Ropin’ Peppers for Military Kids Regional/Cowboys for Kids Regional
The first annual Littleton, Colorado back to back cookoffs that started off as Districts, made it to Regional status both days. Cooks came from Texas, Wyoming, and of course, Colorado. The weather Saturday started off cold, then hot and sunny, and then the winds kicked in, making it a real challenge to stir and hold onto the tent at the same time. Sunday, with the threat of rain, and then snow in the forecast, along with the continued wind, made for a very “interesting” cooking day.
Our Chairperson, Ann Marie Dinkel, along with our Chief Judge and Chief Scorekeeper (Bob and Kathy Plager), worked very hard to get the “minimum 20” each day in Red, to get these cookoffs to Regional status. A big thank you to Al Henry, who gave up cooking Verde both days, to help out with scorekeeping and wrangling. Kudos, to the rest of the scorekeepers who helped out both days. We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you to all the cooks on Sunday, who pitched in, to make it a Regional cookoff.
We had a great judging room inside the Elks Lodge, with plenty of room for all the great judges to move around the tables. Saturday’s University of Colorado football players “The Buffs”, enjoyed judging so much, the whole team wants to come out next year, and judge both days. The City of Littleton came out with a few judges on Sunday, and next year, they want the whole city council, along with heads of departments to judge. Even the police officers judged some categories, and want to get more of their off duty officers to come in next year to judge. Overall, the consensus was “this was the hardest thing we’ve ever done” — judging guacamole on Saturday, and Red Chili, Chili Verde, and Salsa on both Saturday and Sunday.
Now, on to the results:
SATURDAY
Miss Chili Pepper
Rachael Webster
Mr. Chili Pepper
Heuwin Gregory
Best Booth
George Lott
Guacamole Off
Hank Wedemeyer
Salsa
3rd Place - Kevin Foley - TX
2nd Place - Joe Cowan
1st Place - Nick Knutson
Chili Verde
3rd Place - Lisa Cowan
2nd Place - Mike Rook
1st Place - Nick Knutson
Red Chili
HM 5th Place - Mick Joplin - TX
HM 4th Place - George Lott
3rd Place - Lori Prestesater
2nd Place - Kevin Foley - TX
1st Place - Mike Rook
SUNDAY
Salsa
3rd Place - Mick Weiss
2nd Place - Erika Knutson
1st Place - Kevin Foley - TX
Chili Verde
HM 4th Place - Judy Wedemeyer
3rd Place - Kevin Foley - TX
2nd Place - Mike Rook
1st Place - Mike Gatschet
Red Chili
HM - 5th Place - Hank Wedemeyer/Nick Knutson
(Tie - Not broken)
HM - 4th Place - George Lott
3rd Place - Ben Wedemeyer
2nd Place - Kevin Foley - TX (Again)
1st Place - Erika Knutson
