Crystal clear skies afforded cooks from five different states fantastic views of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains on this picture perfect September morning.  Cooks who arrived before dawn were greeted with a surreal view of the landscape as it, and the mountains, were lit up by a full harvest moon. 

27 cooks and 7 juniors came out for this event, which was held at Mountain States Children’s home, a 58-acre farm just north of Longmont Colorado.  Along with the cookoff, a bargain auction was held at the same time.  It is always great to see cooks who are ready to come out and support the work that the Home does with kids.   

With Red Chili, Green Chili and Wings on the menu, the public showed up early. They found themselves surrounded by colorful chili booths, and even more colorful chili cooks.  Of course, they might have been there to pickup some great buys at the auction, as well. 

In addition to the adults vying for points towards Terlingua, Kids ranging in age from 8 to 17 were trying their hand at that perennial favorite, Texas Red.   

At the end of the day, with their chili pots empty, the public sated, and the points tallied, the cooks waited eagerly for announcements. 

The Judges "sweated" it out to pick the top spot in Wings.  But in the end, first time cook, Cory Calvert of Longmont, Colorado walked away with top honors in this category. 

Steve Lee of Longmont, repeated his win from last year by winning the Green Chili competition 

This year, Steve's daughters joined him. His youngest daughter Katie' just 8 years old, took First in the junior division.  His oldest daughter Stephanie took 2nd.  Like father like daughters 

The Lee family won as a group when their Showmanship team the Warriors of the Crimson Pepper pulled down First place. 

Finally, Christi Batie of Loveland Colorado took the coveted top spot at the Cookoff - First Place in Red.  This win was twice as sweet for Christi since it also qualified her for Terlingua. 

Rocky Kimball of Highlands Ranch, CO also qualified for Terlingua with a 6^th place pickup and Linda Wilkinson of Loveland, CO qualified for Showmanship – Congratulations to all of our Terlingua Qualifiers. 

We would like to thank all the cooks, judges, sponsors, kids and those people who just love to eat chili, for coming out and supporting this wonderful event, and the work the the home does.  And in the end, that's what it is all about.  -  Thank You!