Iron Horse Pub owner Tracy Armstrong says the Fall Chili Cook Off Competition held in her pub’s parking lot in Lone Butte on Oct. 30 was “great,” with eight teams of three cooks competing.
“It was kind of cool because it was like an original chili cook-off – everybody had to bring their own flame, there was no power to any of the contestants, no tents provided, nothing. We only provided a water station and a location.”
Local teams from Save-On-Foods, BJ’s Donuts & Eatery, Sunrise Ford, Sulphurous Lake and the Iron Horse Pub also competed with teams from Valemount, she explains.
Armstrong adds the competition was organized by Dan Clay of Valemount, where he has run the these competitions before.
Clay says he didn’t enter directly, but was on site with a Barbecue Banditos vendor booth offering pulled pork sandwiches.
The “Banditos” team from Valemount was run by his wife, Kari Clay, but unrelated to his food booth, he explains.
“We donated the money from the sandwiches to the [Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School] graduates … who were volunteers on site, so they are going to use it for whatever they need for their grad this year.”
The Iron Horse Pub team won first place for the best chili, with second going to the Chretien Family Eivaccaro from Sunrise Ford, and third place went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers team from Save-On-Foods, which also won the People’s Choice Award.
Clay says he is interested in organizing future competitions in the region.
“We are going to try to do a circuit, so we can do Valemount, 100 Mile House and Williams Lake.”
For more information, call Dan or Kari Clay at 1-250-566-5070 or e-mail bbqbanditos@hotmail.com.