Staff writer
If there’d been an award for best team name at the annual chili cookoff at Marion County Park and Lake, Kacie and Casson Schmidt probably would have taken home that prize, too.
The Newton couple entered their first-ever chili cookoff — not just at the lake but anywhere — Saturday and took first place.
Their team name? The Explosive Schmidts.
Kacie Schmidt’s cousin came up with the name and made black aprons emblazoned with it in orange.
Kacie Schmidt cooked up white chili.
“This is my own recipe,” she said before lake superintendent Isaac Hett announced winners. “I make it for our pumpkin-carving party every year.”
Several people showed up to buy tasting kits for the 16th annual chili cookoff before ticket sales were supposed to start
“We ran out of chili early,” Hett said. “We were supposed to go to 2 p.m.”
Other chili winners were:
- Competitors’ choice: Rick and Irene Barkman with “Tombstone Chili,” which Irene described as such “It’s your huckleberry. It’s the chili you’ve always been looking for.”
- Second place: Josh Tajchman with “Nacho Average Chili”
- Third place: Janet Robinson and Linda Carlson with “Hot Mess Express”
Winners of a car show also at the lake were:
- Motorcycle: Greg Carlson
- Beater: Jeremy Davis
- Truck: Mitch Guetterman
- Car: Jack Clanton
Cornhole winners were:
- First: Hunter and Mark Makovec
- Second: Brooks Beeton and Dan Love
- Third: Josh Olsen and Trevor Trout
The weather was near-perfect. Children swam and chose their favorite cars, exclaiming, “Ooh! I like that buggy!” Adults popped open cans of beer and bottles of water. Dogs roamed around throughout the day — perhaps looking for scraps of chili.