Well July 7th has come and gone and it's now another year until the next Chilifest.
Since almost everyone bailed on my wonderful trip to Collingwood to sample Ontario's tastiest chili (yes, I mean YOU!), Julie and the kids came along to keep me company. All was well until we got to Shelbourne.
As we were about to turn up the 124 to Collingwood, we heard a splashing sound from the back seat. Then another coughing/splashing sound... and another.
Yes, folks. Garrett had just puked up not once, not twice, but three times. Thankfully we were able to pull into a parking lot and get him quickly cleaned off and sponge up most of the vomit before things got even grosser than they already were, but man...
Shelbourne is basically the point of no return on the trip to Collingwood. It's as close to home as it is to the Chilifest. Of course, I'm standing there on the side of the road, mopping up puke and thinking, "Well, I guess I'm not going to Chilifest," but Garrett seemed rather chipper after expelling the contents of his stomach all over himself and the back seat, so we were able to continue on to the Chilifest with only a brief stop at Giant Tiger to buy him a new outfit and some cleaning supplies.
Garrett was pretty low-key the rest of the day, though he did seem to have plenty of energy to run around the splash pad until he fell and cut his knee.
As for the chili itself, it was great. There were about 23 different booths set up and the flavours ranged from the overpoweringly hot to mild yet flavourful. There was a great chicken chili, a chili that had some kind of apple in it and one that used organic bison.
Doug showed up at the fest and we cruised around the venue, comparing our favourites and determining who we would vote for. The shenanigans that the booth operators were up to was half of the fun. One booth was going around slapping stickers on everyone who walked by (or was sitting, in Julie's case). Another booth was writing their booth number on the sticker from the previous booth. One booth was giving their samples away for free instead of collecting the ticket that was needed to get a sample.
I voted for the Disco Stew chili and Doug voted for my second choice, the chili made by some old ladies. They haven't updated the website to say who won, but I think that either of those chili booths should win.
Was it worth the 2 hour drive, the puking, the skinned knees and broken friendships? Sure was! I think that next year we'll have to get a gang together to actually compete in the chili cookoff. That would be even better!
Now to find out when the Fergus chili cookoff starts...
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