Students gathered at the Ag Science Building as the ABAC Cattlemen’s Sixth Annual All-American Beef Chili Cook-off heated up. Students competing proudly served their chili trying to get students to vote for their favorite. Most importantly, the panel of three judges, who are veterans, would decide who would walk away with the grand prize of $50 and a gift bag.
Trying to bring awareness to Veterans’ Day, The Cattlemen’s Association decided to host the chili cook-off in their honor. The panel of judges would get to taste each competitor’s chili and rate them according to color, taste and other guidelines.
‘“It’s been interesting, a lot of different kinds of chili with some interesting taste I’ve never tasted before,” laughed Craig Garey, a veteran and a police officer here at ABAC, who was one of the judges. He, along with any other veterans, got to eat for free instead of paying the five dollars required to try the unlimited chilies there.
The event was successful according to the Cattlemen’s Association’s secretary and the one who organized the event, Caitlyn Corban. The money raised from the event—which wasn’t much—would go back to the chapter, but Caitlyn says that wasn’t the focus of the event, “We wanted to bring awareness to Veterans’ Day and who is a veteran on campus.”
She, along with a committee in the Cattlemen’s chapter got together to set up the event and prizes that went together easily with all the chapter member’s help.
“The event went super well for me with the help of members, officers and advisor,” said Caitlyn, which was evident with the number of people there to try out the food and choose their favorites.
After the voting was done and the three judges had finished their rating of the chili, the winners were announced. Sigma Alpha’s Hannah Roberts came in 3rd winning $25, Dr. Mark Kistler was second winning $35 and Alpha Gamma Rho out-cooked the competition getting first and the grand prize of $50 and gift bags that the runner-ups also received.
After the success of the event, the Cattlemen’s Association is looking forward to hosting their next event, the Christmas tree decoration in the AG Science building.
