More than 1,500 people attended last weekend’s chili cook-off at Lady Luck Casino that raised $13,000 for the Children’s Shelter, organizers said.
“This was the biggest Chili for Children yet,” Children’s Shelter director Cindy McCarley said of the Jan. 25 event. “It was a lot of fun and we had an awful lot of people participating.”
The amount surpassed by $4,000 what was raised in 2013 for the shelter, which serves abused, neglected and homeless children in the county from birth to 17, said Delores Evans, station manager for The Radio People, which organized the fifth annual event.
Thirty teams of cooks displayed their chili-cooking skills in the Lady Luck Casino parking lot, while people paid $5 for a bowl to sample the recipes and vote for a “people’s choice.”
First place went to Gen-Daddy’s Lightning Chili, while 10SOUTH took second, and RockHouse Chili was third.
The Children’s Shelter was founded in 1991 to help abused, neglected and homeless children. McCarley said she came up with the idea for Chili for Children as a way to raise money for the program.
“It first started with Vicksburg Cycles, and the bikers participated,” Evans said, adding The Radio People took over the annual event after the first cook-off. “It’s grown since then. Lady Luck has sponsored it for the past two years.”
“It was a very good event,” said Jennifer Gill, marketing operations manager for Lady Luck, which sponsored the event. “It was a very good program to have, and we enjoyed doing it, and we look forward to hosting it every year in the future.”