Shopping, Chili In Store This Weekend

By Amy Bentley-Smith
Features Editor

Second Street will be full of activity this weekend.

Friday and Saturday, retail shops will be hosting Passport to the Shore, an in-store sales/customer appreciation event. Then on Sunday, the competing aroma of chili will permeate the entire street as the Third Annual Belmont Shore Community Chili Cook-Off takes place.

Balloons will lead customers to the shops participating in Passport to the Shore. At any of those stores, people can pick up their passports, which they can then get stamped at as many of the stores listed as possible for the chance at the daily grand prize gift basket filled with merchandise and gift certificates.

The event is all about bringing customers into stores on Second Street, and hopefully enticing them to shop, officials said. To that end, business owners will be offering one or more of the following: discounts, incentives, refreshments, demonstrations and give-aways.

The Passport event will take place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (a later closing time for many stores) both days.

Sunday, all the action happens outside. Beginning at 9 a.m. up and down Second Street, contestants will be concocting what they think should be crowned the best chili in town. Then from noon to 3 p.m. (or when the chili runs out), the tasting will commence.

Chili tasting wristbands will be on sale for $5 in front of Washington Mutual Bank, at Second Street and Corona Avenue. With the wristband, people will receive a map of the chili stations along with a ballot to vote for the People’s Choice chili.

A panel of judges will be on the street sampling the recipes to select winners in the other categories, which include best in show, best tasting, best vegetarian, best team spirit and most creative. The judges this year are Third District Councilman Gary DeLong, Press-Telegram columnist Tim Grobaty, Community Action Team and Haute Dog founder/local activist Justin Rudd, Belmont Shore Residents Association President Nancy Buchanan, city Special Events and Filming Bureau Manager David Ashman, and Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement Area Advisory Commission Chair Kurt Schneiter.

The winners will be announced after 3 p.m.

Organized by the Belmont Shore Business Association, the cook-off is open to residents and business owners (that includes restaurants). BSBA Executive Director Brooke Kennard said people can still get in on the action, but must call the office (434-3066) by Friday to enter. Cost is $30 and people must be prepared to make at least six gallons of homemade chili.

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