Being Mr. Chili
This past June 4 marked the 15th anniversary of the Wheeling Feeling Chili Cook Off, and my second year as the dancing chili. Representing Wheelhouse as Mr. Chili for the second year in a row is a great honor that I take seriously.
I debuted as Mr. Chili during last year’s chili cook off and took home the coveted Mr. Hot Sauce award. My goal this year was to defend my title. In order to do that, I had to pull out all the stops. I needed Mr. Chili to come to life. He needed more Chili-Humanoid features to make him more like a giant cartoon that danced right off the celluloid of a Merrie Melodies short and into the hearts of every chili connoisseur at Wheeling’s heritage port.
Thanks to the good people at Stages, I was able to find everything I needed to help accessorize my chili costume and make my idea come to life. I didn’t have time to call Stages myself. I was too busy practicing my elaborately coordinated dance moves. I delegated the task to my loving, caring girlfriend Megan (God Bless her for wanting to stick with this strange chili boy).
Megan and Stages convo:
Megan: Yes, do you have any items to make a chili costume?
Stages: I’m not sure, probably not…but go ahead. What do you need?
Megan: I need green tights big enough for a large man.
Stages: Okay, we have those.
Megan: Oversized, four fingered cartoon gloves.
Stages: Yeah we have those too! This is getting interesting. What else?
Megan: Red chili pepper shoes?
Stages: You’re not going to believe this, but we have a red pair and a green pair.
Megan: I’ll take the red pair.
With the costume elements acquired, chili man was finally complete. Putting on all the parts of the costume felt like I was stepping into a second skin (that was probably due to the tights which left my green derriere exposed to the wind out of the back of my giant red chili suit, a chili fashion faux pas that will not happen twice).
What people might not know, is that days before the Wheeling Feeling Chili Cook off when I first dressed in the Mr. Chili costume, I hiked to the top of a large mountain, watch an eagle fly high in the sky and whispered “Let it begin.” This is my ritual to prepare for the Chili cook off, but I digress.
On the day of the cook off, I got into the Chili mobile (a used tan Honda van). I grabbed two buckets of Mary Vandine’s world famous black and gold chili, a portable karaoke machine and Wheelhouse Creative’s custom-built Ring of Fire game show wheel. Wheelhouse Creative designed the ring of fire to challenge chili cook off goers to a hot sauce shot challenge to win prizes like tickets to summer concerts and amusement parks. I was the Bob Barker (or I guess Drew Carey) of this super spicy show case showdown. I sang. I danced. I perspired. I laughed. I cried, and I got to meet some interesting characters who descended upon the waterfront as the chili cook off went underway. I also got to see Wheelhouse Creative do what they do best and come together as a team. I was but a humble mascot, the real heroes were the great men and women of Wheelhouse who were slinging chili, hot sauce tortilla chips and keeping the true spirit of the Chili Cook off alive. (Special thanks to DJ Josh for supplying the music and Michele Rejonis for keeping me hydrated.)
At the end of a long day of replacing words to party songs with chili phrases, handing out prizes, and churning out tiny cup after tiny cup of homemade chili to chili officiandos, the votes were tallied for which cooks had the best chili and the winners for all the different categories of the event were gathered by the waterfront to be called down for their trophies. I’m sad to say that I did not take home the Mr. Hot Sauce award this year. A man in a Gumby shirt beat me, but I’m proud to say that I did my part in helping the Wheelhouse team win the Best Booth Award. It’s an award given to the booth with the best flare and the greatest sense of showmanship, which I believe couldn’t have gone to a better group of people because having a sense of style and knowing how to put on an amazing event is what Wheelhouse Creative is all about.