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the hole during the pre-cook-
off cleanup.
If you don’t eat chili and
you eschew questionable
moral hijinks inspired by pro-
fuse quantities of alcohol,
there are other options.
Brisket, chicken, salsa, beans,
and margarita contests are
held on Friday. There are also
more adventures to be found,
at least at the Behind the
Store cook-off. This year will
be the third year of an art
festival, and the second year
for an author tent within the
Tolbert-Fowler portion of the
cook-off on Saturday, the day
the chili champion is
crowned.
Mary Diesel is a Terlingua
artist who helps let the world
know about the festival where
sixteen to eighteen artists will
show this year. They call for
local artists first, then branch
out to long-time participants
of the cook-off. “It’s fun,”
Diesel said. “We’ll have four
or five different media: ceram-
ics, glassworks, some stippling
art, and local photography as
well as some stunning land-
scape artists. It’s funky
Terlingua art thematic to the
Big Bend.” The authors
include names like Beth
Garcia, Carlton Leatherwood,
Tom Alex and Richard Willis,
as well as Tiffany Harelik pre-
miering her new chili cook-
book.
After a half-century,
Texans are still posturing, and
people are still arguing over
beans or no beans. Perhaps
the aim is to expand the cook-
off into a more “cultural”
event with the addition of art
and
artists.
However,
American pop culture is com-
prised of myriad entities,
many of which turn 50 this
year: Batman, Star Trek, and
The Monkees, to name a few.
This year the Chili Cook-Offs
take their place in the birth-
day line-up of West Texas
pop culture, shenanigans and
all, bound together by the
Fates and a passion for chili.
“We’re all excited to reach
the 50-year mark, and I’m just
happy to be here,” Tolbert
said. “Years ago we thought,
‘can we even make it?’ “
Author’s note: There are many
more stories from the cook-offs, hun-
dreds if not thousands. Some were
told to me, many funny, a few scary.
Glen Pepper has a wealth of posi-
tive stories about friendships formed
and an ambulance acquired; per-
haps someday they will be told in
another place. Some of the “facts”
may be a little sketchy, but Pepper
said he always loved what Blair
Pittman, photographer and local
author, said, “Never let the facts get
in the way of a good story.”
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107 N. 6th, Alpine • 832-314-8103
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Escape
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BEHIND EVERY PROJECT IS A
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Evenings and weekends only • Text for appointment
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12
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2016
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301 N. 5th ST
432-837-2061
MORRISON HARDWARE
SERVING ALPINE & THE BIG BEND SINCE 1928
ALPINE, TEXAS 79830
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