Chilis ready to be sampled at the Lake Region Eagles building. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

The Lake Region Eagles held a chili cook-off at the Fraternal Order of Eagles building in Windham on Sunday, Feb. 23, after several delays due to winter storms.

The cook-off saw 10 participants present their homemade chilis to be voted on by the club’s membership. Organizer April Archer explained that club members paid $5 to sample each chili, and then voted on their top three choices. Members then gave the ballot to Archer, and after the votes were tallied, a winner was selected.

The cook-off wasn’t just about having fun and winning bragging rights, it also functioned as a fundraiser, with proceeds going to both the American Heart Association and to raise money for a neon sign at the club building.

“We’re going to find the best chili cooker in the Eagles,” Archer said to the Lakes Region Weekly ahead of the cook-off.

According to Archer, the Eagles, a member-only club, does fundraising for various organizations, holding multiple events for members each week to help with the fundraising, with a pool tournament and a ceramic paint contest going on at the same time as the cook-off. In addition to the cook-off and giving to the AHA, in recent months, the Eagles have raised over $1,200 each for breast cancer awareness and a needy family, and received so many gifts as part of a Giving Tree drive that they split the donations between the Windham and Gorham food pantries.

Debbie Small, winner of the chili cook-off, shows off her first place certificate. Rory Sweeting / Lakes Region Weekly

John O’Leary, creator of chili No. 3, explained that his chili was made from a three-beans sauce, peppers, onions, finely chopped steak, a hot drink and mild hot sauce. After mixing the ingredients together, he let it simmer for eight hours, stirring it from time to time, and then added hot peppers.

Craig and Brenda Cole each made their own chili, No. 7 and No. 6 respectively. Brenda described her chili as a “New York recipe,” consisting of hamburger, Italian sausage, pork sausage, ribeye steak, pinto beans, five different peppers and “a whole lot of tomatoes.” Craig’s chili was far simpler by comparison, merely consisting of kidney beans, hamburger and tomatoes.

“Simple is sometimes better,” he told the Lakes Region Weekly.

The first place winner was Debbie Small with chili No. 4, while Brenda Cole came in second place. The cook-off raised $160 in total.

Small said her chili was made from hamburger, beans, sauteed onions, pepperoni, sausage, sweet Thai chili sauce, and a packet of chili mix. It was a case of beginner’s luck; Small said that she had never made chili in her life prior to the cook-off, and that she, along with her family, were proud of her accomplishment.