“Let’s Go to the Movies” revealed as Cassville chili cook off theme
August 21, 2019
Vinnie Roberts
This fall, a local staple is returning to Cassville to ring in the beginning of the season. On Saturday, October 26, the Cassville Chamber of Commerce will host the annual chili cook off, and this year's theme was revealed to be "Let's Go to the Movies."
The festival will feature three main components, the chili and salsa cook-off, vendor booths, and the new-to-this-year car show. The chili cook off also coincides with The Show, the annual concert performed three times during the weekend of the chili cook off featuring local talent performing songs with a unified theme.
According to Rachael Selby, Cassville Area Chamber of Commerce director, the movies theme was selected to be in line with the theme for this year’s Show, which has been in the works for six months.
“The band spends six months in rehearsals learning the music and getting ready for The Show,” said Selby. “They work really hard getting the music and the singing down.”
The Show is organized by Greg and Brenda Beck and is performed by a group of musicians working with local singers to bring the tracks from famous films to life. The Show will be performed three times during the festival: Thursday, October 24, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, October 26, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, October 27, at 2:30 p.m. All performances will be held at the FEMA event center at Cassville R-IV Schools.
The ever-popular Cassville Chili and Salsa Cook-off will fire up on Saturday, and the event will feature contestants making large batches of chili or salsa. Booths will be judged in several categories: people’s choice for chili and salsa, best decorated booth, most spirited booth and judge’s choice of salsa and chili entries.
Most categories will be voted on by patrons of the festival. To participate in tasting, there will be tasting kits made available to attendees for $3 each. The kit will also include a set of colored beads, each color representing a different category that patrons can give to the booths of their choice. At the end of the cook-off, the beads for each booth will be counted and winners in each category will be selected based on the number of votes.
The final category, judge’s choice, will be decided by a set of judges appointed by the Chamber of Commerce’s fall festival committee. According to Selby, this will be the first time that the cook-off has had a set of appointed judges in four years.
“This year, we’re bringing back hand-picked judges,” said Selby. “Several years ago, we would have 15 judges who would taste the chili and judge it. We’re going to keep with our current categories being voted on by the people, but our judges will vote for best chili and best salsa.”
Food-centric booths will not be the only ones present Saturday. “We’ll have craft vendors from all over the area,” explained Selby. “We’ll also have information booths for different organizations.”
New to this year's festival will be the Fall Festival Car Show, which has been moved from its original date in May as the Dogwood Car Show to coincide with the Chili Cook-Off. This event is free to patrons and will feature the best cars from Barry County and the surrounding areas.
The car show will be held on Saturday, October 26, in the parking lot of United Methodist Church, located on the corner of Gravel and 7th Streets.
This will be the first Fall Festival under Selby, who was named director of the Cassville Chamber of Commerce in October 2017.
“This is my first chili cook-off as Chamber director,” said Selby. “I have a great committee behind me.”
Though this is her first time handling the duties of the director during the festival alone, Selby expressed boundless optimism for capturing the spirit of the community during her favorite season of the year.
“Fall is my favorite season, and it creates a great atmosphere for the community to hang out together. Cassville and Barry County in the fall is gorgeous. We at the chamber like to use the festival as a chance to invite everyone in the community to come and enjoy it with us."
Registration for the Chili and Salsa Cook-Off and other booths that will be present during Saturday’s events will begin for members of the chamber of commerce on Monday, August 26. Registration for all non-chamber members will begin the following week on Tuesday, September 3.
For any questions regarding the festival, contact the Cassville Chamber of Commerce at (417) 847-2814 or email chamber@cassville.com.
Vinnie Roberts
This fall, a local staple is returning to Cassville to ring in the beginning of the season. On Saturday, October 26, the Cassville Chamber of Commerce will host the annual chili cook off, and this year's theme was revealed to be "Let's Go to the Movies."
The festival will feature three main components, the chili and salsa cook-off, vendor booths, and the new-to-this-year car show. The chili cook off also coincides with The Show, the annual concert performed three times during the weekend of the chili cook off featuring local talent performing songs with a unified theme.
According to Rachael Selby, Cassville Area Chamber of Commerce director, the movies theme was selected to be in line with the theme for this year’s Show, which has been in the works for six months.
“The band spends six months in rehearsals learning the music and getting ready for The Show,” said Selby. “They work really hard getting the music and the singing down.”
The Show is organized by Greg and Brenda Beck and is performed by a group of musicians working with local singers to bring the tracks from famous films to life. The Show will be performed three times during the festival: Thursday, October 24, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, October 26, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, October 27, at 2:30 p.m. All performances will be held at the FEMA event center at Cassville R-IV Schools.
The ever-popular Cassville Chili and Salsa Cook-off will fire up on Saturday, and the event will feature contestants making large batches of chili or salsa. Booths will be judged in several categories: people’s choice for chili and salsa, best decorated booth, most spirited booth and judge’s choice of salsa and chili entries.
Most categories will be voted on by patrons of the festival. To participate in tasting, there will be tasting kits made available to attendees for $3 each. The kit will also include a set of colored beads, each color representing a different category that patrons can give to the booths of their choice. At the end of the cook-off, the beads for each booth will be counted and winners in each category will be selected based on the number of votes.
The final category, judge’s choice, will be decided by a set of judges appointed by the Chamber of Commerce’s fall festival committee. According to Selby, this will be the first time that the cook-off has had a set of appointed judges in four years.
“This year, we’re bringing back hand-picked judges,” said Selby. “Several years ago, we would have 15 judges who would taste the chili and judge it. We’re going to keep with our current categories being voted on by the people, but our judges will vote for best chili and best salsa.”
Food-centric booths will not be the only ones present Saturday. “We’ll have craft vendors from all over the area,” explained Selby. “We’ll also have information booths for different organizations.”
New to this year's festival will be the Fall Festival Car Show, which has been moved from its original date in May as the Dogwood Car Show to coincide with the Chili Cook-Off. This event is free to patrons and will feature the best cars from Barry County and the surrounding areas.
The car show will be held on Saturday, October 26, in the parking lot of United Methodist Church, located on the corner of Gravel and 7th Streets.
This will be the first Fall Festival under Selby, who was named director of the Cassville Chamber of Commerce in October 2017.
“This is my first chili cook-off as Chamber director,” said Selby. “I have a great committee behind me.”
Though this is her first time handling the duties of the director during the festival alone, Selby expressed boundless optimism for capturing the spirit of the community during her favorite season of the year.
“Fall is my favorite season, and it creates a great atmosphere for the community to hang out together. Cassville and Barry County in the fall is gorgeous. We at the chamber like to use the festival as a chance to invite everyone in the community to come and enjoy it with us."
Registration for the Chili and Salsa Cook-Off and other booths that will be present during Saturday’s events will begin for members of the chamber of commerce on Monday, August 26. Registration for all non-chamber members will begin the following week on Tuesday, September 3.
For any questions regarding the festival, contact the Cassville Chamber of Commerce at (417) 847-2814 or email chamber@cassville.com.