On the Side | Brad Hicks

If it’s diversity you crave, then skip all of that political crap. Go looking for chili recipes. And do it soon, because the newspaper needs you. Well, really, I need you.

That’s because the high school football season starts Friday, and before you know it, the last home game for the Tigers will be here on Friday, Oct. 21, against Underwood. And before that game, The Express will host the annual Barb Gray Memorial Chili Cook-Off at the Red Oak Fire Station.

I am already feeling a little stressed by this event. I mean, I had been in town about a week and ran into a group of people. One guy said, “All I want to know is whether you are going to continue the chili cook-off.” I evaluated his eyes, discerned his demeanor, and surveyed his size, and said something like, “I guess not!”

I’m looking for chili-cooking experts and novices of all ages, sizes, races, denominations and genders to show up with their best – or first-ever – recipe and a full pot of whatever it is you put in there. 

There are so many options – enough to start a small-scale brawl. There are probably some words printed on this page from time to time that make people want to start a donnybrook, but dissing someone’s chili? Them’s fighting words!

Sorry for the bad usage, there, you retired teachers turned closet proofers. I know you’re out there. And I know some of you are tougher on people’s chili than our spelling.

That’s just wrong.

Isn’t there room for everyone in the chili world?

Beans or no beans.

Beef, pork, chicken, turkey?

Tomatoes or just paste?

All day in a pot, or just an hour?

I get it.

When my cousin’s wife made turkey chili with Thanksgiving leftovers, I was pretty skeptical. I tried some. And after about an hour, I was very full.

Typically, I like my chili on a hot dog. The country club where I lived for a time once in a while had a “Brad special” – chili dogs. Well, they didn’t call it a Brad special. I did, trying to get them to call it a Brad special. 

But, I progress.

So, if you are interested in entering your chili in the cook-off, please email me or call me. Or if you know someone who wants to enter, but is too shy to contact me, let me know and I will contact that person.

Part two of this is to find one of the many worthy charitable efforts in our community that will receive the proceeds from the event. So, if you have an idea for us at The Express about where those funds could go, let us know. We already have a couple of ideas, but we want a list from which to choose one for this fall.

So, that’s it. We’re hoping for lots of different kinds of chili, and lots of people making donations to a very worthy cause. 

Brad Hicks is editor and publisher of The Red Oak Express. You can email him at publisher@redoakexpress.com or call 712-623-2566.