Highlights

There are many reasons to support The Big Chili Cook-Off. The best reason is, of course, that the event puts money into the hands of our volunteer fire departments. This money translates into equipment and technology and actually makes our community safer.

But here in Evergreen, even when we’re raising money for a cause, we still like to have a good time, with rockin’ music, great food and drink, and tons of fun. We have many things we love about the event, but some of our favorites are these:

The Mountain Firefighters Challenge – we get to watch our firefighters don their full gear and run an obstacle course, demonstrating speed, strength and skill. It’s a little friendly competition where the winner takes the honors.

© Erik Lars Bakke

Our Children’s Area – we have an awesome play area and activities to make the day fun for our little ones. Then we run a Mountain Firefighters Challenge for our aspiring firefighters where they get to don the gear and compete just like their grown-up counterparts.

© Erik Lars Bakke

The Art Vendors – Evergreen is full of artisans who are both gifted and skilled. Their creations are one-of-a-kind works of art, and each piece is available to be viewed by many, and purchased by one lucky individual. Come on out to The Big Chili Cook-Off this year and experience the Arts on a local level.

© Erik Lars Bakke

 

Serve Others ~ Serve Yourself

“The language of citizenship suggests that self-interests are always embedded in communities of action and that in serving neighbors one also serves oneself.”

Benjamin R. Barber

Thank you to the volunteers and sponsors of The Big Chili Cook-Off!

The Poetry of Walt Whitman

A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman

 

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark’d, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark’d how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them—ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,—seeking the spheres, to connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form’d—till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

A Comforting Winter Soup

French Onion Soup

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence  from the Food Network

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 4 onions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 fresh thyme sprigs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup red wine, about 1/2 bottle
• 3 heaping tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 quarts beef broth
• 1 baguette, sliced
• 1/2 pound grated Gruyere

Directions

Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, and salt and pepper and cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized, about 25 minutes. Add the wine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Dust the onions with the flour and give them a stir. Turn the heat down to medium low so the flour doesn’t burn, and cook for 10 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Now add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

When you’re ready to eat, preheat the broiler. Arrange the baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle the slices with the Gruyere and broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes.

Ladle the soup in bowls and float several of the Gruyere croutons on top.

Alternative method: Ladle the soup into bowls, top each with 2 slices of bread and top with cheese. Put the bowls into the oven to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

Reach High

The Quiet Voice

Seasonally Yours

Welcome to Seasonally Yours Evergreen Taffy Co. & Fresh Fudge Too! This is a colorful, fun and funky shop located in the heart of downtown Evergreen. A sample of their delicious fresh fudge or mouth-watering taffy is waiting for you.

Seasonally Yours offers old-fashioned service with a twist. Their gift lines, candies and fudge are all a phone call or email away.

Flavor of the Month - Peanut Butter Choco

Visit this unique little store on Main Street in downtown Evergreen in person or place your order by phone with a real person. They will be happy to help you select just the right gift, fudge or taffy.

 

Live Music

Although The Big Chili Cook-Off is a fundraising event for our mountain-area volunteer fire departments, it is, at its heart, an arts festival that features artists, food, retail vendors and live music from some pretty fabulous bands. If you were in the crowd last September, you not only heard the talent of some great musicians, you got to experience the energy of hearing them live. Being at a concert is so different from listening in any other way. The band itself, combined with its music, mixed with the personality and rhythm of the crowd gives the experience a life of its own. Put that in an outdoor, mountain venue and you’ve got a unique occurrence that just can’t be duplicated anywhere else.

The Big Chili is working on lining up bands for the event this September. We get pretty excited about this aspect of the event, and we know you do, too. As musicians come on board, we’ll let you know what you have to look forward to. Check facebook for recent information and news about The Big Chili Cook-Off.

How Do You Measure It?

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles, rather than by the quality of our service relationship to humanity. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Here at The Big Chili Cook-Off, we do measure success by our ability to give back to our community. The more we’re able to give to our volunteer fire departments, the happier we are. We know we can’t accomplish much on our own, and we’re extremely appreciative of everyone who volunteers time, money, or services to this event. Thank you, Volunteers and Sponsors!

 

 

The Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnets from the Portuguese No. 14 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love’s sake only. Do not say
‘I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day’—
For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.