81 Cooks Vie for World’s Top Chili

The air over Tropico Gold Mine in Rosamond, Calif., will be permeated by the cooking of onions, peppers and meat, when 81 contestants compete for $25,000 first-prize money at the 22nd annual World’s Championship Chili Cook-Off, Sunday, Oct. 30. Contestants are winners of charity cook-offs held in the United States, Canada, Mexico and four overseas countries sanctioned by the International Chili Society.

Cooks will light up their stoves at noon, but gates open at 9 a.m. and there will be continuous stage entertainment from 10 a.m. headed by Louisiana band Buckwheat Zydeco. Along with Miss Chile Pepper and Mr. Hot Sauce contests, a mass marriage ceremony of couples who love to cook chili will be performed before the 20,000 expected spectators

The cook-off will also feature the world’s largest chili pot, containing 750 gallons of Titanic Bowl of Red, prepared by members of the Tulsa Junior Chamber. Proceeds from the sale of the hot and spicy mixture will benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

Admission to the cook-off is $7 for adults, $3 for children younger than 12. Tropico Gold Mine is located north of the Rosamond exit of the Antelope Valley Freeway, 10 miles east of Lancaster.