Meet Brian Himmelman

Brian Himmelman is more than a State Farm Insurance agent. He has lived in the Evergreen area for over 30 years and understands the community. Having graduated from Evergreen High School, and after finishing his degree at Fort Lewis College in Durango, he returned to his home to build a business. He’s been married to his lovely wife for 21 years and his sons AJ and Tyler are now both attending college themselves.

Brian’s team provides the best solutions for everyday insurance needs and comprehensive financial planning. They proudly serve the communities of Evergreen, Conifer, Bailey, Pine and Fairplay by offering an extensive line of insurance and financial services. Whatever your insurance needs, Brian and his team will offer the information you need to make a solid decision.

In addition to building a solid and successful business, Brian believes in volunteering in the community. He is a member of Conifer Kiwanis, and sits on the Board of Directors for Blue Spruce Kiwanis and Mount Evans Hospice. He’s also embraced his love of baseball by coaching kids’ teams longtime in the Evergreen/Conifer area. Brian is continuing his “give back” mentality by once again sponsoring The Big Chili Cook-Off, giving of himself to support our volunteer firefighters. Thanks, Brian! We love that! You can learn more about what Brian Himmelman has to offer by checking his website here.

First Responders

You don’t ever want to be in a situation where you need an emergency service worker to help you. But when you’re having an emergency that you can’t handle yourself, it is such a relief to have someone else take it into his or her capable hands. 

Some of you are aware that at The Big Chili Cook-Off, the Director (who had worked herself to the point of exhaustion the previous few days) became ill. The Big Chili Board of Directors and the Director of the Cook-Off would like to thank Evergreen first responders who offered medical assistance and transport to the hospital. They took care of her and it is greatly appreciated. 

Thankfully, she did not require use of the helicopter. But the picture is still fabulous!

Blue Spruce Kiwanis

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Everything Blue Spruce Kiwanis does is for this community – they volunteer here in a variety of organizations, and they are committed to the youth and schools of our mountain community. It is because of Blue Spruce Kiwanis consistency in volunteering throughout the community that so many people were willing to give back by volunteering for one of their biggest events ~ The Big Chili Cook-Off. 

 

Thank you Blue Spruce Kiwanis! And thank you to all the students from the local schools who volunteered at the event. You are a truly great group of kids!

A BIG Thank You!

Today is a day for saying Thank You to the many smaller sponsors and volunteers that make The Big Chili Cook-Off happen.

 

Thank You to these businesses for providing the following:

 

Evergreen Discount Liquors ~ wine

Da Kind Soups ~ judges chili cups

Evergreen Shipping Depot ~ printing & posters

Evergreen Signs ~ signage

Zuni Signs ~ printing & installation of banners

Felde Associates ~ accounting services

Evergreen Rentals ~ jump castles & scaffolding for banners

Incognito Solutions ~ website

Mountain Connections ~ advertising

Hiwain Golf ~ golf passes for the auction

Eric Lars Bakke ~ photography

Tuscany Tavern ~ sponsorship + dinner for firefighters and Board

 

Thank You to these groups for providing volunteers for the event:

 

Early Edition Leads Group

Leads Group 3

Web-Women of Evergreen Businesses

Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity

Evergreen, Conifer and Platte Canyon High Schools

Drive Smart

Center for the Arts Evergreen

Blue Spruce Kiwanis

Bank of the West

Mutual of Omaha

Chase Bank Evergreen

and Thank You to the many individuals volunteering independently.

Making Fun for the Little Ones

The Big Chili Cook-Off would like to thank two new sponsors who have come on board in support of our local area firefighters. 

Evergreen Rentals – meeting all your rental needs from tools & equipment to parties and events – will be providing two jump castles for our children’s area at the event. By providing the castles, they’re also providing fun for the little ones, because almost every child loves to bounce around in a padded room with other kiddos (ahhh – the freedom of childhood!)

 

The Center for the Arts Evergreen brings art and the community together through art classes, exhibitions, art festivals, lectures and performances. They will be providing a craft for our kids at the event – stop by and let your little one make something.

 

We are especially thankful to these sponsors because they are providing activities for our children. Blue Spruce Kiwanis, who brings you The Big Chili Cook-Off, is all about children. Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.  ”Kiwanis is for Kids…. Here, There and Everywhere!” If you’re unfamiliar with the Kiwanis, take a moment to check out all the amazing things they do in this community!

 

Thank you to everyone who makes this event a success!

Dream of Pancakes

“He who goes to bed hungry dreams of pancakes.” – proverb

The Evergreen Rodeo Parade begins the fun of rodeo weekend in Evergreen. Each year, up to 100 marching bands, floats, horses, carriages, antique cars and farm equipment pass by the lake and through downtown. This fun and fabulous event starts at 10 A.M., this Saturday, June 18th. 

Starting at 7 A.M. the morning of the parade, the Blue Spruce Kiwanis is hosting a scrumptious pancake breakfast. Under the shade of the towering cottonwoods along Bear Creek right downtown, they provide an all-you-care-to-eat pancake breakfast to cowboys and cowgirls of all ages. So hop on your horse (or whatever mode of transportation you choose that morning), get your fill of flapjacks, and stake out your seat for the “When the West was Fun” extravaganza! 

Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity

When we endeavor to put together an event like the Big Chili, we are taking on a mass of planning and logistics that require careful attention and a lot of man hours.  The day of the event comes together with the efforts of many volunteers, over 200, all people committed to helping our volunteer firefighters, and excited about being a part of this mammoth mountain celebration.   The Big Chili Board of Directors, all volunteers themselves, are pleased to welcome Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity to the mix for the event day.  Habitat will be filling the role of Hospitality Engineers on September 11^th, and their contribution will make the day better than ever before.  They will be there to help cooks, artists and attendees find their way to the right places, as well as see that things are moving along as they should, with all the details taken care of.  The Blue Spruce Kiwanis, hosts of the Big Chili, spend man hours and make cash donations to the Blue Spruce Habitat organization and are thrilled to have them coming alongside in the Big Chili effort.  We all do better when we work together.  Thank you, Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity for doing what you do best and leading by example.

Child’s Play

Something we love about the Big Chili Cook-off is the Fireman’s Challenge, where a representative from each one of the fire stations performs a simulated fire rescue in full gear.  Prior to the kick off of the Challenge there is another competition.  Pint size firefighters run the rescue in modified gear, but with just as much heart.  Matt Scheel from Elk Creek Fire Rescue makes the arrangements and supervises the children’s portion of the Challenge.  When all of the tiny participants have performed their rescue they each receive a ribbon, commemorating their success in completing the course.  Matt and his helpers make sure that every child comes away feeling like a winner, hopefully whetting their appetites for future fire rescue participation.  The Blue Spruce Kiwanis are all about investing in the lives of children and want to thank Matt Scheel and the firefighting crews for their commitment to the smallest ones on that important day in September.

Twenty-First Century

So, you are wondering what has happened to the world where a handshake and a cup of coffee, or even a phone call was the accepted means of communication.  Well, at the Big Chili we still believe in those best of all worlds where talking across a table is always preferable to talking with your thumbs on a little box that sends poorly worded messages that are void of proper punctuation.  We are however, realists, in the sense that when it comes to raising money for our favorite people, the Fire and Rescue services of the mountain communities, we will use whatever means are effective and available.  Thus, the Big Chili Cook-off Music and Arts Festival Blog and Social Network have come to be.  Through this effort we are currently reaching 5,000 people daily and it is climbing all the time, and you, regardless of where you live can be a part of this great effort for our firefighters by a sponsorship of our social networking efforts.  Your company name will not only show up and be talked about on our facebook, fan page, twitter and blog every day, but you will be thought of as a partner with the Blue Spruce Kiwanis and the Big Chili Cook-off in our efforts to support the people who risk all to protect us in the mountain communities.  They are heroes and we want them to know that we are proud of them and thankful for their sacrifice.  You can tell them yourself and the entire community with your sponsorship that you are on board.  It works for all of us.

Bring the Kids

The Big Chili Cook-off Music and Arts Festival isn’t just about chili, music and art.  It is hosted by the Blue Spruce Kiwanis so it is also about kids, who up through ten years old get in free.  When you enter the grounds go left, through the chili cooks, past the band stand, around the food vendors, past the artists area and you will find yourself in the happiest place in the whole festival, where there are castles for jumping and faces to paint, balls to be juggled and grass for running.  It is a child’s fun place supervised by big people who are actually children themselves.  They know how to make little people smile and their whole day is devoted to making that happen in the biggest way.  As if there wasn’t already enough excitement, in the middle of the whole party a helicopter, yes a real helicopter, will land and the kids will get to have a look around as well as talk to the pilot and imagine themselves flying over the city on grand rescues.  It’s true what they say about the Big Chili – it’s a lot bigger than just chili!