Nearly 30 participants took part in the Chili Cookoff and Rifle on Wednesday. The heated competition is a fundraiser for the Rifle Chamber Ambassadors. Director, Mandie Dovey says it's a long-running favorite for residents from throughout the area.
Dovey: It's a beloved event for Grand Valley [and] Garfield County, and we're just honored that we're still doing it and people are still showing up and supporting it. It's just a great community event. The Chamber Ambassadors, they're our forward facing.. of the Chamber. So they're the stewards of good will for the Chamber, and so them coming, they're helping run the beer booth and the ticket booth, and checking on all the vendors and checking on our guests and just being a really good positive influence and presence for the Chamber.
We're in our revamping year. The ambassadors were kind of dormant and we kind of reorganized this year in 2025 and it's been just spectacular. We have a strong group of people that represent different businesses throughout the valley. Um, they do have to be members of the Chamber in good standing. And some of our biggest fundraisers that we're doing is, uh, helping with the Third Thursday in Rifle, which is a new event and it's been amazing. And then we just hosted our first pickleball tournament. Never done that before. We did that in Parachute, and we had a great turnout. We had 10 teams, we had great sponsors. It was just, it was a lot of fun.
And then all the proceeds from these events go to a scholarship. So we're offering four scholarships. One will be like a homeschool or online school. Then we have one for, uh, Coleridge, one for Rifle, and one for Grand Valley High School. So it's just something that we all believe in, and we really believe that the Chamber is doing some great positive things.
We have workshops that range from marketing to taxes to law, that's provided to our members. And a lot of our members are small businesses. So they don't always have access to those type of services. And we want to make sure that we're bringing that to them. And then putting on events like this, it's just, it's really bringing all of the community together helping to grow and sustain their businesses.
KDNK: Along with judged categories for red and green chili and salsa. There's also the coveted People's Choice Award.
Alright, the People's Choice Award for the 46th Annual Chili Cookoff goes to... Andrea Richardson! Andrea Richardson. The people have spoken.
People's Choice winner. Andrea Richardson is originally from San Antonio and now lives in Parachute with her husband and two kids. She says it's quite an honor to win.
Richardson: I was the only booth who did not have official sponsorship, so the fact that I won People's Choice was really special for me because I was, I guess, the underdog, you might say.
KDNK: What went into making your People's Choice award-winning chili?
Well, I used quality products, so I started with pork loin instead of the Boston butt. Um, it's all pork loin. I also used Anaheim and peppers, pasillo peppers, some jalapeno peppers, serrano or two, and some secret spices. I used a little cinnamon, some cloves, and that's as much as I'll tell you on that. And lots of love!
KDNK: There you go. Secret spices and love. That's what it takes. Is this the first year you've taken part?
Richardson: I did the Chili Cookoff the year before COVID and I entered the red chili and I discovered very quickly that a lot of people have very strong feelings about what goes into a red chili. There's the beans, no beans camp. There's beef, no beef, vegetarian, you know? And so I wanted to do the green chili, and I spent a lot of time tinkering with recipes this past summer. And it was worth it because I didn't think I'd be here. But here we are. We won. I'm so excited.
KDNK: And it's quite an event, isn't it?
Richardson: It's an amazing event. I really like that it's in the fall because it's the start of comfort food season and. Now that people have chili, I just, that's all I want to do now. I want cornbread and chili. And I had, I've tasted a lot of good chili tonight. Um, and I am really, I was in really good company, and now all I wanna do is go home and just eat soup and stews and beef. [Be] the Crockpot Queen for the rest of the season.
KDNK: Along with the samples of great chili and salsa. The event also featured a dj, a bounce house for the kids, and much more for KDNK News from the Colorado River Valley Chili Cookoff, I'm Mike Lemmer.
