The Rotary Club of Sedona is excited to announce its eighth-annual Great Sedona Chili Cook-Off on Saturday, May 5 at Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village. This is a part of the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village’s Cinco de Mayo Fiesta weekend. The Great Sedona Chili Cook-off runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $15 and children under 12 are free. Top chefs from area restaurants, along with a number of community leaders, are busy perfecting their special chili recipes, which can be sampled at festive booths in Tlaquepaque’s Calle de Independencia.
 
 
 
Come and cheer on your favorite “hot” chili cook-off restaurants, who will vie for the 2018 Restaurant Chili Championship. Enjoy different types of chili from chefs at Vino di Sedona, Paleo Brio, El Rincon, Tamaliza Café, H.P. Café and many more. There are also a number of other awards including the Restaurant Judges’ Award and Peoples’ Choice Award plus cash prizes and trophies. In addition, competing for the community’s judge choice are Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarty, Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski and Kris Kazian, chief of the Sedona Fire District, and Clarkdale City Councilor Scott Buckley. For more event information go to www.sedonarotary.org/page/the-great-sedona-chili-cook-off
 
Another exciting part of this event is the Rotary Club of Sedona’s Silent Auction where you can either buy it now or bid for your favorite items. Check out the great number of items such as a one-night stay at Enchantment Resort with breakfast for two at Enchantment’s Che Ah Chi restaurant; a gift certificate for sunglasses or prescription glasses at Eye Boutique of Sedona (value up to $1,200 compliments of Dr. Carolyn Martin); restaurant certificates from Picazzo, Healthy Italian Kitchen, Relics Restaurant and Roadhouse, Szechuan Restaurant and many, many more. To purchase silent auction items now go to http://www.sedonarotary.org/page/great-sedona-chili-cook-off-silent-auction
 
This year the Rotary Club of Sedona is using the proceeds from the Sedona Chili Cook-Off to fund programs and activities that aid our youth such as the Youth Leadership Training Camp; Verde Valley Imagination Library (monthly books sent to Verde Valley children from birth to 5 years old to prepare them for school); college scholarships; and a youth foreign exchange program. Also benefitting from the proceeds are local and international programs such as the anti-human trafficking initiative; St. Andrew’s community dinners; Sedona Public Library program promoting ethics in business; Highway 89A clean-up; and Rotary International’s work on the eradication of polio; emergency shelters for disaster victims; along with other local, national and international programs.
 
Put Saturday, May 5 on your calendars now.
 
Linda M. Clark