On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in October 2015, HMP held its annual Fall Festival including its chili and cornbread cookoff. For the first time, the event was held in the HMP pocket park. Attendance at the event was one of the highest the neighborhood has seen in several years. Attendees got a chance to meet many new neighbors, but it was especially nice to see neighbors that have lived in HMP for decades also join the party.
It may be hard to remember that this is a serious competition and a lot of hard work went into the chili and cornbread entries. Contestants plan for days, sometimes weeks, on their entries, testing and tasting new recipes designed to entice the judges. The coveted Golden Fork and Golden Spoon are prized possessions that are held in the highest esteem by the winners. It affords them entry into the hallowed halls of chili and cornbread champions, a place where many have eagerly tried to gain entry and few have succeeded. The 2015 entries into the HMP Chili and Cornbread Hall of Champions are Lee Smith and Jean Richcreek. Lee Smith entered the winning cornbread recipe. Her hard work and tasty cornbread earned her the highly sought-after Golden Fork. Jean Richcreek’s savory chili recipe earned her the Golden Spoon.
This event (and every other neighborhood event) would not be successful without the tireless efforts of many volunteers. A special thank you goes out to Lorraine Vavul and Jean Richcreek for heading up the chili and cornbread judging (for those of you that see a potential conflict with judging and winning the award, be aware that Jean did not judge the chili recipes, she merely tallied the results of the judging; all recipes are blind entries). Other notable volunteers include Mark Herner, who tirelessly serenaded us, and Wade Johnson-Nichols, who without his eye for detail and vision for our social events, none of this would be possible.