Not Enough Beans to Put on Regional Chili Cook-Off: Organizers

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Bean counters couldn’t make the numbers work, and now the upcoming Great Lakes Regional Chili Cookoff has been cancelled due to a cash shortage. The competition was to have been held in Plymouth on Oct. 4.

Officials said the International Chili Society-sanctioned competition, a two-decade old tradition bringing some of the region’s best chili cooks together to raise money for Habitat for Humanity of Western Wayne County, was about $19,000 short of the $33,000 needed to pull off the event.

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Frank Agostini, a member of Great Lakes Chili Inc.’s volunteer board, told Hometownlife.com the decision to can the popular event was “gut-wrenching.” Sponsorships are down, and so was interest interest in the cookoff, Agostini said.

“We tried everything in our power to turn over every rock, to try to make the numbers work,” he said. “We can’t be liable for nonpayment of anything and we obviously can’t put a charity at risk.”

Word got out on social media that the bikers weren’t wanted at the event, but Agostini said that wasn’t the case — they’d just have to find their own parking.

“We were trying to keep the festival alive” by cutting costs, he said. “We weren’t trying to segregate or hurt anybody.”

Agostini said the group hopes to bring the event back next year.

» Photo by SleepyNeko via Flickr/Creative Commons