The Annual Hoedown and Chili Cook Off Approaches, Are You Ready?

November fast approaches. For the residents of Lemon Grove, that means a nice hot bowl of chili at the annual Western Hoedown and Chili Cook Off.

The event is scheduled for Nov. 2. But tickets are on sale now. The news release announcing this year’s event pretty much sets the tone. It’s posted below in its entirety. Enjoy.

Warm up with a bowl of Clem and Addie Mae's down-home chili, or Lemon Grove Fire Chief Tim Smith's patented, four-alarm brew on Nov. 2 from 6 - 9 p.m. when Soroptimist of Lemon Grove presents its 9th Annual Western Hoedown and Chili Cook-Off in St. John of the Cross Church Hall, 8086 Broadway, Lemon Grove.  Tickets are $20 and worth every pfennig.

Emceeing this confab of chili fans is none other than that rip-snorting son of The Big Orange, Shotgun Tom Kelly of radio fame, the kid who spied a microphone when but a wee bairn and never looked back.  From San Diego to L.A. to Hollywood -- where his star joins other worthies on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a heartbeat from the La Brea Tar Pits -- Shotgun Tom, replete with boots, spurs and Stetson, is now returning to The Big Lemon. What a babe!

Getting the message?    

Don't let anyone keep you from the Home of the Brave -- the land where jalapeños nurtured on the shores of hell blend with sirloin only recently severed from the hoof and secret sauce so savory that only saps and simpletons shun such succulence in the Best Climate on Earth.

So, go, you wild and crazy thing. This party's for you. Nix not a fetching Soroptimist selling tickets to this bacchanale, where chili, laughter, music, boot-stompin' fun, throngs of wild-eyed 'Grovians, the no-host Hot Time Saloon and other blandishments will tide you over until Christmas.

Here's the deal:  Strap on an empty tummy and perambulate around the room gazing deeply into assorted cauldrons.  Inhale the aromas. Fear not the bubbling lava.  Remain upright.  The chefs thereto will provide you with samples in cunning little paper cups (the hardy can sup from tureens later).  Write down your thoughts on the handy notepads so that Celebrity Judges can ponder the Wisdom of the Ages and determine which chili gets the prize. 

The judges, deep thinkers and good sports all, have passed this way before en route to that Big Beaker of Bicarb in the Sky, rejected chili chefs in hot (pardon our pun) pursuit.  Yet these stalwarts -- you shall know their names in due course -- will once again stand straight and true by the cauldrons ready to award the coveted Big Jalapeño Trophy.

Bring sheaves of cash for the saloon and more for the array of silent auction and raffle treasures wrenched from unsuspecting merchants in the name of Good Works.  Every kopek and ducat supports the Lemon Grove Holiday Giving Project, Latina Girls' Empowerment at Mt. Miguel High School, Lemon Grove Food Bank, YMCA After School Program and more.

To ensure a seat at the table, drop everything, call (619) 469-9785 or email hanningi@yahoo.com and order tickets. Soroptimist accepts cash, checks and money orders.  (They once took trust deeds, stock certificates and the family jewels in trade, but those days are gone with the buffalo and the nickel lunch.)