The Stormy Chili Cook-Off of 2013

I had just dug into a tasty helping of chili at our Annual Chili Cook-Off when someone approached me with a concerned look on her face.

“Dan, my husband called to say that a tornado has touched down in Wilmington.  That’s not far from here.” 

I had heard the weather was going to get rough but I had been busy and hadn’t really thought too much about it.  Looking out the large windows I saw heavy rain, blowing sideways.  It was dark… at 12:30 in the afternoon.

I thought, “Hmm, I better let people know what’s happening.”

“Can I have your attention, please?!?  Everyone!!!  Please!” I called out several times.  The fellowship hall grew quiet.  “Folks, we want to let you know that a tornado has touched down in Wilmington, Illinois which is not too far from here.  We have some people who are monitoring the weather.  We’ll provide updates as the situation changes.”

There was a moment of quiet, a few nodding heads and then everyone went back to talking and eating chili.  It’s very hard to stop our folks from enjoying good food.

It wasn’t too long before we were getting reports of tornados touching down in even closer locations: Frankfort, Tinley Park, Alsip and even at the corner of 111^th Street & Cicero Avenue—which is about 2 blocks from the church.

(One person even told me there was a very small tornado ripping through my office.  But that just turned out to be Bob Miller and some of the other ushers, wrestling.)

.

In the meantime, most of the folks hung around, the votes were counted and Shital Thakkar won first place in the Chili Cook-Off.  His “Internet throw-down strategy” seemed like it might be a bit of a risky maneuver to me, but it paid off.  Mark Bogard took second place. 

I didn’t get a final count but I believe there were only one or two fist fights, so, it was a quiet year from that standpoint.

(And I hate to disappoint, but I did not do any of my ninja moves.  Sorry, perhaps next year.  Or… you never know… I’m not making any promises… but… Yia Yia Palooza is coming soon…!)

As I was heading home, after the event was over—across the somewhat flooded church parking lot—the sun began to peek through the clouds.  I looked at the temperature on the sign at the bank:  It was 62 degrees with just a slight breeze and sunny.

I shook my head and laughed knowing that I would only need to wait for 20 minutes, or so, until the next “season” arrived here in Chicago.  Who knows?  Maybe it would bring a lovely winter snow.  It’s always fun to make a snowman after you’ve had a few hearty bowls of chili!