We eat it upstairs [in the restaurant] all the time.”
Nancy Spain shared a booth with Andy Armbright. “All the chili is made with love” as the main ingredient, they said. “We do it for a lot of Broncos games,” Spain advised.
Jessica Dionne of the Mountain Mocha Café supplied guests with cups of her mild Red Beer Chili. She said, “I have German ancestry, so I don’t do spicy.” She originally made the chili for her husband Pete. Ironically, Pete doesn’t care for beans or spicy food. “She made it for me so I’d eat chili,” he laughed. The Dionnes were also selling Mountain Mocha’s coffees and teas.
Official judges decided the winners, as follows: For the red chili, the commercial winner was Century Casino, and the non-commercial winner was Andy Armbright. For the green chili, the commercial winner was Easy Street Casino, and the non-commercial winner was Brandon Johnson. The People’s Choice awards, selected by the public vote, were Easy Street Casino’s green chili and Mountain Mocha’s red chili. $100 cash prizes and bragging rights were awarded to each winner.
Morning entertainment was provided by the Bellfuries, a root-rock Americana band from Austin, Texas. The band’s leader, singer-songwriter Joey Simeone, said the band had been playing in several U.S. cities and had just come off a month-long tour of 14 European countries. The band members found Colorado audiences to be “very fun and friendly.”
The Derailers performed in the afternoon, beginning their first set during a downpour. The band, an American country music group also based in Austin, was founded in 1994. Folks enjoyed dancing to their classic country beat combined with a ‘60’s pop style.
Other entertainment included Herman Gaines of Gilpin History, who related, among other tales, the story of President Ulysses S. Grant’s stagecoach ride from Central City to Idaho Springs on the “Oh My God” road. The driver seemed to be going rather fast. With hairpin turns and 1,000-foot drop-offs, the trip should have taken at least a half hour. They made it in 12 minutes. When a frantic passenger leaned out and complained about the speed, the driver retorted, “My life is worth as much as the President’s, and I’ll go as fast as I want.”
Dave Thomas, brewer emeritus at Coors and author of a history of beer in the 19th Century titled Of Mines and Beer, also addressed the guests. He said thirteen different breweries existed within five miles of Central City in the last half of the 19th Century. Most started before Coors, which began in 1873. “Coors started because of the miners here,” Thomas, who worked at Coors for 32 years, advised. He related, “Brewing was tough manual labor,” and shared that brewer Austin Lang had delivered beer in 1870 by mule team from Colorado to Texas.
Several merchants had items available for perusal, such as Way 2 Bodacious Tye Dye, with handmade t-shirts, skirts, dresses, and children’s clothing; the Gilpin Arts Booth, displaying works by Gary Kragenbrink made of completely recycled material; Sky’s the Limit Productions, aka “Heidi Did It” varieties of jerky; and Gilpin History’s booth selling Wild Bunch t-shirts. The Wild Bunch performed shoot-outs each hour, as they have all summer.
The lines were long at the booth for Johnny Z’s Casino, where patrons received prizes in a “Wheel of Fortune” manner. Shaun Jewell, a Johnny Z’s associate, advised that the prizes included free meal deals, Starbucks, ice cream, prime rib, and money amounts to play at the casino.
Whoever had not had their taste buds singed off by chili were welcomed at such food vendors as Dostal Alley, which supplied pizza, root beer floats, and chicken wings; Century Casino, with pulled pork sandwiches and buffalo bratwurst; and JKQ BBQ, doing a brisk business with fresh cut fries, smoked brisket, and St. Louis pork ribs.
Mountain man Kit Carson was alleged to have uttered as his last words, “Wish I had time for just one more bowl of chili.” Judging from the crowds, it seems he wasn’t the only one who craved the spicy brew as a favorite dish.