Over the years Park City firefighter Logan Rodriguez’s chili has earned 2nd and 3rd place awards. This year he hopes to take top honors.
“So, I go very classic. It is a beef chili with a few secrets in there with beans,” he said.
But he’s changing things up this year and adding a secret ingredient to turn up the heat on the competition. He said you’ll have to try his batch to find out what it is.
In terms of spiciness, the firefighter said he keeps it palatable, about a two or three on a scale of five.
“I stay pretty mild because there are a lot of families and kids that have the chili,” Rodriguez said.
Some of the larger departments like Unified Fire and the West Valley Fire Department have enough help to prepare more than one chili recipe. So, there will be a variety including a few batches with enough spice to blow your top off.
More than 20 teams of first responders compete to woo the crowd with their chili recipes.
Park City is the only district from the Wasatch Back that participates in the event.
Rodriguez says he’ll arrive Saturday at 5 a.m. to make 20 gallons of chili so it’s hot and ready by 10:30 a.m. when the health department comes around for safety checks.
Along with their cookoff creations, he says the departments get crafty with their booths too. Park City Fire’s setup will be decorated to represent the town’s history.
“Our booth is like a mine shaft. We have a ski chair and a firefighter dummy that sits on the ski chair,” he said. “And we have fake smoke that comes out, like a fog machine. There's a booth that looked like a fire station. People go all out. It’s pretty big.”
And there will be plenty of activities and crafts for children at the free family-friendly event. University of Utah Air Med will land a helicopter and kids can see all the fire apparatus as well.
Rodriguez says 100% of the ticket sales for chili and beer will go directly to the University of Utah’s Burn Camp.
Its programs help burn survivors adjust to the challenges of surviving a burn injury and thrive through their recovery.
Rodriguez said burns are some of the most difficult injuries to treat.
“It's not pretty, and it takes a long time to recover,” he said. “And it really puts a lot of families out. And it’s not just firefighter burn victims, but burn victims from all over, not just Utah, either. They’re taking care of people from Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada. The proceeds go to the pretty major cases and their families that might need some financial benefit from it.”
The 12th annual chili cookoff is Saturday, Oct. 26, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at America First Field Pavilion, the home of Real Salt Lake.
