Participant Colins Windless (left), whose chili earned third-place honors, joins his wife, Leslie Windless, and their friends Rachel and Chris LaPointe during the Dearborn Heights Professional Fire Fighters Union’s annual chili cookoff Sept. 6 in Parkland Park.
Chili aficionado Jeff Recker serves as one of the judges during the Dearborn Heights Professional Fire Fighters Union’s annual chili cookoff Sept. 6 in Parkland Park.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – The weather was cool but the chili was hot Sept. 6 during the 33rd annual Dearborn Heights Professional Fire Fighters Union’s chili cookoff at Parkland Park.
The event, which serves as a fundraiser for the charities the group supports, offered attendees mouth-watering chili and a chance for adults to relax while children burned off energy at the bouncy houses.
The top three chilis were created by first-place winner Roland Smith, second-place winner Bob Jones, and third-place winner Colins Windless.
Judge Jeff Recker said the three judges had to choose from 11 chilis this year, which he said ranged “from disgusting to fantastic.”
“The top three were very good, and then there were some that just weren’t at all,” he said.
Recker said that despite being full after the judging, he was ready to go back for more chili.
“This is the first year I haven’t entered,” he said. “It’s always been a blast and it’s a great family event and fundraiser.”
Participant Bob Jones is proud of his second-place chili during the Dearborn Heights Professional Fire Fighters Union’s annual chili cookoff Sept. 6 in Parkland Park.
Windless, of Dearborn Heights, said he used his mother-in-law’s secret recipe. He said he attributes the flavor to beef and the seasonings.
“It was cooked with love and passion,” Windless said. “And if it ain’t seasoned, it ain’t no good.”
Jones, 71, of Wayne, said his chili has a good initial taste, with the burn coming afterward.
He said his chili contains chuck roast and chorizo, a Mexican sausage, as well as spices he orders from Texas.
Jones said he has been entering chili cookoffs for about 45 years, and while he’ll occasionally make a pot for a special family event, he usually just makes his chili for cookoffs.
He said he once belonged to the International Chili Society and qualified for the World Championship Chili Cook-Off in Nevada.
Smith made a Texas-style chili with ground beef, three different kinds of chiles, chili powder and chicken broth.
He said this was his first win, and he was pleased that the chili was a favorite with attendees as well.
Participant Roland Smith serves up his first-place winning chili during the Dearborn Heights Professional Fire Fighters Union’s annual chili cookoff Sept. 6 in Parkland Park.
