Winona State University’s president and the University’s head basketball coach sat down together for a bite of chili at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday—thirteen bites, actually, and each a different variety of chili.
President Judith Ramaley and Coach Mike Leaf were two of the judges for the 14th Annual Chili Cook-off, an event put on by Winona National Bank and Winona State University as a fundraiser for Ready Set School.
The different varieties of chili, contained in Styrofoam cups, numbered in black pen as a code for those tallying the results, were brought to the judges on a platter. Miss Winona, Katie Drazkowski, served the eight cups of chili in the spicy category. As she set one round of chili on the table, Leaf looked into a cup and said, “Big veggies!”
“Ooh-hoo-hoo,” Ramaley echoed his excitement. When they took a bite, they found it was not big veggies. Instead, they took a bite into shrimp and pineapple chili.
Drazkowski said she served a lot more than just traditional chili. “There were white ones, red ones, ones that looked like salsa,” Drazkowski said.
At a round table in the Winona Middle School cafeteria, Ramaley and Leaf completed the process of ranking chili donated by area restaurants, while members of the Winona community walked through the cafeteria kitchen to pick up their own samplings of chili.
For $6, one could eat as much chili as he or she wanted. All ticket proceeds went directly to Ready Set School, a program that gives vouchers to low-income families that can be redeemed at participating area businesses in exchange for clothes and school supplies.
Ready Set School coordinator, Judy Richter said last year the program helped 1,247 children. Richter said that was more than a typical year because the program gave to flood victims in addition to the low-income families that had applied for vouchers.
“If you lost your house, we figured we’ll help you,” said Richter.
Along with all-you-can-eat chili from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., the Chili Cook-off included the opportunity to get autographs from the Winona State men’s and women’s basketball teams and entertainment in the form of a karate demonstration and a performance by the Cotter Show Choir.
The entire men’s basketball team sat at tables to the side of the cafeteria to scribble their signatures onto t-shirts, posters or scraps of paper and take pictures with fans of all ages.
At 11:40 a.m., the women’s team showed up to join in the autograph signing. Dressed in purple warm up jackets and pants, they slid chairs between the men players who were dressed in black warm up clothes similar to the women’s attire.
Players Josh Korth and Luke Dodens, scooted their chairs together to get their picture taken with a girl around eight years old wearing a pink sweat suit. She stood behind them with a toothy grin, her head just barely peaked through the space between Korth and Dodens heads.
“It’s nice to get to know members of the town.” Korth said, “ I don’t know if I’m in the mood for chili yet, though.”
If he were to have a bowl of chili, Leaf and Ramaley might recommend chili made my Charlie’s D&D, which won first place in both the spicy and the mild category. Second place in the spicy category went to Good Harvest Café, and third place went to Erbert and Gerbert’s, which was a new entry this year.
In the mild category, Signatures Restaurant received second place and Winona Rivertown Lions received third.
Each of the local businesses donated three gallons of chili for the Chilli Cook-off. All entries were local restaurants, but being a business is not necessary to enter the contest; having a commercial kitchen is the only prerequisite. When an event volunteer shared that information with Leaf, he asked if he could enter if he made a few vats in Bub’s Brewing Company’s kitchen.
“I’m in!” Leaf said after she nodded. Both he and Ramaley laughed.
Last year, the event raised about $1,300, said Mary Polus, Winona National Bank Marketing Director. This year was the first year that Winona National Bank officially partnered with Winona State to put on the event, and Polus expected that having the basketball teams present drew in an even bigger crowd.

Questions or comments?
Contact Lydia at
LCOglesb3075@winona.edu