Annual Houston Chili Cookoff Raised Over $80,000 for Charity
HOUSTON, TX - March 16, 2022 –
Last month on Friday, February 18th, three construction industry partners hosted the 5th Annual Houston Chili Fest at the Bayou City Event Center. HTS/DXS, Harvey, and Worldwide Power Products organized the event for 50 cook teams spanning all corners of the construction industry to raise money for charity through a little friendly competition.
This is an annual tradition in which cook teams and guests enjoy live music, food, drinks, and games. Although teams enjoyed the opportunity to be creative, this cookoff was designed to be taken seriously and competition was fierce. Cook teams competed across several categories with strict judging criteria: entries were judged on taste, texture, aroma, color, and bite. There were four award series offered - white or vegetarian chili, chili without beans, chili with beans, and people's choice.
This was Griesenbeck Architectural Products' second year teaming up with Gregory Edwards Mechanical Contractors to compete. The team known as the "Red Hot Chili Schleppers" brought a secret family recipe in a bid to wow the judges and guests. True to Texas tradition, the Red Hot Chili Schleppers competed in the chili without beans category. Although the team did not win this year’s event, spending time with industry partners, customers, and guests and supporting charitable organizations was more than worth it.
The 1,100 attendees raised over $81,000 for two great charities - the ALS Association of Texas and Folds of Honor. Contributions in excess of $59,000 for Folds of Honor will fund eight scholarships for the families of fallen soldiers, and ALS will use the $22,664 donation to further its research efforts to find a cure for Lou Gerhrig’s disease. To learn more about the charities supported by this event and how you can contribute to their respective missions, visit the ALS Association of Texas at https://www.alstexas.org/ or Folds of Honor at https://foldsofhonor.org/.
Griesenbeck is already looking forward to the 6th Annual Chili Fest in 2023, and so are the event underwriters. In the words of Mike Donovan of HTS and Patrick Amalfi of Harvey Builders, “As with anything, we work diligently to make it bigger and better each year, and [to] provide even more opportunities to contribute to our community.” The Red Hot Chili Schleppers will see you there next year. We will be coming in hot to take home the trophy!
Photos Courtesy of HTS
