ST. PAUL - The Town of St. Paul's chili cooking team is on a roll.
Not long after the Town of St. Paul won the Elk Point chili cook-off on Aug. 23, the smell of chili was again in the air at the Cornerstone Co-op's rodeo week chili cook-off in St. Paul on Aug. 29. The event is a staple during rodeo week in St. Paul as the Lakeland Rodeo Association finals come to town.
On Thursday morning, teams were putting the finishing touches on their pots of chili. The sun was shining and people sauntered past the 10 teams vying for this year's championship title, with bowls in hand, ready to taste-test.
This year's judges included Justin Anderson, a board member with Cornerstone Co-op, Yvonne Weinmeier, the executive director with the St. Paul & District Chamber of Commerce, Deb Poulin, owner of Twisted Fork, and Town of St. Paul CAO Steven Jeffery.
When asked why judges picked the Town of St. Paul's chili as the best of the day, Poulin said the flavour was just really good. And Jeffery assured Lakeland This Week that he was not biased in his judging, letting the other judges offer their judgments first when it came to the Town of St. Paul's chili.
Second place went to the team from Cornerstone Co-op, who judges say had the spiciest chili of the day, and third place went to Money Crunchers, who not only had good chili but also an impressive display.
A common trend among this year's chili was sweetness, according to the judges. There was even a dessert chili entered by ACFA Régionale de Saint-Paul's team.
For judge Anderson, the chili entered into this year's competition was not quite spicy enough for his liking, he said with a laugh. Regardless, he did not leave the event hungry.
"Every one was different," said Weinmeier, speaking after the judging was complete, and acknowledging the effort put in by the teams.
Jeffery was also impressed by the hard work put into the displays this year.
Judges agreed that this year's bribery was kept to a minimum. In the past, teams have showered judges with gifts, but this year it was all about the chili.
Poulin described the chili cook-off as a "fun competition" that gets the community out. All generations come out to support the event, which was also a fundraiser for the St. Paul Gymnastics Club this year.