Five Red Deer restaurants and one church brought their best chilis forward Wednesday, as a fundraiser for United Way Central Alberta.
Wednesday’s cool drizzle was the perfect weather for a hearty chili lunch, said Dianne Macaulay, of Alberta Global Talent, a branch of the Central Alberta Refugee Effort (CARE).
Macaulay was making this pitch to people walking by Red Deer’s City Hall Park, who were offered a bowl of chili, bun and hot chocolate for $5.
All proceeds will go to the United Way, a major funder of CARE. Its affiliate, Alberta Global Talent, provides employment support, including language training and cultural awareness, for skilled immigrants getting into the workforce.
Macaulay, who hopes to raise $2,000 from the event, saw it’s a way of giving back to an organization that helps many Red Deer charities.
And the effort is very much appreciated by the United Way, said Linda Wilson, co-chair of the 2018-19 campaign.
Participants in the third-annual chili cook-off were Living Stones Church, State and Main, the Red Boar Smokery, Finn McCool’s, The Crossing, and Millennium Cafe. Pursuit Adventures was providing free hot chocolate.
Chris Becker, from Red Boar Smokery, served up some “real southern” chili. “We take as much as we can from traditional southern chili” recipes, said Becker, who like most of the servers declined to divulge secret ingredients.
“My chili is special because I have a special pepper in it,” said Sabine Goden, kitchen manager for Living Stones Church. As for the name of the pepper, Goden laughingly added “No, you can’t get it.”
Some customers made educated guesses. Brayden Thomson, who got his bowl from the church booth, said “It’s really good. It’s taco chili.”
Judges, including Red Deer city councillor Ken Johnston, will announce the winner of the chili contest on Thursday.
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