The Royal Canadian Legion, Branch #29 in Paris, hosted its second annual Chili Cook-off on Saturday, March 8, 2025.
Barry Humphrey, the Legion’s second Vice President, said it was a great turnout.
“This is our second annual chili cook-off and we’ve had eight contenders come in and set up their chili, and a lot of traffic came through,” he said. “This is a fundraising event for us so the proceeds will go back to some of our general operations, as well as, towards our building.”
Throughout the event, over 80 people stopped into the Legion where for five-dollars they had the opportunity to try each one of the chilis and vote for their favourite recipes.
While teams like the Red Hot Silly Peppers and the Paris Kiwanis Club stuck with more traditional chilis, others like Creek View Acres Nursery and Orchard were on site with some more unique recipes such as its smokey chipotle apple cranberry turkey chili.
Ward 2 councillors, Steve Howes and Lukas Oakley, showcased their “Made in Paris” beef, beer, and bacon chili with all local ingredients, and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers brought an extra exciting twist with their haggis chili.
Following an afternoon of testing tasty samples, Humphrey later announced the following top three contenders.
In first place, the Red Hot Silly Peppers, and in second, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. In third place, the Kiwanis Club of Paris-Brant were tied with Oakley and Howes.
Sheila Moore of the Kiwanis team said that overall, the day was full of fun.
“We had an absolute blast. The people that came through here today, as well as all of us, were really here for fun and I have to say, we heard some pretty comical anecdotes” she said with a laugh. “It’s funny because they announced there were over 80 people that stopped in, but it felt like a lot more because there was just such a steady stream of people.”
As far as if the Legion will host the fundraiser cook-off again, Humphrey already confirmed it.
“We’re really looking forward to a third annual chili cook off, and we’ll try to get up to 12 contenders next year,” he said.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
