The 12th Annual Great Downtown Ithaca Chili Cook-Off will be taking over the Ithaca Commons this Saturday, February 20th. It's become a highlight of winter for local food lovers and this year looks to be another great one.
We've already heard from organizers that they'll have about 40 different chili recipes competing to be the best, including 26 meat and at least 14 vegetarian varieties, from over 30 restaurants.
If you want to sample these delicious chili varieties for yourself, you'll need to get yourself some Tasting Tickets:
Tickets to Taste are $5 for 5, $10 for 11, or our VIP tickets are 10 for $20 (and you get a special VIP line at each booth). Each ticket gets you a 2-3oz sample of chili or a comparable sample of other items from wine to wings. Tickets are on sale now at Autumn Leaves, CTB (downtown) and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance office. Buy yours now and skip the lines on Saturday!
And while Chili may be the main event, there will be plenty of other events going on all day to keep you warm and entertained until the judging is done - the Chili Idol Karaoke Contest, Guitar Hero competitions, plus lots of live music and live performers throughout the day. If you've never made it to the Chili Cook-Off before, listen to our past coverage of this event in Episode #3 of our podcast to get a good idea of what to expect. We're planning our own full coverage of this year's event as well, including a special report from behind the scenes at the judges' table.
Click Here for a complete Schedule of Events and plan your day now. Events are scheduled from 11:30 am - 4:00 pm regardless of the weather, so dress in layers, bring your favorite spoon, and get ready to enjoy some great eating from Ithaca's best chefs. You won't have another chance to sample this much food in one place... until next year!
