Hillbilly Harvest Hoedown & Chili Cookoff!

Who: All ages
Objective: Mingle, Fellowship, cooking skills, etc.
Budget: $20, for oyster crackers ("chicken feed") and butter
Flyer:


Set-Up: We decorated the tables with mason jars and old soup cans that were filled with sunflowers. We had some country style decor set up on the stage as well. (Tasteful) Redneck jokes were blown up onto poster boards and tacked up to the walls around the room.

Special Instructions: We had sign-ups ahead of time. People could either sign up to enter chili in the cook-off, bring rolls, or something for the "Roadkill Dessert Bar".

Turn-Out: We had about 65 people come.

We had little 3 oz cups set out so people could sample the chili as they went through the line. Then they could fill their bowl up with the one they wanted to eat. There were plenty of rolls, and our Roadkill dessert bar was a hoot. I had little place cards and pens so they could write down the name of their "roadkill dessert". We had "tire tread", "runned-over raccoon", "squashed frogs", and I can't remember all of them.

We had each crockpot of soup labeled with numbers, and there were empty mason jars lined up across the stage, that had corresponding numbers. When they came through the line to get their chili, they were also given a black bean. Then, they cast their vote for the best chili by placing their black bean in the corresponding jar. It was a quick and easy way to "visually" judge who had the best chili. It also was cute as it went along with our theme.

We had ice water in a metal tub that was labeled "waterin hole" and people could help themselves to water. The oyster crackers were served in a cardboard box (lined with plastic) and marked "Chicken Feed" in Hillbilly Handwriting.

Once everyone got through the line, we had a girl in our ward do some fiddling for us. She was excited to do it and had been practising for weeks. She played about 4 or 5 numbers and the audience loved it. Then we had a girl from the activity committee teach an easy line dance and practically everyone joined in.

Finally, we awarded a few prizes for the chili as well as for the best roadkill dessert, and we also gave an award for the best-dressed hillbilly.

We had "redneck" teeth from walmart for the outfit, and for the food winners we had a dish towel with chili peppers on them.

Everyone loved it and seemed to have a great time! Here are a few pics from my camera phone...