The Terlingua Chili Cook-off (CASI)is held on the first weekend of November every year. This event draws chili cooks and fans from around the world. The chili cooks and spectators (aka party animals) start arriving about mid-week. You can see just about any type of camper you can imagine crammed into the cook-off site. Estimates are that somewhere between 5,000 to 7,000 chili fans and party people are crammed into this small piece of desert. Hotels, motels, cars, trailers, motor homes , tents, you name it, are home to these fans for the long weekend. Police from all over Texas (including horse mounted police from San Antonio) are brought in for crowd control. It litterally takes 2 days to get the vehicles out of the cook-off site when it's over.
The REAL action starts shortly after the judging. That's about the time that we leave the event.
Our group usually leaves shortly after the winners are announced. One of the surprises for me is that there are actually chili cooks from Virginia. I was raised in Virginia and never tasted real chili until I went to Texas. There are teams from Palmyra (near Charlottesville) and Alexandria. They come every year. As a matter of fact, they actually own the 10' x 10' space where they cook.
Most of our group serve as judges. I was a judge my first year but since I really don't care for chili, I no longer judge. I didn't want to penalize the contestants with low marks. I'd rather watch the outside "action" anyway. The art work (signs and decorated stove tops) are almost worth the price of admission. The show teams are usually "interesting" - definately not "Broadway" stuff. Actually they are more in the line of skits, games, a several bands.
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