The 9-11 tribute was one of the most meaningful moments of The Big Chili. Chris VanInwagen read the invocation in his Dress Blues. 
Our bagpiper, TJ, played a stirring piece. The Boy Scouts raised the Colors. And Young Austin sang the National Anthem. 
To top it all off, we had two flyovers during the tribute. It was a memorable time to honor the sacrifice of many.
The reason we do this
is to support our fire departments
to say Thank You,
and to remember those who have fallen.
Thank you!!Thank you to everyone who made The Big Chili Cook-Off such a huge success. We want to thank:
Everyone who attended,
The hundreds of volunteers,
The chili cooks,
The sponsors,
The artists,
The vendors,
The emergency service workers, and
The Bands. The bands this year were absolutely phenomenal – it was some of the best music we’ve ever had at the Cook-Off. If you came out yesterday, you know how fabulous the day was.
During the rest of September, we’ll have details from the event (like winners!) and pictures, pictures, pictures. Once again, thank you Mountain Community and everyone involved in this day. We appreciate you!
Come one, come all! The 10th Annual Big Chili Cook-Off, Music & Arts Festival is this Sunday, September 11, 2011. We would like to thank State Farm® and our mountain agents for being a Premiere Sponsor of the Cook-Off and supporting our mountain area volunteer fire departments.
This year’s event will again be held at the Evergreen Lake House, located at 29614 Upper Bear Creek Rd. in beautiful downtown Evergreen.
This spectacular day features a chili cook-off competition, live music, the Firefighter’s Challenge, juried Art Show, photo booths, and children’s activities. In addition, we will have food vendors including Seasonally Yours Evergreen Taffy Co. and Fresh Fudge Too, Tommyknocker Brewery, Mainstreet Restaurant, Java Mountain Roasters, Tropical Delights, Pappy’s Concessions, and CD’s Dogs.
Gates open at 10:30 a.m. with chili sampling beginning at 11 o’clock. Live music will begin at 10:30 a.m. and run continuously until 6 p.m. A Firefighter tribute will be held at 2:30 p.m. and the Chili Cook Awards at 4:15 p.m.
Shuttle parking is free for the event. Tickets may be purchased online and at the gate on event day. Tickets will also be available at King Soopers and Safeway (Evergreen and Conifer) until 6pm on the Saturday preceding the event.
Check The Big Chili for all other information. We are so excited and hope you are, too!! We can’t wait to see you there.
In December, 2008, firefighter Brian Kopp was snowmobiling with his friend and his friend’s son. As they were enjoying the great Colorado mountains, and each other’s company, the worst-case scenario began to unfold. They were caught in an avalanche. As the wall of snow raced toward them, Brian actually reached safety but quickly realized the boy with them had not. And so he did what came naturally to him – he turned around and went back.
This epitomizes the character of a firefighter – they turn around, and go back. As a country, we witnessed this very thing during the September 11 attacks, as approximately 250 firefighters laid down their lives helping others. Many of those ran into certain death, hoping they might save someone else with their sacrifice. As we watched it unfold, with shock and horror, we couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride at this tremendous act of bravery.
The bravery of a firefighter is not limited to the job. The story of Brian demonstrates that. In many respects, the story that was written on that day in 2008 is a horrible tragedy. Brian Kopp laid down his life for the son of his friend. The boy he was trying to save died with him; but as Brian’s wife told a local news station, ”I think the end of his story tells who he was. He died doing what he loved, trying to save someone, trying to help someone else.”
I cannot help the thought that flits through my mind as I remember these events. If ever I am faced with a life and death situation, I hope I display this kind of moral courage. I hope that I experience no hesitation. I hope that when tested, my character is of this kind: the character of one who turns around, and goes back.
Firefighters go back. They run into danger when others are running away. This character was exemplified on September 11th, when hundreds of emergency service workers ran knowingly into mortal danger. When we look into our own hearts, when the ultimate test comes, and we have to dig deep, what will we find? Will we go back? This firefighter did, and his story is remarkable. Click on his name to hear his own words.
Miracle Admist the Rubble – part 3 (continued from August 11th)
By Kristin Witt
The cloud of dust that had not completely settled from the South Tower was now growing at an enormous rate, as Jeff once again took shelter behind the building he now thought of as his safe harbor.
When the deafening roar lessened and the eerie silence of a graveyard overtook the streets Jeff Scarborough stepped out from behind the “shelter” building. He was coated in several layers of gray dust, his breathing was shutting down from the oxygen deprived atmosphere and the particles of debris that he had actually pulled into his lungs, he was going into shock and he was utterly alone. Nowhere to go and no idea how to get there, he looked up to discover yet another of the many unlikely miracles of the day. The crew from his station that he had worked with enough times to think of them as family were suddenly there beside him and together they began the two hour trek to safety, plucking him from what might have been his own demise.
It was two years before Jeff’s respiratory system cleared enough to call his breathing “normal” although he still struggles from time to time with a cough. The day was physically debilitating enough that Jeff was not allowed to go down to Ground Zero in the aftermath, so NBC assigned him to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, covering the memorial services of the fallen firefighters, which were coming at three and four a day. After a time, Jeff and his wife Alice decided it was enough and they moved to Conifer, Colorado, where they live today.
At the heart of things Jeff wants readers to know that he is a musician, and he has moved on with his life. He loves his music and the privilege he has of playing with some very talented people here in the mountains of Colorado. The Scarborough’s found themselves embraced by the community, almost upon their arrival, and Jeff says that returning to his roots as a musician has gone a long way towards helping him heal.
We are honored to remember with Jeff and Alice Scarborough the horrific events of September 11, 2001, and grateful that they have chosen to share their story, especially as the Big Chili Cook-off approaches. The Big Chili is all about thanking our mountain area Volunteer Firefighters, and this, the tenth anniversary of the event, happens to land on the tenth anniversary of the day our country was attacked by a terror we simply would never have believed. In that attack, 343 firefighters lost their lives as they ran into the fray in hopes of saving others, and the Big Chili has the privilege of remembering them, and their sacrifice this September 11th. When you join us at the Lake House on that Sunday you will enjoy Jeff’s band, the Bucktones, as well as Joe Bye and Friends who will be featured on our second stage at the entry gates.
Jeff Scarborough graciously recounted for us the difficulty of that impossible day, and when he was done he showed us an award he received from NBC. On it these words are inscribed.
“In recognition of your bravery, judgment and leadership on September 11th, 2001.
Your actions helped save lives on a day that changed the lives of all Americans.”
“I’ve received much recognition for my work as a cameraman, including several Emmy Awards,” Jeff says solemnly, “but none of them hold a candle to this one.”
Miracle Admist the Rubble – part 2 (continued from August 10th)
By Kristin Witt
Jeff Scarborough readily admits that if, on that fateful September 11th, he had not been privy to that particular piece of information it would not have occurred to him that this was a terrorist attack and that Al-Qaeda was about to succeed in bringing the World Trade Center to the ground. In a matter of seconds the scenario flashed through his mind, and he made the decision to pull away from the caravan. With his reporter cursing him for ruining their chance at getting in before the police tape barred them from the scene, Jeff radioed his command center at NBC telling them to set up the live feed truck 500 feet behind his location and to keep reporters behind that line of demarcation. When a reporting team is the first one in on site in a crisis they become the “boss” as it were, trusted with decision making for every reporter that will enter the scene. In this case, though the reporter should have been in charge, Jeff trusted his instinct and overrode Morrison’s desire to pursue. Though he insists that he was just doing his job, Jeff Scarborough is credited with saving the lives of many reporters on that day, including Morrison’s.
Jeff stepped out of his vehicle and began filming the devastated towers as a crew prepared the live feed. The tight shots he was able to capture were the most gut wrenching he had ever taken, a couple holding hands and crossing themselves just before they jumped, film that he chose not to release out of respect. When Scarborough and a new reporter began a live feed to the station the reporter’s back was to the scene as he tried to explain the chaos of two planes embedded in the upper stories of the Twin Towers. In the midst of the broadcast Jeff motioned to the reporter to turn around. The South Tower was beginning its descent, the first of the two towers to come down. The reporter dropped his microphone and took off, while Jeff, instinctively carrying his camera literally ran for his life towards the van that housed the live feed equipment and his co-worker, Eddie Alonzo. Scarborough actually pulled Eddie from the van and told him to run as far from the towers as he could, as fast as he could, but Eddie hesitated. Scarborough was already exhausted from his sprint, and didn’t look like he had much more in him, but Jeff assured his friend that he would take shelter behind a nearby building, and urged him to run for his life. Reluctantly, Eddie took off like a track star, while Jeff moved behind a building just as the impenetrable cloud of dust raced down the street, flinging deadly debris in every direction. When Jeff emerged, covered in gray dust from behind the “shelter” building he had no idea that the car he had been driving just 1500 feet in front of him was now partially hidden under the wheel of a Boeing 767.
Staggered, Jeff emerged, carrying on his shoulder a $50,000 piece of equipment, not counting the attached mega- lens. His camera allowed him to focus on the North Tower, which was still standing, though in flames and missing a good portion of several floors. Knowing the incident wasn’t over, Jeff instinctively started to film, thinking that his might be the only camera getting the footage that would record for the world the events of the catastrophic day and he was right. Scarborough’s footage is what all of us have seen time and again, our understanding of September 11th. His are the tight-in shots of the steel beams in the upper stories literally beginning to melt. Seeing this, he realized that the thing nobody thought possible was about to happen for a second time that day as the North Tower began to come down on itself. The cloud of dust that had not completely settled from the South Tower was now growing at an enormous rate, as Jeff once again took shelter behind the building he now thought of as his safe harbor.
Jeff Scarborough and the Bucktones along with Joe Bye and Friends will be performing on 2nd Stage at The Big Chili Cook-Off on September 11, 2011. Many locals know Jeff as a musician, but he was previously a cameraman for a news agency. We will be highlighting his story here in three parts over the next three days.
Miracle Amidst the Rubble
by Kristin Witt
It would have been a day like any day for 27-year veteran NBC cameraman, Jeff Scarborough. He was on his way to cover a breaking story with reporter Rob Morrison, Scarborough driving as was protocol for a camera and reporter team. It was one of the prettiest days he’d seen in a long time, and again, it would have been much like other days on the job except for two things. Jeff Scarborough was driving to a scene in the heart of New York City and the date was September 11, 2001.
Scarborough made his way across 49th Street onto the Westside Highway, where he pulled into a convoy of emergency vehicles, all responding to what NBC Control thought was a small plane collision into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Pulling into the convoy of police and first responder vehicles guaranteed Jeff and his reporter premier access to the story, as they blew through lights and traffic, and in their business it was all about who got there first.
The convoy was about sixty seconds from the front door of the North Tower when Jeff looked up to see a football field sized hole near the top of the tower. News came over the radio that the South Tower had been hit by a second plane, and at that moment Jeff Scarborough knew. “They finally figured out how to bring the towers down,” he said, as he yanked his car out of the convoy and pulled back several hundred feet.
This wasn’t the first time Jeff had been called to the World Trade Center in the midst of calamity. In 1993 Scarborough was the one cameraman allowed into the parking garage of the North Tower after the Al-Qaeda bombing attack where eight people were killed. He was charged with getting video of the destruction for all of the news stations during a VIP tour of the site. He filmed as they all filed in and walked the perimeter of a building sized crater that had been left by the truck rigged for destruction. As the group assembled in the questionably safe structure, Jeff was instructed to turn off his camera, and told that if he revealed what he was about to hear he would be jailed, and until restriction was lifted, he never told a soul.
The truck bomb had been placed in an area that the terrorists hoped would do enough damage to topple the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The tour leader then explained that if the truck had been only nine feet closer to the corner support on the edge of the crater it would have destroyed the concrete pillar and the North Tower would have toppled into the South Tower bringing both buildings down. Had this plan, and the guide assured his entourage that it was the plan, been successful more than 50,000 people would have been killed inside the towers as they came down, and close to 50,000 more in the fallout.
Jeff Scarborough readily admits that if, on that fateful September 11th, he had not been privy to that particular piece of information it would not have occurred to him that this was a terrorist attack and that Al-Qaeda was about to succeed in bringing the World Trade Center to the ground.
