The 7th Annual Chili & Gumbo Cookoff set for Saturday, October 24, 2015 will take place at Hooper’s Bar & Grill, Jim Hooper’s new place of business, located on 2441 West Maple Street here in Port O’Connor and facing the Intracoastal WaterWay.
Hoop every year has offered his place of business to many outstanding cooks of our area and other hopeful ones to compete in this event by preparing their favorite recipes for either chili or gumbo on a Saturday in late October.
This year at his new location fronting the Intracoastal will be another array of hopeful chefs present to show off their skills and their many recipes for judging by an impartial group of taste testers. Luckily, this year the cooks will have the comfort of an overhead roof to keep them dry in case of inclement weather. But there will also be a grassy area for the overflow number of chefs to set up their equipment.
Returning to uphold their winner’s title will be Dee & Kyle Woodruff for their prize winning dish of shrimp and crab and fish gumbo delicately seasoned with Dee’s file, and what a delight that was. And also present will be the Coastal Cookers with an emphatically tasted chili. And we expect many former winners from past years to return once again to compete and hopefully reclaim their prior awards.
A silent auction is on tap to will follow the judging at a later time, which will give those judges some extra minutes to unseason their tongues from all that mouth watering chili. And one can expect a large display of statues and art work and other delightful items to bid on.
Hoop has made several organizations the recipient of the monies generated by this event during the past several years. Last year’s recipient was the building fund for our proposed new library, which is extremely grateful for that check. This year again, Friends of the Port O’Connor Library will be the recipient of the proceeds.
Do make plans NOW to either participate in this fun filled activity or to just be there to walk around and see what’s cookin’. I know once again I’ll be there as usual to cover this event for our paper, take pictures of the participants and winners, and do a little sampling too!
For entry, information, or for contributions to the silent auction, please contact Ginnie Lichac at 361.746.4544, lichacz@tisd.net; Jim Hooper, 361.983.4249, hooper@hjpoc.com; or Pam Ray, 361.983.2088, pamray@tisd.net
