More than 60 people took part in a tasty event last Saturday to raise money for veterans.

 

It was the Fourth Annual 10th District Legion Riders Chili Cookoff, held at the Clearwater Legion for the second straight year.

 

The event started in 2014 when the Coon Rapids Legion Riders held a chili cookoff.

 

“They invited everyone in the 10th District to bring two pots of chili,” says Clearwater Rider Mark Himmelspach. “We went down there and won it.”

 

Himmelspach and fellow Rider Bruce Sobotta took top prize, a gift certificate and a travelling trophy. Also part of the victory was getting to host the next cookoff.

 

That’s what happened last year, and the result was another win for the Himmelspach-Sobotta recipe. So Clearwater won the opportunity to host the event this year,

Saturday, there were 11 pots of chili from Legion Clubs in Clearwater, Maple Lake, Osseo, Fridley, Hopkins-Coon Rapids and Delano.

 

Each club held their own cookoff a few weeks ago to see which would be entered in the District 10 cookoff. Each club was allowed two entries. "We were automatically entered since we won last year,” says Himmelspach.

 

Clearwater’s other entry came from Jeff and Karen Olson. 

 

Everyone who paid the entrance fee of $5 had the chance to taste all a small sample of 11 recipes and vote for their favorite. While that was happening, Riders had the opportunity to sit down with other clubs and spend some time catching up.

 

About 45 minutes later, votes were tabulated, but it wasn’t good news for Clearwater this time.

 

The winning chili was made by Bob Wold of Maple Lake. Delano was second and the Himmelspach-Sobotta chili took third.

 

Wold declined to give out any ingredients from his recipe. But Riders will probably get the chance to taste it again next year when Maple Lake hosts the event.

 

One the voting was over, Clearwater Riders opened up the big chili pots, set out onions, shredded cheese and sour cream and it was “all-you-can-eat” chili until it was gone.

 

Proceeds from the event went to Pets Loyal to Vets, a non-profit organization that connects veterans with trained therapy companion dogs.