State championship chili cookoff to be held in Shelbyville

Calvin Cannon, who heads the promotions and events committee for Main Street Shelbyville, a proposed Tennessee Main Street Community, had submitted two proposed chili cookoffs this year for sanctioning, one in the fall, as last year's was, and another in the summer.

"We were advised by a seasoned professional that the cookoffs get better attendance in the spring and summer," said Cannon. "The real chili season is spring and summer -- the national championship is held in the first of October."

But when he submitted the contests for sanctioning, the phone call he got back was not what he expected. The woman in the main office asked if Shelbyville would be interested in picking up the ball Knoxville dropped. The answer was, naturally, a resounding "Yes."

"We're fortunate to get a state championship," said Cannon. "It's a pretty big deal -- we're real excited about it."

The International Chili Society is "a not-for-profit organization that sanctions chili cookoffs. These events are worldwide and benefit charities or nonprofit organizations," according to the ICS web site at chilicookoff.com. "All winners of ICS-sanctioned cookoffs qualify to compete for cash prizes and awards at the World's Championship Chili Cookoff. The ICS is the largest food contest, festival organization in the world."

There are only three ICS sanctioned cookoffs in Tennessee this year -- and two of them are in Shelbyville. The State Championship will be in July, during the Uptown Street Fair on July 11. The competitors will set up on Depot Street. They will have to be members of OCS to compete for the big money ($300 for first place), but membership is only $50 a year, said Cannon, and can be gotten online or at the cookoff itself.

Nonmembers have their chance to show their talents as well in the People's Choice Awards, where the entry fee is two gallons of chili, ready to serve by 11 a.m. that morning.

"People will, as before, pay $5 for a 'tasting chit,'" said Cannon. "They'll vote for their favorites."

Besides the status of a state championship, the July contest offers something else for its winner. Unlike the winner of the fall competition, who has to go through an elimination round process at the national cookoff, the winner of the state cookoff gets to coast right on into a berth in the final round.

Rules for the cookoff can be found at the ICS web site, chilicookoff.com, and more information about the Uptown Fair can be found at the Main Street web site, uptown-shelbvyille.com. Vendor applications can also be gotten there.

"We're having the car show again," said Cannon. "We're hoping it will be twice as big, if not bigger, and we'll have a children's area and craft vendors. I'm already hearing from vendors."

He's also already hearing from chili masters. Shortly after the Tennessee Backroads promotional brochure for 2009 came out, with its details from last year's cook-off and the one this fall, a woman called from Tullahoma, excited about the fall chili cookoff.

"She didn't even know about the state championship yet," said Cannon.

For more information, contact Cannon at 639-3643.