The Idaho City Chili Cook-Off happened on Saturday for the 39th time, and it continues to be one of the largest events for this mountain community of the year.
People flocked to this Boise County community for this party. The Idaho City Chamber of Commerce has to cap the amount of commemorative mugs and cups people can buy at 2,000 because there is only so much chili to go around.
"This is so much fun, and chili people are really the best people," said Kristi Blaylock, who represented the Kreiger Family. "It is such a friendly competition and so much fun."
The Kreiger Family has been making their own chili for two years as they use locally sourced meat from Nampa. They put beef, bison and pork in their chili, and they won a chili competition last year in Star.
"It is a labor of love," said Blaylock. "We make our own chili powder. So, we roast our chilies, and we make our seasonings from scratch.
The cooks spend all morning cooking their chili before serving it up to the judges in a competition, but they also serve it to the crowd for the people's choice award. The Mountain Men, a local organization, has won that award five times in the 11 years they've competed.
"The Mountain Men are a group of like-minded individuals that like the outdoors, like to have fun and do it with a little bit of debauchery," said Travis Peterson. "We love it up here, and we love the people up here."
The Idaho City Chili Cook-Off is a boon for local businesses as they cash in on this event during one of the slower times of the year. The Chamber of Commerce also takes the money they raise from this event and use it to fund projects locally.
Event organizers even sold custom-made sweatshirts for the first time, and funds from those sales will go towards planning next year's event. That will be year number 40 for the Idaho City Chili Cook-Off.
