Chili Weather Brings Family Festival

The City of Owasso Harvest Festival and Chili Cook-off takes place Saturday, October 22 at Centennial Park.

If the autumn season has you in the mood to experience some good wholesome fun, you will want to mark your calendar for the City of Owasso’s 3rd annual Harvest Festival and Chili Cook-off on October 22, 2011 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Owasso’s Centennial Park. David Warren of the Owasso Parks Department invites everyone to “come out and enjoy a community festival reminiscent of ‘the good ole days.’”

The event is designed like an old-fashioned carnival, with plenty of activities for kids and kids at heart to enjoy. There will be a costume contest with prizes, bounce houses, and face painting inside the Children’s Game Tent, sponsored by Owasso Family YMCA. Prizes for the contests will be bags full of candy and other fun items. “We always have different fun things for the kids in the prize bags,” says Warren. “For instance last year, we had glow sticks in there.” Emergency vehicles will be on location for education and tours. Concession stands featuring classic favorites like corndogs and funnel cakes will be set up at the site as well. P&K Equipment will provide the equipment for a hayride across the park, adding an extra special touch to this traditional event.

Also featured at the Harvest Festival will be the Chili Cook-off, sponsored by the Sertoma Club, with proceeds benefiting Owasso FFA. The Chili Cook-off starts at 11 a.m., with taster kits available for $3 at the tasting booth. Purchasers get to taste every chili and salsa contender for People’s Choice and then mark a ballot for their favorite selection.

John Fenrich, organizer of the Chili Cook-off, is glad to announce a new youth category for this year’s event. “We added a youth competition because of the fact that the event benefits a local youth organization,” he says. “School and youth organizations such as scout groups, schools, and church clubs are encouraged to enter the competition, as long as they have adult supervision.”

The premiere chili cooks in the nation will be at this Owasso event, as it is held in conjunction with the International Chili Society Oklahoma Championship Chili Cook-Off.  “We will have cooks from as far away as California, Colorado, Ohio and Illinois, as well as those from our neighboring states,” says Fenrich. “The winners in red chili, green chili, and salsa will represent Oklahoma at the ICS World Championship Chili Cook-Off.” Also appearing at the cook-off will be Tahlequah, Oklahoma’s own Dean Anson, Cherokee chainsaw artist, who uses a chainsaw to sculpt bears, eagles, and Indians from wood.

With the exception of the taster kits and concessions, everything at the Owasso Harvest Festival and Chili Cook-off will be offered free of charge. “This will just be a great day for folks to have good old-fashioned fun with their family,” says David Warren, who expresses a great deal of gratitude to the sponsors who help make this yearly event a success. “Arvest Bank and YMCA are our biggest sponsors,” he notes. “And we especially appreciate Randall Bobbit of P&K Equipment, who makes the hayride happen every year.” And of course, the City of Owasso provides not only financial support but a home for this event.

Admission to the Owasso Harvest Festival and Chili Cook-off is free, and this year free parking is available in the field just south of Centennial Park. For more information, visit the Harvest Festival information link at www.cityofowasso.com, or visit www.owassochilifestival.org.

 

For more information, contact

City of Owasso
Harvest Festival and Chili Cook-off

(918) 371-7975

www.cityofowasso.com
www.owassochilifestival.org