A Small Old Building Full of People Eating Chili

"To all chili contestants you have a little over one week to come up with a chili recipe that
will beat mine! Lots of luck!! Then when it’s all over you’ll know not to mess with the best".—MAX

"To all you Chili Contest Contestants, there will be a second place prize. The prize will be the privilege of having the taste of my 1st place Chili! If you think I have an ego...YOUR RIGHT! Just try taking this award away from me. Bring it on!!!" - MAX

"For all you wanna be cooks I will not give up my best Chili Title to no one! I would like
to personally challenge– Kelly McAdams, Coby Dawson, Phil Currie, Donald Knight, Maria
Beers, Wade Laubach, Bob Evanoff and anyone else who is up for the CHALLENGE" - MAX

As you can probably tell, MAX is the defending champion of the annual Gardiner Chili Cook-Off. These are just a sampling of the recent notices he's posted in the closest thing we have to a newspaper, the weekly Gardiner Newsletter (which we all look forward to and snatch up every Wednesday morning, even though it usually says pretty close to the same thing each week...). And yes, he does make some pretty darn good chili.

Well, after all the much talked about hype (yes, we actually talk about this...just today in the office, Renae and I actually discussed Max's challenges....), tomorrow is the big day. Round about 5:30pm, the festivities will begin at the Gardiner Community Center. The CC is the historic Eagles Hall, and is the only real option for community gatherings(besides the school gym!) when the weather is still finicky and being outside would be a guarantee of snow, rain, slush, mud, or all of the above. While having a good bit of historic charm and very conveniently located on Main Street, it does lack a few important things: space, modern ventilation, air circulation, and well, space. This can make things quite interesting when you line the walls with countless varieties of chili, a bar full of beer, and some bluegrass trying to make it's way from the stage to the dancefloor(oh, another. It doesn't just lack good acoustics, I'm pretty sure it lacks them altogether!).

Now don't get me wrong, I love our Community Center. I have yogied there, danced there, sang there, learned there, eating a countless variety of food there, and consumed entirely too much alcohol there. It's a great place. I just don't plan on spending too much time there once the chili, beer, music and Montana mountain men mincing words gets up a little momentum.

I'll let you know if I make it out unscathed